KENT KRIEGSHAUSER/The Register-Mail

Gathered in the Hall of Fame room are Knox College professors, and big fans of the Prairie Fire, from left, Bruce Polay, Lance Factor and Bob Seibert.

They're Fire fans from way back

Knox profs have 108 years invested

Tom Loewy

SPORTS

Friday, February 10, 2006

The answer to that question was found in T. Fleming Fieldhouse's Hall of Fame room at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

That's where I had the pleasure of meeting Knox professors Bruce Polay, Robert Seibert and Lance Factor.

A chance intersection?

Not unless you use the term "chance" to describe Knox College men's basketball coach Tim Heimann dialing my cell phone number.

Allow me to backtrack.

Heimann is more than a man whose funny pictures occasionally appear in these sports pages. His Prairie Fire are 8-6 in the Midwest Conference and in the hunt for the league's fourth and final playoff spot.

And before you snicker, the MWC is a very solid Division III men's basketball conference.

Lawrence University is 20-0 overall and the last undefeated team in the NCAA. Carroll 18-2 overall and the odds-on favorite to topple Lawrence from the ranks of the undefeated. Grinnell is 12-7 and one of the more entertaining teams to watch in the entire country.

Almost done backtracking.

Heimann called with a story idea, so of course I was interested.

"I've got three college professors who are just really big fans and have been coming to games for a long time," Heimann said. "I just think there might be something interesting there."

Polay has been professor of music at Knox for 23 years, as well as the music director and composer for the Knox-Galesburg Symphony. Seibert is a 1963 Knox grad who has taught political science and international relations at Knox for 39 years. Factor has been a professor of philosophy at Knox for 36 years.

Needless to say, they have seen their share of

of basketball games.

"My sophomore year at Knox was Harley Knosher's first year here," Seibert said. "That was back in ... let's see ... 1960."

"My first year here was Harley's last year as the men's basketball coach," Polay said. "That was the 1983-1984 season. The Knox-Monmouth game was a war that year."

While Seibert freely admitted to having an "investment in the success of the school," the three professors brought a refreshing perspective on college athletics.

"The excitement, for me, lies in watching kids you know," Factor said. "You get a chance to see a side of a student you don't get to see in the classroom. You can try to learn something about their strengths as players."

Factor's evaluation sparked the conversation.

"It's been said before, but Knox athletes are in school for all the right reasons," Polay said. "Knox has had all-Americans and here we are sitting in the Knox Hall of Fame. But the thing is, the players are students who go on to be good people."

Seibert agreed.

"Kids don't come here to be basketball players or football players," Seibert said. "We have players who go on to lead very different lives when their playing careers are over. Their lives are about more than simple sports.

"It's the proof of the quality of a liberal arts institution. Being a part of the team is an important education experience."

Seibert offered a bit of simple proof.

"I remember my first year back teaching at Knox," Seibert said. "It was the winter of 1968 and I got a call from Harley Knosher about a basketball player who was having some academic trouble.

"I knew Harley but I didn't know how the call would go. Harley asked me if he released the player from practice for a week if that would help the student get caught up. Harley released for a week and the student got caught up."

Being a crude sports writer, I asked about the professors' favorite players over the years.

Factor dismissed the question.

"It never really crosses my mind," Factor said. "As a teacher, you really don't pick out favorites. And as a fan, I don't. I'm more interested in the team.

"A game comes down to what you do in the present moment. It isn't about the future or the past. In sports, everything happens in the present. It's all abstract. Take a play at the basket. In that moment, all personalities are gone. That's the beauty of sports - personality goes away during the moment of a play."

Later that day, I saw a moment during the Knox's game against Monmouth in Memorial Gymnasium.

With 9:33 left in the first half, Josh Moten stole a possession away from the Fighting Scots and led a two-on-two break down the court. He flipped a perfect pass around a defender to Adam Estergard.

Estergard laid it in with 9:30 left.

Moten and Estergard will never come close to playing in a professional basketball game.

That doesn't matter and never really did.

But the moment was a glorious sight to behold.