Remembering Knapton, Nie, and NATO work
Letters: From Our Readers
Remembering Coach Knapton
Coach Knapton was also coach of the swim team then. The team had seven swimmers. We all participated at all our meets and we lost all of them. One of the standing rules was: the swimmer who had the worst workout the week before had to “dive.” It was really something to see “required dives” attempted for the first time! We also got 1/8th of a credit for water polo. The team worked out during that “class” in the early morning, swimming laps and prepping for our meets.
One morning Coach came in and found us actually playing water polo! All of the team received an “A,” and at the end of the season we each received a letter jacket from Beloit. I was so proud. I will never forget that winter at Beloit and Coach Bill Knapton.
Bruce Cattanach ’75
Gainesville, Georgia
I attended Beloit College from 1995 to 1997 and studied elementary education. Being an assistant coach for Bill Knapton was one of my greatest college memories.
Mike Knapton ’97
Janesville, Wisconsin
Remembering Ian Nie
Credit: Antonio MariI very much appreciate the nice article about Ian Nie in the fall issue of the magazine. He served the college for 44 years and I was right by his side the whole time supporting everything he did for, and at, the college.
In October we had a memorial concert in the chapel, attended by many friends and family, and many former students. The outpouring of love for him was huge. The concert consisted of former students and colleagues performing and presenting memories, and so many members of his orchestra, the Turtle Creek Chamber Orchestra (TCCO), came together and performed.
TCCO was a dream of his from very early on, and over 10 years ago it became a reality. He was so proud of the orchestra and their endeavors — a youth summer strings camp, a scholarship competition, and the many fundraising events over the summer. TCCO is a volunteer orchestra and the musicians’ dedication to it is amazing. The legacy will continue. Ian’s dedication was contagious. The plans for the 2025 season have been made, and a new conductor, with the same ideals, has been chosen to lead the orchestra forward in the coming years.
I would like to thank the Beloit community, the college, and the city for their support and love for Ian and all he did to make life better by bringing music into their lives.
Emily Treder Nie ’79
Beloit, Wisconsin
Ian’s funeral was a testament to his legacy. The church was overflowing with people, many of them former students like me whose lives were forever altered because of him. I heard many shared memories of young people struggling to find their place in the world, desperate to be recognized and taken seriously. He made us feel heard and put us in situations that helped us find purpose in our lives.
The first day I met him, I spent over an hour talking to him and begging to be let into his already overbooked recording class. The next day, I found myself packing his red Cadillac full of $20k worth of recording equipment, and then being handed the keys to drive an hour away to record a live string section. It was one of the most stressful days of my life.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but Ian had obviously heard me the day before. His ability to read people was uncanny. My favorite memory of Ian was the day (one of many) we skipped school. I got a call early one morning from him saying an audio dealer in Madison had found a pair of rare microphones and he was going to drive up and buy them. “I’ve already canceled classes for the day, skip school and ride with me,” he said. I told him I would head down to the studio, but he was already standing outside my dorm waiting.
If there’s one thing I would want everyone to remember about Ian, it is that he truly listened to people. If he could say one thing to us now, I wouldn’t be surprised if he asked us to skip class with him. I think he would get a laugh about that being published in the college magazine.
Matt Anderson ’08
Mountain View, Arkansas
My most significant work project
In 1987, six months before President Ronald Reagan’s summit with his Soviet counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev, Sandia Labs in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the premier engineering laboratory in the U.S., was tasked with making models for a technical onsite inspection (TOSI). My assignment was to design the model according to the parameters provided and give it to our model-maker group who fabricated two HO-scale models on 4’ x 8’ sheets of plywood. The models included train engines and train cars, train tracks, a weight platform, a perimeter fence, a gate, a warehouse for storing medium-range nuclear missiles, security cameras, and lights. The models were hooked up to a computer for monitoring. One model went to the Pentagon and the other to NATO in Brussels, Belgium.
I got a new passport and packed my bags in case I had to go overseas to fix the model at NATO. When something in the model at the Pentagon failed, I took all my tools — screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers, soldering equipment — in my carry-on luggage on the plane (this was before TSA and preflight luggage inspection). It turned out it was a burned-out light bulb. I went to Radio Shack, bought a replacement red LED light, installed it, and was done.
After the three-day summit in Washington, Reagan and Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, the first nuclear arms reduction in history. More reductions followed over the years. Presently each side has around 4,000-5,000 nuclear warheads. My mission was trying to keep our country safe. My bachelor of chemistry degree from Beloit College helped me throughout my working years, where I was one of the top technicians out of 1,000 at Sandia National Laboratories.
Lowell Jones ’61
Boerne, Texas
Remember this?
Mark Henderson ’76
Riverside, Connecticut
Talk to us
Tell us what you think about this issue, or anything Beloit College related, by contacting belmag@beloit.edu. (We reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity.)
