Joe "Nip" McKnight (December 4, 1933 - February 20, 2023) is an American politician who represented Tennessee's 27th district in the state senate from 1987–1995.

Early life

McKnight grew up in

Bemis, Tennessee Bemis is a former company town in Madison County, Tennessee, United States, now part of the city of Jackson. The Bemis Brothers Bag Company established the town in 1900 to be the site of a cotton mill and housing for the mill workers. A area of B ...

, a

company town A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...

run by the

Bemis Company Bemis Company, Inc. was a global manufacturer of flexible packaging products (ranging from self-venting cook-in-bag packaging and retort packaging for shelf-stable products, to vacuum packaging for meat products and puncture-resistant, sterile me ...

that merged into the city of

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Q ...

in 1977. His father, a former college basketball player at

University of Tennessee-Martin The University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin or UTM) is a public university in Martin, Tennessee. It is one of the five campuses of the University of Tennessee system. UTM is the only public university in West Tennessee outside of Memphis. ...

, taught McKnight the game at a young age. He continued playing throughout high school and college, first for

Memphis State University } The University of Memphis (UofM) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering ...

before transferring to UT-Martin, where McKnight broke his father's scoring record. After graduation, McKnight taught at

South Side High School Southside High School or South Side High School may refer to: *Southside High School (Gadsden, Alabama) *Southside High School (Dallas County, Alabama), a school in the Dallas County Schools system * Southside High School (Batesville, Arkansas) * ...

in Jackson for two years. He was then hired by Martin-Marietta Ammunition of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and served as the company's production superintendent for sixteen years.Alt URL
/ref>

Political career

McKnight served as Madison County commissioner for eight years prior to winning the 1986 state senate election. He defeated Bobby Carter in the tight 1990 election, but lost to Carter four years later.

Personal

McKnight married Sandra Maddox in 1960. McKnight died on February 20, 2023.https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/jackson-tn/senator-joe-nip-mcknight-11165965

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKnight, Joe 1933 births Tennessee state senators People from Jackson, Tennessee Schoolteachers from Tennessee UT Martin Skyhawks men's basketball players Memphis Tigers men's basketball players County commissioners in Tennessee Living people People from Madison County, Tennessee American men's basketball players