Friday, January 14, 2011

Glenforest coach leads push to get shoes to needy kids around the world - The State

Glenforest coach leads push to get shoes to needy kids around the world - The State

Glenforest coach leads push to get shoes to needy kids around the world - The State

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 09:00 PM PST

A year ago, Glenforest boys basketball coach William Knopf lived a dream.

The 17-year veteran at the small Class A SCISA school in West Columbia was named the 2010 Samaritan's Feet Barefoot Coach of the Year. As part of the honor, he attended the NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis and was recognized at the Legends of the Hardwood Breakfast that morning.

But his biggest reward: serving alongside other coaches in giving out 1,010 pairs of shoes and washing the feet of some Indianapolis children.

Knopf hopes to expand this year on what he accomplished and raise more money and awareness for an organization dedicated to providing shoes to those who cannot afford them.

"I'm not out to win any awards for this," Knopf said. "My goal from the beginning has been for my kids at Glenforest to ask, 'Why are you in your bare feet?' I know the shoes we collected last year impacted people across South Carolina and the community I grew up in. If we somehow could spread the word to every coach across the state to join in this cause, it could impact an unlimited number of kids across the state."

For the second year in a row, Knopf will be joined by several community leaders, politicians, media representatives and law enforcement individuals in an eight-mile barefoot walk across town to raise awareness for the cause.

Knopf has coached 30 consecutive games in his bare feet (26-4 record) and has challenged every opposing coach to do the same. When Knopf put together the Bulldogs' schedule, he did so by asking all the coaches if they were willing to join the cause. Thus far, no one has turned him down, including Hammond's Jody Lumpkin and Heathwood Hall's Jeff Whalen.

The biggest surprise to Knopf came when his team was invited to play in an early-season tournament in Newberry that included Greenwood Christian, Oakbrook Prep and Wardlaw Academy. With only a few days to contact the coaches to join the cause, he was a little apprehensive.

"I didn't know what to expect, but I decided to call anyway and all of the coaches said they would be happy to participate," Knopf said.

The walk originally was scheduled for today but has been postponed to Jan. 21 because of the unseasonably cold weather this week. It will begin at Brittons on Devine Street and travel through town, across the Gervais Street bridge and back to Glenforest for that night's game against South Aiken Baptist.

"I am so proud of coach Knopf, as he went above and beyond of what we asked him to do," said Manny Ohonme, president and founder of Samaritan's Feet, in a statement.

This is Knopf's third year participating in the program. In the first year, Knopf helped collect 212 pairs of shoes and $200. Last year, the school received 700 pairs of shoes and $1,063. If Knopf has his way, those numbers will double this year as the program is already under way across the Midlands.

"I'm impacting the kids here at Glenforest and across our community," Knopf said. "I did what I did last year, and I wanted to see what I could do different this year to make an even more profound impact."

Knopf's mission now is to get the entire high school coaching community behind him. He has presented the challenge to the SCISA coaches at their convention and this week tried to reach out to all the public schools across the state. The goal is the have every coach in the state to join him and take their shoes off for games on Jan. 21.

Glenforest has an enrollment of 62 students grades K-12, and Knopf's hope is for some of the state's larger schools to join the effort. His ultimate goal is to one day have a distribution center located in the Midlands to help kids throughout the country.

"If I could get all the coaches across the state to join me in this cause, we could show the entire country how serious we are in helping the over 300 million kids around the world that don't have shoes," Knopf said. "If all the coaches or athletics directors could spread the word around their schools and challenge the student body and their parents to become involved, we could impact the life of so many children."

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