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Oklahoma City University Athletics

Oklahoma City University
Home Of Champions|73 National Championships
Mike Knopp

Men's Rowing

OCU's Knopp to be honored at Sports Spectacular

OCU rowing coach to be recognized March 26 at Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City

OCU rowing coach Mike Knopp
OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University will honor Stars rowing coach Mike Knopp with the Abe Lemons/Paul Hansen Award for Sports Excellence at the annual OCU Sports Spectacular dinner and auction at 6 p.m. Monday, March 26 in the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
The Abe Lemons/Paul Hansen Award recognizes an individual who significantly contributes to the growth of sports in the state. Last year's honoree was Oklahoma women's basketball coach Sherri Coale.
Past award winners are Ron Norick, Clay Bennett, Lee Allan Smith, Dr. William Grana, Stanley Draper Jr., Bob Funk, Barry Switzer, Mick Cornett, the late Bobby Murcer, Bart Conner, Bill Self and Tom J. McDaniel.
The OCU Sports Spectacular includes a dinner, entertainment and live and silent auctions. Proceeds benefit OCU's 19 varsity intercollegiate sports programs and the Paul Hansen Memorial Scholarship and the Abe Lemons Endowed Athletic Scholarship. Those scholarships provide funding to OCU student-athletes who have completed their eligibility and are within one year of graduation.
The auction annually features a variety of items. The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum is located on 1700 NE 63rd Street in Oklahoma City. Individual tickets are $100, and tables for eight are $750. Please RSVP by March 16. For ticket or sponsorship information, call (405) 208-5660 or (405) 208-5309.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to honor Mike this year,” OCU athletic director Jim Abbott said. “The award recognizes individuals that have made outstanding contributions to sports in Oklahoma. Truthfully, were it not for Mike, we wouldn't have rowing and canoe/kayak or the wonderful facilities that we have now. This is an important fundraising event for OCU Athletics, and I'm excited that this year, we will honor one of our own.”
Under Knopp's guidance, OCU has garnered multiple achievements on and off the water. The success of OCU rowers has increased every year during Knopp's tenure and has included multiple rowing champions and seen OCU rowers compete on the U.S. Under-23 national team.
Knopp was also the driving force behind the OCU Head of the Oklahoma Regatta, an annual rowing competition that attracts more than 50,000 spectators and competitors to Oklahoma City each year. This event has been recognized as the “National Regatta of the Year” and was the first U.S. Rowing competition to include night racing.
Other achievements include the designation of the Oklahoma River as an official Olympic training site, the construction of the Chesapeake finish line tower, multiple local, national, and international championship competitions, and the master plan development of the Oklahoma River.
Knopp also serves as the executive director for the Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation. In this position Knopp helped create the first community rowing and kayaking programs as well as the Chesapeake Boathouse.
Knopp has been recognized with several awards including the Oklahoma City Business Record Forty Under Forty Award, Journal Record Achievers Under Forty Award, Leadership OKC Class XXV, March of Dimes Headliner Special, Harry Parry Award for Foundation Excellence and the Neil Horton Award.
OCU created the first collegiate varsity canoe/kayak program in the country in 2010. During the same year, OCU opened the $10 million Devon Boathouse, which serves as home to OCU rowers and as a training site for U.S. High Performance athletes. In 2011, U.S. Canoe/Kayak, the national sport's governing body, relocated its headquarters to Oklahoma City. Knopp serves on the governing board for this organization.
In the late 1990s, Knopp was instrumental in organizing the Oklahoma Association for Rowing at Lake Overholser in Oklahoma City. A few short years later, he took note as the city's MAPS program began rejuvenating the then-North Canadian River. During this time he helped establish club rowing programs at Oklahoma City University and the University of Oklahoma.
In 2003, Knopp left a successful legal career to become the head rowing coach at Oklahoma City University.
Originally from Minnesota, Mike Knopp discovered rowing as a high school student in Annapolis, Md., watching the crew from the U.S. Naval Academy. He began pursuing his passion as an undergraduate at Oklahoma State University and helped re-establish OSU's club rowing program.
Sports Spectacular Invitation
Donation Form
 
OCU's individual rowing championships
MEN
WOMEN
  • Kristen Youngs, American Collegiate Rowing Association single, 2008
  • Hydi Gibson-Brittni Slattery, ACRA double, 2008
  • Hydi Gibson-Kathryn Schiro, ACRA double, 2009
  • Kathryn Schiro, Dad Vail Regatta single sculling, 2011
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