Former Manatee football coach Mike Knowles gets another hall of fame call

To Mike Knowles’ knowledge, his two hall of fame honors already put him in an unprecedented place.

Before this spring, he was a member of the Florida Athletic Coaches Association and Florida High School Athletic Association halls of fame for two distinct reasons.

The former was to recognize his days as a high school football coach, combining his days as an assistant for Manatee High School, and his time as the head coach at Satellite High School and Middleburg High School. The latter was to honor his prevalence as a basketball and baseball official, which sent him to more than 20 state championship games.

His third induction is for something totally different.

A staple of the Bradenton athletic community since he returned to Manatee as an assistant coach in 1993, Knowles was inducted into the Florida Half Century Amateur Softball Association (FHCASA) hall of fame this month after 19 years of playing, coaching and serving in leadership roles for the association.

He’s currently the FHCASA chairman, although his nomination for the hall of fame came before holding this leadership role. He was previously the Area 2 director, overseeing teams from Parrish to Naples.

“It was really based on my playing through all the years before I actually became the head of the association,” Knowles said.

Knowles spent most of his nearly two decades as one of the association’s premier leadoff hitters. The Titusville native briefly played minor-league baseball in Canada after an All-American career at Eastern Michigan and as soon as he moved on to the next phase of his life, he started playing softball recreationally.

When he was 49, a loophole enabled him to start playing in the FHCASA, which begins with 50-and-older leagues.

The FHCASA requires players to turn 50 during the year they are eligible to start playing, but since Knowles’ birthday is in December, he essentially got a full year’s head start.

He fell in love with the idea of letting athletes continue to compete at a high level long after most would expect their athletic prime to have passed. He now coaches a team in the association’s youngest age division — shoulder and knee injuries pulled him off the field a few years ago — and he says from a distance you could mistake the 50 year olds he coaches with people in their 30s.

His squad of players from Manatee and Sarasota counties called the Blast is the No. 3 team in the 50 division.

Knowles’ honor isn’t just about his success as a player, though. In any niche sport like senior softball, spreading knowledge of the sport and developing it at a high level is just as important.

Knowles has meant just as much to the game in that respect.

“We don’t base it just on playing,” Knowles said. “We want high-character people in there who have done a lot for the association. Maybe they’re coaching, (or) maybe they’re one of the people that are great ambassadors for the game.”

This story was originally published June 26, 2017 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Former Manatee football coach Mike Knowles gets another hall of fame call."