Rick Nester and Alan Knight
Page County High School is located just 31 miles from Eastern Mennonite University, which was still Eastern Mennonite College when Coach Knight headed there after his graduation 🎓 in 1975.
Knight began his teaching while still at EMC which delayed his earning his degree until the Summer of 1981. Coach wasted no time, heading back to Page County to both teach and coach Volleyball. Due to an unforseen opening, Knight slid into the Head Coaching job with the Lady Panthers Softball program.
Two rather important things to know about the team Knight inherited, first, they won the State Tournament in 1981 and second, they didn’t have a home field to play on. The State Championship game was played on a local little league field.
Knight found immediate success inside the Gym as he guided Page County to four State Championships by the end of the 1980’s. Knight experienced quite the growth spurt while attending College in Harrisonburg. 5’10 and weighing a Buck Forty when he left, Coach returned at 6’3+. Playing competitive Volleyball became part of the process and his knowledge of the game coupled with the ability to teach = Success.
Knight would continue with teaching and Volleyball 🏐 for the better part of four decades before switching to just Softball. Coach returned briefly to lead the VB program a second time before retiring a second time. Knight also stepped up to become the schools Golf Coach for a couple of seasons until a permanent one could be found.
The 2013-2014 Lady Panthers Softball team finally climbed the Mountain, giving him his fifth State title. One year later, on June 13, 2015 they ran it back by defeating King William for a second straight year.
A great deal of life took place inside of those 31 miles and we will take a closer look, but for now, we have an origin story !
Editing Note 📝 – EMC was working on a trimester School year. The winter time was used for Student teaching.
A.S.P.N on The Hill 