University of New Hampshire Athletics
Broadcaster Jim Jeannotte and the late Bill Knight, longtime SID, will be honored in Wildcat Stadium on Saturday.
Knight & Jeannotte: Honoring UNH's Own
10/19/2017 4:37:00 PM | Football, UNH Insider
Media Center, Broadcast Booth to be Named After Media Legends
DURHAM – They began spreading the good word far and wide about University of New Hampshire athletics more than a half century ago.
Bill Knight, Class of 1966 and taken by cancer at far too young an age, moved on from his start as the hockey team's student manager to an eventual 15-year stint as the school's highly regarded and accomplished Sports Information Director until his passing in 1985.
Concord's Jim Jeannotte, the award-winning radio Voice of the Wildcats for five decades, is looking forward to another season of men's and women's basketball play-by-play work this winter.
Their names will be tied together even more tightly – for now and far into the future – in Wildcat Stadium, the year-old home of the UNH football, men's soccer, men's and women's running programs and lacrosse teams: From this weekend forward journalists and broadcasters will be working out of the Bill Knight Media Center and the Jim Jeannotte Broadcast Booth on the top floor of the stadium.
The two media spots are being dedicated to Knight and Jeannotte before Saturday's 2 p.m. football game against Towson University. Tickets for the "Real 'Cats Wear Pink" game, presented by Medtronic, are available by CLICKING HERE, by calling 603-862-4000 or at the gate.
"I think what they're doing in naming the press box after Bill and the announcing booth after Jim, the people around here have got it going in the right direction," said football coach Sean McDonnell. "They have their antennas up about what's important to people."
Bill Bowes, UNH's Hall of Fame football coach, and others concur and note numerous similarities between Knight and Jeannotte.
They cite all the two men did for the school and its athletics program, their devotion to Wildcat teams and their work habits along with their ability to build long-lasting relationships.
McDonnell, a UNH football player when he first met Knight, raved about how the SID got to know athletes on Wildcat teams and helped prepare and make them comfortable for their dealings with the media.
Bowes (27 years) and McDonnell (in his 19th season) have coached the school's football team for nearly 50 years between them.
Knight, who was from Monroe, N.H., was the SID when Bowes came back to UNH (he had been an assistant coach earlier) as the head coach in 1972.
"Bill was a very hardworking guy and he loved the university, he really did," Bowes said. "He cared about it deeply. One of the things I'll always remember about him is he got things done. You said something to Bill Knight or you asked him for something and you knew it was going to get it done."
Susan Grimes vouched for Knight's fondness for UNH and his post. She's his younger sister and lives in Concord.
"He absolutely loved that job," Grimes said. "He loved the University and the people he worked with and he had some wonderful opportunities with his job. He went and worked at the Olympics in Sarajevo. . . . I think I can see the smile on his face now. He seemed to always be smiling."
Bowes also worked closely with Jeannotte – who did radio play-by-play for football as well as men's and women's basketball – for many years.
"Jim's another great guy and a very good person, Bowes said. "He's another one you could call and ask for a favor. I think he MC'ed our banquet for about every year I was coaching. He's another who cared about the university and cared deeply for every sport and maintained his relationship with the school despite his success in other areas like Granite State Challenge."
Mike Bruckner came to UNH as an assistant SID under Knight and took over the top spot after he died.
"One of the big things I learned from Bill was about relationships," Bruckner said. "He took care of the phone guy and took care of the grounds guy and when something happened they were there for him. He was well liked and everyone in town knew Bill. . . . He was very good with relationships and realized the job was much more about people than the stats. You have to do the stats part, but it's more about people and he always had good relationships with people."
Knight was a leader among Yankee Conference sports information directors and others in the field and one of the signs that he was respected well beyond UNH borders, McDonnell said, was that a trophy – the Bill Knight Award – named after him was given to the most valuable player in the annual New Hampshire vs. Massachusetts football game.
Bruckner also worked with Jeannotte.
"That's awesome that they're both being honored," Bruckner said. "He's also just a really good guy. We had some pretty cool people broadcast for us. Jim was great. He always fought for us to get more games on the Wildcat Network."
Knight helped the network, too, Jeannotte said.
"We were new and taking over the network and Bill gave us tremendous support with everything we did," Jeannotte recalled. "He was so easy to work with and a pure gentleman."
Now the names of two legends of communications and media at UNH – Bill Knight and Jim Jeannotte - will be linked for the ages in the stadium.
"I think it's a class act on everybody's part to do something for those two guys," McDonnell said.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
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