The Ohio Independent Baptist, April 1965

How did Cedarville College land outstanding a th lete? Sports can be a testimony, too·! By Dan Hoyt Early la t ummer, the wire car– ried a story that a Moline, Ill. High School ba ketball star would enroll at Cedarville College for t·he 1964-65 chool year. The young athlete - Allen Knott - had a lif3t of honors aittached to his record that tamped him the o. 1 prospect in the midwest. He was all-everything including the schola tic All-America. ' 'Why,' the question was a ked , "did the athlete with tho e creden– tial pick Cedarville? Surely, he mu t have had some f antistic offers?' ' Well, we finally decided to ee for our elves. What abouit the Cedar– ville setup that attracts o many fine ba ketball players. So, a week or so ago, we dropped in on Don Callan, a likeable, young mentor who is half of the coaching staff at the C hris·tian college. Callan · erves as director of athletics, handle the cagers and coaches track in the • pr1ng. Right now, the school is celebrating a Mid-Ohio Conference champion– ship and the Yellow J acket·s will take a fine record in District 22 N AJA playoffs early next month at Central State. Cal lan is an amazing person. He is not under any pressure, he goes by the book and operate under the theory that there'·~ more to be gained in col Jege th an to play on a winning athletic team." Although he's quick to admit, win– ning i~ important and the only way to play any competitive ~port. ,~we can't compete with the larger schools," the personable young men– tor - the )'Oungest in the Mid-Ohio a t 30 - said. "We have JO scholarship3 for a year. We have baseball, basketball, track ar1d soccer a11d the 10 must l)c spread around to i11cl t1dc all the J)Of lS. "A scl1olarsl1i p I,ere 111ear1s approxi .. n1atcly $500. 1~11at is 1101 half e11ot1gh to 111eel the cxpe11 e for a year. o, till':: att1lete n1usl co111 11p witl1 tt1e f St Of tile Jl10Iley hin1 e] f . r( lle ,1(}1- ~ te c 1ni11g here J 11 LI t l)e ded ic, ted to tl1e ca u e of \.\'a11 ting a gt)od t;U l tCa- tion in a l1ri tian coll ge. THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST "I spend ·5ome time recruting and we tell all the ,pro pecit ju t what the college has ,to offer. No football, no dancing ju t a sound Christian in titution," he explained. How did he happen to land Knott? "Well, a Cedarvi lle ·grad w·ho is a friend of mine dropped me a note about Allen. I then wrote to Knott and told him we would be inter ef.; ted in having him at Cedarville. I wa one of 75 other coache interested. He came on hi own simple as that ." Slept on floor "When Knott fir st arrived on cam– pu la t September, l1e didn't even have a bed in his room. H e s lept on the floor that first night. "He's a good student, he' hooting around 51 per cent from the field and works harder than any player on the team. He's a fine athlete and a gentleman," the coach declared. No sooner had Callan finished his explanation, a handsome, well-co– ordinated ath lete, came in to the s·mall office that i the hub of Cedarvi lle ath letic .program. It was Al len Knott, who e 200 pounds are well distribt1ted on a 6: 4 frame. J.t wa,s " ir" both to this writer and to Callan. The que tion wa put to him. ' I wanted to attend .a college th at wou ld give me Bible tr a ining a I a n1 thinking of entering the n1 ini try. I had more than 75 offer . Finally, l to ld my high chool coach not to accept any more. One wa £or 10 year fr ee ride if J decided to take up n1edici ne. Another wa for eight. ,. Y OLI know, sir, l figured the Lord wanted me to come here, ·.')o here I am. l ,m happy at ec.larvillc and have never regretletl n1y dec1 ton to co111c here. " This article in t .. e Springfield Sun, written by the Sport's Editor, is a good testimony of the witness sports can b e in a Christian coll ege. We, therefore, reprint this by permission . The Ye llow Jacke ts captured the Mid– Ohio League ,ha,npionship, but were beaten by Central State, a tean, that went on to win the NAIA champion)hip at Kan dS City . The Editor. We11 , you can't beat a te timoni al like th at, which speaks well for ithe coJlege and the young coaoh. Getting back to Callan, he lettered four years in basketball at Bright, Ind. High School . He then enrolled at T ay lor U niver ity, U pland, Ind., where he lettered four year in foot– ball and three in ba ketball. In high school , he wa·-- an All– State halfback in foot,ba1l and Jed Indi ana in ru hing with an aver age of 8.1 yards per carry. H e was third in the nation coring in football at Upland, twice gaining All-Conference r ecognition . He toured the Orient in his seni or years, playing basketball aga inst team"' in Japan, Korea and other ,places. He pin-points his top collegiate thrill a game against Fi k Univer i,ty when he raced for four touchdowns and he participated in the fir t inter– racial contest ever played in Tenne - ee. Games won Callan pent a year at Peru, Ind. , two more year in the army, picked up hi Ma ter ' Degree ifrom Ball State in 1960 and took the Cedarvi lle job at the out et of the 1960-61 chool year. Cedarvi lle' top outpuot in ba ket– ball before Ca ll an arrived on the ·.;cene was five or ix vic.torie . He won even hi fir t year, nine the econd, 13 the third, 19 la t year in which the Yellow Jacket n1ade it to the N AlA final at Kan a ity and Cedarville is 21-3 thi·3 n1orning, the lo5 e coming at the hand of un– uefeated Central tate. Ohio North- ern and Rio rande. The game with Ohio can1c dttr1ng the holida 1 s Jack.cl only had one pra t1 folio\.\ 1ng a long la} <)ff . rthcrn anti the e ·e · 1011 ·,ketl if he f t.:lt the 11d Oht,) tc,ltll\ ct)ttld holtl tip ag,1111\t tl1c 01110 ( ()tlft.:ft.:11<.~c. (_~~1lla11 qttick.l) rh)intcd ot1t tl1at ··"' c ht~at H'ctllclh ~1 g h, 1() ~)<)ltllS. Wil1111r1gtl)Tl }1,1, ,, t)tl t)\ er Deni on anLI h.t.:11 ' ()tl a11tl c\,hl ,111 I <.>ttl)' los t tt) 1\ k.1011 ll ' a \..OLtl)l~ <.)f • f'lt) I11 l . (Continued on page 13) APRIL , 1965 PAGE S