Joey Knight: A person of deep faith, passionate about writing and USF, gone too soon

I normally confine this space to stories and news about what USF sports teams are doing on the field, but I hope you won't mind a deviation to share some things about a young man who left us way too soon.

Joey Knight died this morning after a long battle with cancer. Joey covered USF and many other teams for the Tampa Bay Times. Before that, he was on the sports staff of the Tampa Tribune when I was there. And before that....well, here goes.

The Tribune started me off at its New Port Richey bureau in the mid 1970s. My job was covering high school sports, including the Zephyrhills Bulldogs football team. They were coached by an outstanding man named Alan Knight, and I named him the Pasco County Coach of the Year after he engineered a highly successful season for a once-struggling program.

I wanted to interview him for that story, and he said we could talk about it over dinner at his home. Couldn't pass up that chance, right? When I arrived, Alan greeted me warmly and introduced me to the family -- including a youngster. named Joey.

Joey was maybe five years old at the time.

Time marches on, and not long after that, the Trib transferred me to its main office. I lost touch with the Knight family, but they didn't lose touch with me. Years later, that five-year old kid was ready to join the work force, and his dad called to ask if I could help him get a job with the Trib.

Wisely, the Tribune hired him and he quickly established himself as a versatile and talented writer and reporter. He was off on a career of covering preps, colleges, the pros -- anything that was needed.

After he joined the Tampa Bay Times, his bio noted, "I'm a fourth-generation Floridian born at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, which makes me somewhat of a demographic outlier. My family arrived in Zephyrhills before McDonald's, and I've resided there most of my life. When I was a grade-schooler, my passions were sports and creative writing, in that order."

Joey was more than just a top-shelf writer. He was a person of deep faith, a devoted father of three children, and respected even more for who he was than what he did. That was evident in a tweet by USF's CEO of Athletics Rob Higgins.

"His work was beyond meaningful and impactful. We are forever grateful," he wrote. "USF Athletics will plan to honor his lasting legacy starting with today’s home events. Rest in peace, my friend."

One of the last stories he wrote for the Times was a year-end wrap-up for the local sports teams. It was posted two days before Christmas, and he started it this way, his wry sense of humor showing through:

"The Bucs are blowing leads like a ragged muffler blows exhaust, the banged-up Lightning can’t seem to spell consistency, and the Rays just traded arguably their best everyday player.

"In a season meant for cheer, the bay area sports landscape seems long overdue for some good tidings. In our neverending pursuit of public service, we’re delivering some."

I launched this site a couple of years ago to cover USF sports, and a big benefit of that was the chance to reconnect with Joey. He was still on the beat and working hard, which isn't easy in the uncertain newspaper climate today.. And it was especially difficult considering the disease he was fighting.

There were times at the weekly news conference with football coach Alex Golesh where Joey would do his work while hooked up to device that was treating his cancer. When he couldn't attend in person, he would reach out by phone with questions he wanted to ask.

He didn't talk about his health much.

"I'm hanging in there," is about as deep as he would go with that.

But in recent weeks, it became clear that the battle was reaching its conclusion. The finality of that came this morning in a Facebook post by his mother, Karen Knight.

"It is with broken hearts that I write this, we lost our beloved son Joey this morning. He fought his battle with cancer with such amazing dignity and grace, he never complained but found opportunity to praise God in every circumstance, whether it was praying for his doctors at Moffitt or people he ran into in the store," she wrote.

"He amazed us all in the fact that he continued his work as a writer/reporter for the Tampa Bay Times right up until last month. He passed peacefully with his family holding on to him. We couldn’t have asked for a better son. We’ll see you soon."

His dad shared a message with me.

"He went very peaceful," Alan wrote. "He just went to sleep and did not wake up. Sleep on earth, wake up in heaven."

I asked if there was anything he would like people to know about his son.

"Just reinforce his love of sports and faith in his savior Jesus Christ," he answered.

Covering sports for a living is both a dream and a challenge. Newsrooms are a mix of egos, insecurities, and hypertension. The schedule requires that you miss holidays, birthdays, and family time because of travel and crushing deadlines.

But it's also a fraternity because, despite the competition to get the scoop or the next big story, you get to meet some amazing people who know what it's like to be in the trenches with you. I got to meet a 5-year-old kid with a dream in his heart and talent running through his veins.

His departure leaves a crater, but as his parents said, we'll see him again. That's going to be a great reunion, and I know he'll have amazing stories to share.