'Voice of Knoch High School,' Rege Schiebel remembered for dedication to school, athletics, education

Regis I. “Rege” Schiebel lived, breathed and died Knoch blue and gold.

Known as “Mr. Knoch,” the “voice of Knoch High School” and the “voice of Friday nights,” those who knew him said you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who wouldn’t do something Schiebel asked of them because he loved the school that much.

“Rege was a person that always put Knoch High School first,” said Mike King, former football coach. “He was somebody who was completely devoted to the school and to its students.”

The longtime football announcer, Schiebel, 86, of Winfield died Sunday at Concordia Lutheran Ministries in Butler County.

Schiebel was Knoch’s football announcer for at least 40 years and the first person to be honored with induction to the Knoch Sports Hall of Fame for his dedication and support of Knoch athletics, according to the school district’s website. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016.

“Mr. Schiebel was kid-centered. He loved Knoch athletics,” said Knoch High School Principal Todd Trofimuk. “It didn’t matter if you were a varsity kid or a seventh- or eighth-grader. He was always there.”

Schiebel started his career at Knoch in 1957 as a math teacher and served as high school assistant principal until he retired in 1993.

According to his obituary, Schiebel continued on “as the only stadium announcer at Knoch until his retirement just a few years ago.”

A Knoch graduate, Trofimuk recalls walking to Saturday afternoon games and hearing Schiebel’s voice over the loudspeaker from all the way in Saxonburg.

“He was the announcer from the time I think the school started until he started getting older and getting ill, which was only in the last five years or so,” Trofimuk said. “So he’d been there for at least four decades at a minimum announcing Saturday afternoon, Friday night football games.”

King played football at Knoch and served as head coach from 1998 to 2016. He said it was like he never left home with Schiebel announcing the games.

“When I played football there, Rege announced every one of my games,” King said.

“I think Rege, to many, many people in our community, he was not just the ‘voice of Friday nights,’ but he was Knoch High School. It’s the first person many people think of,” King said.

King said there were times Schiebel left the microphone on so spectators could hear him criticizing calls or plays he didn’t agree with. King said it was “all in good fun.”

“Those are just moments that we all shared together as a community, and he was probably just saying what most of the people in the crowd were feeling,” King said.

In addition to his beloved Knoch Knights, Schiebel rooted for the Pittsburgh Steelers, his friend Terry Melis said.

“(He) and his one friend went to each Steelers Super Bowl,” Melis said. “He was a season ticket holder for many, many years.”

Schiebel served as president of the South Butler County School District Scholarship Foundation, which annually awards thousands of dollars in scholarships and loans to help Knoch graduates further their education. Melis now fills that role.

“He promoted education in every which way, and he reached out to students,” Melis said. “He’s done so many things over the years for students that it just was a natural fit for him to get more involved with that.”

Memorial donations in honor of Schiebel can be made to the South Butler County School District Scholarship Foundation.