Iowa State intramurals have given something back in memory of a two-pitch softball legacy, the late Dr. George Knaphus. They now call the game George Knaphus two-pitch softball at Iowa State. With his men’s team, The Boppers and his co-rec team, The Co-Wreckers, he had over 500 victories. He died last May from lymphoma at age 75, but he played on both of his teams through the fall of 1999. After being diagnosed with cancer in August of 1998, Knaphus continued to play between chemotherapy sessions, said Charlie Block, plant pathologist for the Agricultural Research Service at Iowa State and a former teammate. “He was on supplemental oxygen for respiratory problems in the spring, but he insisted on playing anyway,” Block said. While his team batted, he would sit and breathe from a portable oxygen tank. Then, he would be ready to pitch the next inning. That year both the men’s and co-rec teams won the championships for fall and spring seasons. In the final months of his life, he would come to support his teams at the fields in an electronic scooter. He was the team’s cheerleader. Sometimes the games would be cold, but “still his spirit was incredible, sitting behind the backstop yelling encouragement, all the while hardly being able to get enough oxygen to breath,” Block said. Mike Owen, professor of agronomy and weed science, had also played with Knaphus since 1982. He had Knaphus as an adviser when he was an undergraduate at Iowa State. Owen helped initiate the memorial being set up at the softball fields. “Dr. Knaphus was one of the rare individuals who was more concerned about the students than anything else. He just liked working with kids, and one of the ways he could do that was to play softball,” Owen said. As a professor of botany and curriculum and instruction, Knaphus, or Dr. K, as many called him, was recognized with awards such as the ISU Outstanding Teacher Award and the ISU Foundation Award for Outstanding Service to Students. He began playing intramural softball as a graduate student and then continued to play up to last year. Initially, the team wanted to name the softball complex after him. But when the intramural office introduced it, it was told university regulations wouldn’t allow it. After two more ideas were shot down, they found something the university would permit – a memorial planting with a bench and plaque. The intramural office decided to give him a tribute of its own and name the two-pitch game after him, said Linda Marticke, an intramural coordinator. As a player, Knaphus never complained and always made his teammates feel important, Block said. His teammates said he was always very competitive but also very likable. “He had a special chemistry about his team,” Block said. “People wanted to play with him. You knew you were in the presence of a special person.” Owen said Knaphus would come to games still dressed in work attire. “He would come right out of lecture wearing Hush Puppies and a suit and tie. He sometimes took the tie off,” Owen said. The teams are still going without him but renamed themselves The George Knaphus Boppers and The George Knaphus Co-Wreckers. When asked if Owen planned on doing more, he had one answer. “Play softball,” he said.