The memory book is a couple of inches thick, a heartfelt testament to a child lost and a life
well-lived.
Thomas Knox was a comet of goodwill, gone too soon, but here long enough to brighten the lives
of many others in ways that burst from the red-covered scrapbook.
The book offers solace to Lisa and Jim Knox as they page through its letters, photos and artwork
in their quiet Westerville home.
“We’ve read it a million times,” Lisa Knox said.
On Dec. 12, Thomas Knox scored two goals in a game for the St. Charles junior varsity hockey
team, went to bed at home a few hours later and never woke up.
An autopsy by the Franklin County coroner’s office determined that Thomas, age 14, suffered
sudden cardiac death from an abnormal heart rhythm. There was no evidence of drugs or significant
external or internal injury. He had been diagnosed in 2011 with an irregular heartbeat but had
passed physical exams and was cleared to play sports.
The cold, clinical view of Thomas’ death has made way for a warm outpouring of remembrances for
how the high school freshman lived as a small-sized bundle of wit and sunshine.
“It would be a very lonely path to walk without everybody around us,” Lisa Knox said. “The
support has been the glue that’s kept us from completely falling apart.”
St. Charles and the central Ohio hockey community — from youth leagues up to the Blue Jackets —
have been reaching out to Lisa and Jim for the past two months with acts of condolence, emotional
support and charitable contributions.
“It makes me smile, because where I’m struggling is with the fear that he’ll be forgotten,” Jim
Knox said.
The Knoxes were in Cleveland on Saturday to watch the St. Charles team play in the Ohio junior
varsity state tournament. Back in Columbus, the school’s top-seeded varsity team played in the
district tournament.
Thomas’ spirit certainly was felt in both cities as players from St. Charles and other teams
wore helmet stickers in his honor, as they have since his death.
“No matter how trivial you think a kind word or kind gesture is, it means a lot,” Jim Knox
said.
Jim and Lisa not only find comfort in that now, but they also appreciate how such moments of
support helped Thomas blossom in the final months of his life.
‘Where he belonged’
Thomas was small — only 5 feet 2 and 101 pounds, most of it smile. He was always happy but
internalized the occasional teasing from other kids about his size.
Teenage self-consciousness washed away, however, when Thomas joined the St. Charles hockey
program. Older players immediately accepted him at preseason workouts in July. He was thrilled when
they asked him to lead a post-practice cheer.
“That was the start of Thomas feeling like he didn’t have to worry,” Lisa Knox said.
As summer turned to fall, his parents sensed Thomas feeling part of something bigger than
himself. He loved being a student at St. Charles, and Cardinals JV coach John Rentz saw the
earnest, punctual youngster thriving in a team structure.
“I think he knew where he belonged,” Rentz said.
Thomas, who began playing hockey at age 6, was skilled enough to play right wing on the JV team’s
first line. Off the ice, he contributed in immeasurable ways.
“He always lit up the locker room and made everyone smile,” said St. Charles senior Connor
Kannally.
Laughter rocked the room’s walls in the Ice Haus when older players picked up Thomas and lifted
him like a bench-press bar. He laughed, too.
Five days later, Thomas scored those two goals, his first in high school competition, and Lisa
tucked her happy son into bed for the final time.
Now his locker is decorated like a shrine, a ceiling light always kept on above it.
“A month or so before he passed, he said to me: ‘People like me,’ ” Lisa Knox recalled. “He said
it with some sort of surprise. There is a lot of peace and solace in knowing how happy he was. What
I said to Jim is, ‘Why did it have to end?’ ”
Small gestures
Thomas liked to dress up, and on Mondays at St. Charles he wore a pink button-down shirt and a
blue tie designed with anchors. On a whim, he encouraged teammates to participate in “anchor tie
Monday,” and the idea caught on.
The hockey team, and many in the St. Charles student body, wore anchor ties on the Monday after
Thomas died. They wore them to his funeral. They wear them still.
Jim and Lisa said it now seems as if they see anchors everywhere they look.
“It’s a gentle reminder,” Lisa said.
Lisa has an anchor necklace, bracelet and earrings. Jim got a tattoo of an anchor on his calf,
along with the initials “TK” and his son’s jersey number, 87.
Kannally drew that design in class, and the logo was made into the sticker that St. Charles
players wear on their helmets. An anchor also adorns their pink memorial bracelets.
“The anchor symbolizes stability, confidence, certainty,” Lisa said.
She feels sorry for the other St. Charles players, teenagers trying to process the death of a
friend. Their strength has awed the Knoxes and the team’s coaches.
“They’ve really shown some extraordinary traits of being good, young men,” Rentz said. “They’ve
shown it in their comfort and support for each other, but also in their comfort and support for Jim
and Lisa.”
The Knoxes have received cards, letters and emails for two months, some from strangers from
around the nation. Support keeps coming from the local hockey community with stickers, moments of
silence and other thoughtful acts.
“It’s one thing to care, but it’s another thing to care so much that you do something,” Lisa
said. “It takes a lot of effort for people to do what they’re doing.”
DeSales invited the Knoxes to its Jan. 2 varsity game against rival St. Charles and had the
parents speak to the players before the game.
“It was all one family,” DeSales coach Domenic Locilento said.
Instead of wearing their traditional purple and white that day, the Stallions wore black jerseys
with red lettering and the name “Knox” on the back. Afterward, Jim and Lisa were given one of the
jerseys, and the gate receipts of $1,000 were donated to a scholarship fund in Thomas’ name.
The Knoxes started that endowment for St. Charles students in need with the hope of raising
$25,000. They’ve already collected more than $47,000.
No monetary value can be placed on the small acts that touch Jim and Lisa.
They treasure trading fist bumps, which Thomas did so often kids called it the “Knox knuckles.”
Recently, Jim cried when one of his son’s former teammates winked at him from the ice.
Such moments make Lisa think of how the feeling of brotherhood at St. Charles allowed her son to
flourish in his final months.
“I want kids to realize that those small gestures of kindness, the acts of inclusion and those
types of things can make a big difference for somebody,” Lisa said.
And they now make a difference for grieving parents who page through a memory book. In that way,
Thomas lives on.
