Dave 'Tuffy' Knight inducted into Ring of Honour
The Waterloo Warriors football program held their third annual gala on Saturday evening at Bingemans with a large contingent of alumni, family and friends on attendance to support the program. Mike Hogan of TSN was the master of ceremonies for the third straight year while many of the current Warriors were on hand to greet and mingle with those in attedance.
The Waterloo Warriors football program held their third annual gala on Saturday evening at Bingemans with a large contingent of alumni, family and friends on attendance to support the program. Mike Hogan of TSN was the master of ceremonies for the third straight year while many of the current Warriors were on hand to greet and mingle with those in attedance.
The highlight of the evening was the induction of Dave 'Tuffy' Knight into the Ring of Honour for his significant contribution to the development of Waterloo Warriors Football.
Coach Knight joined the Warriors in 1988 to begin building the program to an elite status in CIAU football. His season was cut short in the 1988 season with a health issue, and was not able to begin patrolling the sidelines until the 1989 season. He took over a program that had struggled for a long time, but he was determined to change that in a hurry. During off season work-outs in 1989, he had t-shirts made up with the audacious goal of "Play-offs in '89", a goal that was achieved and resulted in coach Knight being named the CIAU Frank Tindall Coach of the Year.
During his time with the Warriors, Coach Knight amassed a record of 42-33-1 and reached the Yates Cup in 1996, and winning the Yates Cup in 1997. He left CIAU coaching as the all-time winningest coach in its history, having won coach of the year in the CIAU three times between his time at Laurier and Waterloo.
Coach Knights' ability to recruit and prepare players to compete at the best of their abilities was legendary. His leadership produced an outstanding 49 first team OUAA All-Stars, 35 second team OUAA All-Stars, and 25 All Canadians. His teams were consistently ranked in the top 10 nationally achieving No. 1 overall in 1997. Coach Knights' commitment to excellence is continued to be acknowledged in the OUA when the coach of the year award was renamed the Dave 'Tuffy' Knight Award by the leagues' coaches.
Previous Ring of Honour Inductees:
Inducted in 2014
Edward Scorgie (1966-69)
Tom Chartier (1988-92)
Cory Delaney (1990-94)
Jason Tibbits (1995-99)
Dick Aldridge (1960-65)
Dave Shaw (1985-89)
Jason Van Geel (1994-97)
Mike Bradley (1997-2001)
Source: Waterloo Warriors
