Kurt L. Knoff is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

who played in the

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(NFL) for the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

and the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

. A graduate of East Grand Forks Senior High School in

East Grand Forks, Minnesota East Grand Forks (also known as EGF) is a city in Polk County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 9,176 at the 2020 Census, making it the largest community in Polk County. It is located in the Red River Valley region along the easte ...

, Knoff was named the Minnesota High School Athlete of the Year in 1972. He attended the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

, excelling in football. He was a 1975 All-American, who also played both

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

and

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for the Jayhawks. He was named to KU's All-Time Best Football Team by the ''

Lawrence Journal-World The ''Lawrence Journal-World'' is a daily newspaper published in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, by Ogden Newspapers. History Though the ''Journal-World'' title came into existence in 1911, the paper dates itself to 1858, according to the v ...

''. One incident associated with Kurt Knoff is a play he made known as "The Hit". In a game against Oklahoma State at Lawrence in '74 Knoff came from the defensive backfield running full speed. Alfred Nelms was also running full speed up the side-line as he had swept around the defensive line of KU and appeared headed for a touchdown, when suddenly Knoff bolted up the field and ran head on into Nelms causing them both to go unconscious. They both got up shortly after that and Knoff played out the remainder of the game. Selected in the 2nd Round of the 1976 NFL Draft by the

, he did not sign with the team due to health concerns related to his knee. He eventually signed with the Houston Oilers, and played for the team in 1977 and 1978. He was picked up by the Minnesota Vikings during the 1979 season, and intercepted a

pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places * Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland * Pass, Poland, a village in Poland * Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits * Mountain pass, a lower place in a moun ...

on his very first play with the team. Knoff spent a total of four years with the Vikings, retiring before the start of the 1983 season. During his professional football career, Knoff spent his summer pursuing an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

degree from the

. He was able to parlay this degree into a post-football career as a commercial real estate broker in

Minneapolis – Saint Paul Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

References

Sources

*Ballew, Bill. ''Tough Enough to be Vikings: Minnesota's Purple Pride from A to Z''. Asheville, North Carolina: Old Norse Publishing, 1999. (page 192) *Black, Sam. "Preparation Pays Off for Former Viking Knoff." ''Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal''. June 21, 2004 *Toplikar, Dave. "KU's All-Time Best Football Team." ''Lawrence Journal-World'' https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/2094149-golden-years-big-time-run-began-40-years-ago

External links

Kurt Knoff Career Statistics from databasefootball.com"KU's All-Time Best Football Team"
from the ''

''
"Preparation Pays Off for Former Viking Knoff"
from the ''Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal'', June 21, 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Knoff, Kurt 1954 births Living people People from East Grand Forks, Minnesota American football safeties Kansas Jayhawks football players Houston Oilers players Minnesota Vikings players People from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area