Hall of Fame Class of 2020: The case for Kerry Knoll
Kerry Knoll
Every week leading up to the reveal of the nominees for the Class of 2020 for the Ultimate Hoops Hall of Fame, we’ll feature a possible candidate for the upcoming induction class. None of these articles will focus on anyone who has already been nominated for the Hall of Fame but has yet to be inducted. If you want to learn more about those candidates, you can visit the Hall of Fame section of our blog.
Today we’re focusing on UH Las Vegas veteran Kerry Knoll.
The case for Knoll
Stats, stats, stats. The first two years of the Hall of Fame have proven that the voters value stats, as it’s easy to go onto the leagues website and look at a player’s career stats to look at how good they’ve been. When you look at Knoll’s career stats, it’s a little surprising that he’s never gotten any Hall of Fame buzz in the past. He ranks in the top-15 of three major statistical categories, and he’s only one of 11 players who’s ever played in 600 or more games. His 11,239 points is fifth all-time, his 2,861 assists are sixth all-time and his 3,997 rebounds are 15th all-time.
Knoll has gotten to 601 career games by playing in five different divisions, often playing in two or more leagues per season. He has played in 46 games or more in each of those divisions (Draft, Open, Rec, Vet and Vet B), scoring at least 17.1 points per game on 35% shooting from beyond the arc or better in all of those leagues.
His 3-point shooting is where a majority of his points have come, and his 2,711 made 3-pointers are by far the most in UH history. Sonny Young-Graves, a Hall of Fame nominee last year, is in second with 2,285, 426 fewer than Knoll.
Knoll has scored 8,133 points from behind the arc, good for 72.3% of his career points, shooting 37% from deep in his career.
The case against Knoll
Despite his longevity and consistent stats, Knoll has not had a lot of team success in his career. He has 234 career wins, which gives him a winning percentage of .389. There are a lot of arguments going on now about Eli Manning’s Hall of Fame candidacy due to his career record of 117-117. It’s hard to justify someone getting into the NFL Hall of Fame boasting a .500 career record, but the two Super Bowl runs will likely put Manning in.
Knoll’s record is below .500, and he has one title to his name. He helped lead the Hickory Huskers to a 9-0 record in the Green Valley Rec League in the Fall of 2016, defeating OOMG 77-62. Having a championship helps, especially one that came in an undefeated season, but it doesn’t alleviate a sub-.500 record.
Knoll does deserve credit for playing almost all of his career with the Hickory Huskers. He’s played in 62 career seasons, and 53 of them have been with the Hickory Huskers (two of which were in the Las Vegas National Tournament). I believe the lack of team success will be too much of a negative mark on Knoll’s resume for him to be considered this year. If he can win a few more championships, that will give him a shot in the future.