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Knockers name traces back to Ireland
By Sharon K. Wolfe
swolfe@pantagraph.com
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BLOOMINGTON — The Bloomington Knockers’ name comes from the Emerald Isle. Half a century ago, young west-side football players were getting knocked around by better-equipped east-side players.

“Paul didn’t think it was fair,” said Barb Segobiano, who has worked with her husband for 50 years on the youth football program he founded in 1957.

Paul Segobiano went to Father George Casper, a priest at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Bloomington, who helped raise funds.

Segobiano promised the priest he could name the team. His reply was, “We’re gonna call them the Knockers.”

The priest said the name honored the Knock Shrine in western Ireland, where a fellow priest’s blind mother reportedly had her sight restored.

Times have changed in 50 years, but Knockers rules don’t. Among them are:

-- All differences in race, economic status, etc. are put aside. Paul Segobiano gives them the “green talk” at each season’s start: “There’s one color out here, and it’s green. We’re all green.”

-- Failing grades don’t cut it. “If he can’t get his schoolwork done, he’s out of here,” he said.

-- No one uses profanity. And that means adults too.

-- There are no tryouts. It is a first-come, first-served setup. When slots are full for the teams and the cheerleaders, that’s it.

-- Coaches have to keep their priorities in order. “They are not going to relive their youth through the Knockers. They are there for the kids,” he said.

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Reader comments on this story - 4 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

william wrote on Oct 20, 2007 5:36 PM:

" "LOL"x2 "

X-Knocker wrote on Oct 20, 2007 9:16 AM:

" I was a PeeWee Knocker. I remember Paul and his family was always there for all of the player , not only as a coach, but also as a friend and mentor. It has been many years since I played and the values he instills today are the ones I learned 20 years ago Sincerely, Josh Leingang Baltimore ,md "

???? wrote on Oct 20, 2007 6:30 AM:

" I thought this artilcle was about something else; never mind. "

Sure it is wrote on Oct 20, 2007 5:32 AM:

" LOL "
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