Life-Long Friends Continue Sports Into College

Seniors Chase Hanna and Connor Knabe have done goofy things with each other since they were in elementary school. They have all sorts of inside jokes, like making llama calls or saying words like “chicken strips” in funny voices. They took sophomore Lucas Jones to Hooters for his birthday and got the Hooters girls to sing happy birthday and call him “Big money”. Once, when playing golf together, Hanna fell backwards into a pond after getting distracted talking to Knabe and both boys laughed so hard they cried.

The boys have always been linked together. But it’s not just because they’re both D1 golf commits. It’s not because they were both starters on varsity basketball. People tend to group Knabe and Hanna together because through their sports, they’ve become best friends.

The boys spend hours nearly every day together year-round. Whether it’s basketball in the winter or golf the rest of the year, or all the times in between rounds and games, Hanna and Knabe are practically always together.

The boys are used to spending so much time together. Growing up at Brookwood elementary, they became close friends fast, and in middle school they became best friends. This is primarily due to the fact that they spend so much time together playing sports like baseball, basketball and golf. Through sports, their relationship has blossomed.

East head basketball coach Shawn Hair first noticed the boys when they would come to his basketball camps growing up. He noticed they would always flock towards each other even when they were in different groups, and see how each other were doing.

“(At camps) I could tell they were pretty close,” Hair said. “From the get-go I could tell they were pretty good friends.”

Along with coach Hair, golf coach Ermanno Ritschl noticed that at high school golf practice the boys would flock together even when in different hitting groups to see how each other were doing.

Their sports aren’t the only thing they have in common. Senior Kyle Winston, who has known the boys since middle school, says both the boys are very comical.

“They’re both just really silly and laid back,” Winston said. “They’re always making noises, and doing goofy stuff.”

Coach Ritschl agrees with Winston.

“I always enjoy being around them,” Ritschl said. “It’s just fun to be around them, they have a great sense of humor.”

After having very high expectations for the basketball season and placing fourth at state, the boys want to use that disappointment as motivation to do well this golf season.

“It was a tough end,” Knabe said. “But it was really successful, also. So it would be good to continue how well we did in basketball to golf.”

Last golf season, seniors Henry Simpson and Conner Shrock were two of the leaders of the golf team. They now play for K-state, to where Knabe is following in their footsteps. Both Knabe and Hanna found Simpson and Shrock to be role models. They hope they can bring success to the East name with a league and a state title this year.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Hanna said. “Us two are definitely going to need to step up. Losing them will be hard, but I think we’ll be able to step up for sure.”

Both boys started in basketball for the majority of the season. Although this is true, they both consider golf to be their main sport. Next year, Knabe and Hanna will both be going to college on golf scholarships. Hanna will be going to KU while Knabe will be going to rival school K-State, but the boys are excited to be on a different team for the first time.

“It’ll be fun,” Knabe said. “We will get to play each other, which will be a cool experience.

This golf season marks the boys’ last high school sport, and the last team they will ever play on together. Although they will be sad to leave each other and all the memories, they are ready to move onto college and a bigger stage for golf. They will keep in touch and see each other when playing as rivals for the first time in their lives next season.