Ronnie Knox spent part of his mercurial football career with three CFL teams. A coveted high school star from Santa Monica, he enrolled at the University of California in 1953 before suddenly transferring to UCLA after his stepfather Harvey Knox had disagreements with the California coaching staff. Knox lost a year of eligibility (1954) because of the switch and ended up being ruled ineligible by UCLA for financial reasons after the 1955 season and as a result he quit UCLA to pursue an acting career with MGM (he never made a movie). Regarded as the finest all-around collegiate player in the US (he threw three TD passes in his first game with UCLA), he found himself without a league to play in. The CFL beckoned in the form of the Hamilton Tiger Cats, but his stepfather had words with Jim Trimble and Knox quit the team to return to a film career. Instead, however, he signed with the Calgary Stampeders six days after leaving Hamilton to complete the 1956 season.
Selected by the Chicago Bears in the 1957 NFL draft, Knox signed a $20,000 contract but was soon suspended by the NFL team for a number of reasons, among which was the inevitable meddling of his stepfather. Determined to keep Knox from playing in the US, George Halas "loaned" him to the Toronto Argos at the end of 1958 season for a price of $1,000 per game. The Argos, enduring a long run of haplessness suddenly sprung to life and made a serious run for a playoff position. In 1959 the Argos negotiated an extension of the agreement for Knox, but after a 1-4 start with Knox at the helm, and watching a rash of interceptions of his trademark "jump pass" they started backup Gerry Doucette, and as a result Knox suddenly announced his retirement due to a back injury at age 24 in September 1959.
Offers came from the newly formed AFL, but Knox never played football again. His acting career was limited to appearances in a few television shows. He married in 1964 and divorced, and turned to writing poems and novels. When he died in 1992, he reportedly had been homeless for several years.
His sister, Patricia Knox, was an actress with 20th Century Fox. Ronnie Knox
died on May 4, 1992, in San Francisco, California.
[Biography by Wes Cross]
| Year | Team | GP | PA | PC | % | Yds | TD | Int | Sacked | Yds | TC | Yds | Avg | Avg | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | CAL | 130 | 61 | 46.9 | 782 | 2 | 5 | 36 | 80 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 3 | |||
| 1956 | HAM | 66 | 39 | 59.1 | 609 | 5 | 4 | 14 | 35 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 0 | |||
| 1958 | TOR | 193 | 116 | 60.1 | 1658 | 9 | 14 | 32 | -39 | -1.2 | -1.2 | 0 | |||
| 1959 | TOR | 110 | 58 | 52.7 | 753 | 4 | 11 | 7 | 88 | 14 | 49 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 0 |
No official games played stats were kept in the East until 1960 and in the West until 1964.
The Rushing stats for 1956 and 1958 include losses while passing (sacked).
| Year | Team | KO | Yds | Avg | Long | S | P | Yds | Avg | Long | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | CAL | 2 | 78 | 39 | 0 | 41 | 30 | 1152 | 36.4 | 66 | |
| 1956 | HAM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 78 | 39 | 46 | 0 |
| 1958 | TOR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1959 | TOR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 1826 | 40.6 | 58 | 1 |
| Year | Team | GP | ConvA | ConvG | % | Att | Good | FG% | Long | S | MFG | YdsMFG | Avg | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | CAL | 8 | 3 | 37.5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 25 | ||||
| 1956 | HAM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1958 | TOR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1959 | TOR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Knox had 4 singles in 1956 with Calgary, but no breakdown is given as to how many came on punts and how many on missed field goals.
| Year | Team | F | FL |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | CAL | 5 | |
| 1956 | HAM | ||
| 1958 | TOR | ||
| 1959 | TOR |
