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This multi-talented athlete
graduated from Centralia High School with
high honors in 1997. He played on CHS
basketball teams in 1995 (27-2), 1996
(20-6), and received the Golden Orphan Award
in 1997 when the team finished 22-7. He was the goalie for the first-ever varsity
soccer team at Centralia High School in
1996. The team finished 11-10 while Knolhoff
produced six shutouts with 145 saves and had
a 1.82 goals against average for the season.
He was also a member of the CHS golf team.
But after all of this, he is best remembered
for his baseball talents. In 1996, he lead the 14-12 Orphans in
batting (.472), at bats (89), hits (42),
runs scored (32), triples (3), and stolen
bases (11-tie one other). Knolhoff was named
MVP of the 1997 team that had a record of
19-11-1. He led the team in at bats
(114), hits (42), doubles (10 - tie one
other), HR (4), RBI (22), stolen bases (15 -
tie 2 others), and was the second leading
hitter (.368). He received All-South Seven
Conference recognition in 1995 (second
team), 1996 (first team), and 1997 (first
team co-captain).
Inducted into
the McKendree College (now McKendree
University) Sports Hall of Fame in 2006,
Knolhoff earned four varsity letters in
baseball and started all but one game in his
four-year McKendree career - 1998 (Freshman
of the Year, team record 27-17), 1999 (team
record 28-24-1), 2000 (team record 55-10),
2001 (team record 44-15). He was a four-time Academic All-Conference
honoree, a two-time NAIA Scholar-Athlete and
two-time NAIA All-American selection. Justin
was named American Midwest Conference Player
of the Year and NAIA Region V Player of the
Year in 2001 after batting .421 with 96
hits, 19 doubles, eight home runs and 56
runs batted in. He remains second (to Brian
Dinkelman) on McKendree’s all-time career
leader list in batting average (.422), hits
(359), runs scored (260), total bases (522),
and multi-hit games (118). He still holds
the MU career record for triples at 19 and
the single season records of runs scored
(96), hits (111) and triples (7). He also
remains in the top five on the NAIA all-time
hits list with 359. He is one of only two
Bearcats to record more than 100 hits in a
season.
Knolhoff
graduated from MU with a Bachelor’s Degree
in Accounting and then completed his Master’s
Degree in Accounting at SIUE. He currently
works for Monsanto Company where he has
traveled to over 30 countries on six
continents in his different financial roles.
He resides in Chesterfield, MO with his
wife, the former Jackie Shubert of Okawville.
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