Hoping to offer another unique opportunity for students and further enhance the gameday experience for spectators, Rockhurst University athletics today announced the addition of pep band to its slate of offerings starting in fall 2026.

Denny Thum, a 1974 graduate of Rockhurst University who spent 36 years with the Kansas City Chiefs during one of the franchise’s most successful periods, will be honored by his alma mater with the Rashford-Lyon Award for Leadership and Ethics as part of the Rockhurst University Leadership Series on Wednesday, April 2.

Rockhurst University has received the NCAA Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence for achieving four-year Academic Success Rates of 90% or higher for the 14th consecutive year.

Senior Caroline Knopke said she grew up diving — “it's the only sport I've really ever known,” she said — and competed through high school. When it came time to choose a college, she found herself drawn to Rockhurst University. But that meant the end of her competitive diving career (though she would still coach a local girls’ team). Until this year.

For student-athletes, finding a balance between their sport and everything else on their college plate is a skill that’s in constant development. But what about doing two college sports?

That’s a mountain that incoming star Women’s Lacrosse and cross country freshman Kharis Perona is willing to climb. She’s used to putting in work to meet challenges.

In sports, teams are often so close they’re referred to internally as “families.” At an already tight-knit university like Rockhurst, because of the amount of time spent together and supporting each other, that can reach an extra level of inseparability that can lead to lifelong friendships.   

Of course, “family” is just a metaphor here… except when it’s not.

This past academic and athletic year, Rockhurst had six sets of siblings playing intercollegiate sports for the Hawks.

Joshua Roberts had all the posters printed for Spring 2020 – his first in charge of an intramural sports program that hadn’t been given a lot of attention in the recent past.

With more than 80 years of service between them, Rockhurst men’s soccer coach Tony Tocco and former Rockhurst women’s volleyball coach Tracy Rietzke have already cementing their place as legends in the University’s athletics program.

But in November, they will be enshrined into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2020 on Sunday, Nov. 15 at Kansas City’s Hy-Vee Arena, the renovated facility formerly known as Kemper Arena.