Peter Knowles was one of the brightest footballers who gave up his career to become a Jehovah’s witness. The Wolves striker, then 23 years old, was one of England’s most promising rising stars in the summer of 1969. Experts compared him to Manchester United’s standout player George Best because of how quick and skilled he was. Knowles even had a remote chance of making Sir Alf Ramsey’s 1970 England World Cup championship defense team. However, Knowles abruptly left a game against Nottingham Forest on September 6, 1969, after it had ended in a 3-3 draw. He was converted on his doorway and gave it all up to join the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
“I was an atheist at the time. I didn’t think there was a God. Being a professional football player and playing for Wolves made me happy,” Peter Knowles said after he became a Jehovah’s Witness. “I’m not trying to gloat here. However, I excelled at it and liked it. Two Jehovah’s Witnesses once rang my doorbell. “Why did my dad and my two sisters, who had done wrong, die?” I asked them. They entered and responded to the query. They responded to further questions that I had not previously received an answer to. I joined a Jehovah’s Witness in this way. If I hadn’t run across them, I would have kept playing football. You know, I could have faced the Witnesses and instructed them to leave. What you mentioned is not what I agree with. However, while I listened, I said to myself, “Yes, that makes sense.”
Knowles was playing exhibition games for a team called the Kansas City Spurs when he converted; he was visiting the United States at the time. Though his heart wasn’t in it, he went back to the UK. Despite scoring in each of the season’s first three games, he made the decision to retire after playing Forest in September. Bill McGarry, the manager of Wolves, couldn’t believe it and on Monday morning set out Knowles’ training gear for him. Knowles, however, did not appear. And he hasn’t looked back since.
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