Remembering Abe Ricky McKnight, MNPS Musical Teacher

From the Metro Nashville Public Schools:

January 27, 2021

Remembering Abe Ricky McKnight

“Gentle giant” McKnight left powerful legacy of music and mentoring

An MNPS music teacher who was known as a “giant teddy bear” died this week, leaving a legacy of powerful personal and musical connections with his many students and co-workers.

Abe Ricky McKnight worked for about 15 years as a choral teacher at Maplewood High School until his retirement in 2017. He was with the district for 19 years overall.

Joe Shelton, Maplewood’s band director, said McKnight, who stood about 6’3,” was a “gentle giant” and jokester who had a smile and kind words for anyone he encountered.

“Even with some of the most challenging students, with his smile he was always able to break through those shells,” Shelton said. “He was able to get to what was really inside them.”

Johnella Cherry, a restorative practice assistant and cheer coach at Stratford STEM Magnet School Lower Campus, grew up knowing McKnight through his daughter, who was a year older than Cherry, and his wife, who was her cheerleading coach in elementary and middle school.

McKnight later taught Cherry at Pearl-Cohn, and while she wasn’t musically inclined, she could see the teacher’s impact at the school through the choral programs he established and the work he did with individual students, including her.

“Mr. McKnight treated me as if I was one of his children, like others, but he made it an effort to make sure I stayed on track because of the history I shared with his family,” she said. “There were times in class that we would have real-life conversations, and he taught us life lessons of getting an education, finishing school and creating a legacy for those to follow. At any time he ever saw me going astray or not doing what I needed to be doing, he most definitely put me back in my place, and he would call his wife ‘old cheer coach’ to have a word with me.

“Building culture within your school is something that I took from Mr. McKnight, and when you create and build something so dynamic, it helps build relationships with your students, families and communities,” Cherry added.

“He was the ‘father’ so many students never had,” agreed Sonya Mansfield Ross, a science instructor at W.A. Bass Learning Center and former longtime colleague of McKnight’s at Maplewood. “He was always willing to do whatever needed to be done, especially if it would benefit and showcase the talent of our students. His influence in their lives was one of the most powerful I’ve ever seen.”

Shelton offers similar reflections about McKnight, who also played piano in a gigging band with his brother for decades and started a student pop ensemble, the Black Cat Jazz Band, at Maplewood. Shelton remembers McKnight working with tentative young musicians to “make them feel they could do this” and paying out of his own pocket to cater a meal for all of his students at the end of the Maplewood spring concert each year.

“He felt it was his duty as a sort of surrogate parent for these kids. He really treated his students like they were his kids,” Shelton recalled. “You would think he adopted 120 kids every school year. He cared for all of them.”

Shelton said he plans to organize a memorial concert as a fitting tribute to McKnight once local health conditions allow it.

This press release was produced by the Metro Nashville Public Schools. The views expressed are the author's own.