WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – The late Greg Knapp, a longtime NFL coach, is someone current Rams safeties coach Chris Beake considered a "great friend" and mentor when Beake first entered the league as a coach.
"We started together in San Francisco, and he always did a great job of looking after me," Beake told theRams.com. "We were together at several different stops around the NFL, I think four different teams I coached with him. I'm not sure exactly how many years, but it was a long time where we were together. And as we got older and we became good friends, his daughter Jordan, she's almost like a daughter for us."
On July 22, 2021, Knapp tragically passed away five days after being struck by a distracted driver while riding his bike. Beake was on the Denver Broncos' coaching staff at the time; Knapp was set to begin working for the New York Jets as their pass game specialist.
"It was devastating," Beake said. "It was in July, and it was right before we're going back to training camp, and the word came from all the guys that know him, friends, coaches around the NFL. We couldn't believe it. It was devastating. Hearts and thoughts go out to his daughter, his family, and you just try to support them as best as you can. It was a tough time in the NFL, because it was just a few days before (training) camp happened, and we had to go do our work, you know? The NFL doesn't stop, right? But there was a few guys that were able to go and be with him out there. It was hard, because he got injured and he was in the hospital I think for a few days, and then he just wasn't able to recover. So there was a little bit of time there where you're praying and hoping that he would pull through and make it, and ended up not going that way. So it was definitely difficult. The biggest thing was just thinking about and providing support and love to his family."
To honor his legacy, The Coach Knapp Memorial Fund was established to garner donations to causes close to him, promote distracted driving awareness and reform and other charitable interests.
"It meant a lot to try to support his foundation," Beake said.
According to Beake, Knapp had a pregame routine of running stadium stairs and doing exercises. Beake said he's done that annually since Year 1, making this the third consecutive year.
Other Rams coaches were connected to Knapp as well, and joined Beake in running the stairs at SoFi Stadium prior to Los Angeles' Week 7 game as part of that annual Coach Knapp Stair Climb challenge.
"The great thing about Coach Knapp was that he, like all of us have, coached on several different teams, but there's a lot of coaches that know him, a lot of coaches on our staff that coached with him," Beake said. "... So the coaching tree is very broad that he knows, and then guys just wanted to support the challenge. So it was a great opportunity. He coached for the Raiders, obviously knew a lot of coaches here on the Rams, so that was a great week for us to get together and run the stairs. And it was fun. We bring awareness, get a lap or so, not quite a lap, in, but it was awesome."
This year, Beake is raising awareness by also displaying the cause on his sneakers for Sunday's My Cause My Cleats game against the Bills at SoFi Stadium.
"This is my first year doing the cleats," Beake said. "I didn't realize as coaches we could do the cleats until I saw one of our other colleagues, Robert Prince with the Dallas Cowboys, he had him on last year. I'm like, 'Oh, that's a great idea.' So I had to jump on it this year."
Beake said that when a great friend loses his life to a distracted driver, you realize how fast it can change a lot of people's lives. He's reminded of it and feels it every day, every time he's driving on a street and he sees a bicycle, cyclist, narrow bike lane or similar.
In that vein, by supporting this cause, he hopes to emphasize how preventable distracted driving is.
"You're like, 'I need to make sure I'm paying attention as a driver,' and that's kind of the awareness that I feel every day, and I want to pass that on to other people," Beake said. "Like, hey, it doesn't take much to change people's lives, and it's not necessary.
"Keep your eyes on the road."
