Why the Knights?

So how did the Knights name come about?

In the spring of 1960, as the last days were been tallied in the high schools of Moyock and Griggs, student leaders from both schools gathered to form a committee. This committee was charged by school administration to create spirit for the new school. As part of their responsibilities, these students had to select both a mascot as well as the colors of the new school. Their only true restriction was no part of the former schools could be replicated in the design of the new. The object was unity. Picking up their task, the student committee met. Alas, records do not survive, although I'm certain members of the committee remain around these parts and could tell of all the options. Anyway, the name Knights was chosen to became the mascot at Knapp High (though I know at least one person, who was a teacher and not on the committee, sought in a more Currituck fashion "Snow Geese"). The reason for the Knight? Alliteration. "Knapp Knights" rolls off the tongue, and of course shares the "KN" beginnings. For you folks out there seeking an elaborate answer, I'm sorry to disappoint, especially given the most creative rumor I've heard. Of course, Knapp High was named for Mr. Joseph Palmer Knapp, the wealthy New Yorker who vacationed down here, and grew to love the people of Currituck, and who donated enormous sums of money to help improve the conditions of the county. Picking on that theme, some have come to trace the Knights nickname to being a tribute to the Knight family. The Knights, lead by Edward C. Knight, Jr., was the family who built what later became known as the Whalehead Club in Corolla. While the historian in me enjoys the bit of symmetry, the family id not supply their name to the mascot of Knapp High School.

What about colors? Well Moyock had been the Tigers, and Griggs the Mallards (a quite appropriate to Currituck County mascot, I might add). Of course, this eliminated a wide variety of colors, not the least of which being orange and green. As such, the committee adopted a Knight of red & white (but not black!!!) colors. Thus, Knapp became the Red & White, and as been ever since, despite pinches of black (like the helmet set I wore on varsity). And since Knapp was the county High School, when the new school was built in Barco, the name traveled with it-to form the Currituck Knights.