 "Photo: Courtesy Jeff Schrier / Saginaw News")
 "Photo: Courtesy Jeff Schrier / Saginaw News")
Aaron Knieper's goal was to shoot for the NBA, but his fate was to pitch in the major leagues. Now, he is back in Michigan as Wayne State's Assistant Director of Intramural and Club Sports.
Knieper, 35, stands out at WSU in more ways than one. With his 6-foot-5-inch, 220-pound frame it is no surprise that sports was his calling.
He answered the sports call at a young age and never stopped. These days, he plans to keep the cycle going so that a younger generation can come around and bring it home.
When life threw Knieper a curveball, he added it to his arsenal of pitches. As a child, he had dreams of making it to "the show," also known as the pros. Eventually his dreams would come true, but not without hard work.
As a child, Knieper loved sports. Baseball was not his first love, though. He enjoyed basketball and football as well. Up until college, Knieper played these three sports year-round. In fact, he hoped to play in the NBA but "I wasn't any good," he said. He was, however, good enough to play against NBA star Chris Webber, who played center for rival Country Day at the time.
"Don't bring that in the paint," Webber once told Knieper just before tip-off at a regional match-up. Not only did Knieper have the heart to take it to the rim, but he also was brave enough to defend the then-high school phenom.
"He tried to go up for this weak fade-away and I swatted his shot out of bounds," Knieper remembered.
Although his team, Nouvel Catholic, lost the game to Webber's team that day, at least he gained some respect and confidence.
Still, even with his hoop dreams deflated, Knieper knew that he was pretty good with a baseball. After high school, he went on to play for the USA Olympic Junior team. According to him, they spent two weeks in Havana, Cuba where there was "no hot water, toilet seats, or mirrors," and this was done on purpose to hurt the visiting teams' spirits. He was one of 18 people on his team living in the rundown dorms. He pitched in front of 26,000 fans in a gold medal game, but his team came out with a bronze instead.
Knieper pitched his way into the record books in 1990 at Nouvel by throwing five shutouts in one season. His performances earned him a Central Michigan University scholarship.
Fresh out of college, Knieper was a starting pitcher in the minor leagues. During one game, he beat himself up for giving up a home run even though he had pitched a perfect game until that point.
After a short stint in the minors, Knieper was drafted by the Montreal Expos (now the Nationals) as a relief pitcher. He earned a role as a starting pitcher later. After four years in the league, capped off by a poor spring training performance, Knieper came back to Michigan.
As the A.D. of Intramural and Club Sports, he also does marketing for the Mort Harris Recreation and Fitness Center (RFC). Furthermore, he runs a kid's camp and coaches a basketball program within club sports.
On a bad day, you might catch him with a five o'clock shadow beard similar to that of Brett Favre's. On a good day, he could do a commercial for Gillette.
To let him tell it, this is how he got here.
"Basketball was my favorite, but baseball paid the bills," Knieper said. "Always wanting to be successful, always being successful as a youth."
He decided not to idolize individuals, but rather successful teams including the Dallas Cowboys, the New York Yankees, and the Los Angeles Lakers. His idea was to watch and learn. That he did. And he still finds time to shoot hoops with students.
"I desire to run an athletic program and create a successful athletic program, high school, college, professional," he said. "Failure wasn't really an option, the fear of failure…I never wanted to fail."
In some ways, Knieper's life has just begun. He and his wife just had their first son. He officially organized the men's club basketball team at WSU, which won the Motor City Basketball Tournament in its first year, along with beating every team in their conference so far.
Knieper's future is still bright, and he hopes to make it even brighter for the next generation whose eyes may be set on basketball, baseball or anything else.
