Rams coach Sean McVay and multiple members of his staff will participate in the 2025 Coach Knapp Stair Climb in honor of longtime NFL assistant coach Greg Knapp before Saturday’s preseason game against the Chargers at SoFi Stadium.
Knapp climbed the stadium stairs before each game in his 25-season NFL coaching career, which began in 1995 with the San Francisco 49ers, according to The Coach Knapp Memorial Fund.
Knapp, a graduate of Huntington Beach High School, was struck and killed in 2021 by a vehicle driven by a distracted driver while he was riding his bicycle in San Ramon, near his home. He was 58. The crash occurred the day before Knapp was to report to training camp with the New York Jets, who hired him earlier in the year to be their passing game coordinator.
The driver who hit and killed Knapp looked down momentarily to check his phone in his cup holder to see the next direction while driving to the gym, according to the fund.
The fund was founded by Knapp’s widow Charlotte and agent Jeff Sperbeck to educate drivers on the dangers of distracted driving, reduce the number of distracted driving-related deaths and promote distracted driving reform.
Charlotte Knapp will join the Rams’ coaches on their stair climb Saturday.
Sperbeck died April 30, two days after suffering a head injury in a fall from a golf cart driven by Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway at an after-party event for the Stagecoach Festival at the Madison Club in La Quinta. He was 62.
Rams coaches also participated in a stair climb last season in Knapp’s honor to raise funds and awareness on the dangers of distracted driving.
The fund also encourages members of the public to climb stairs, take a video of it and post it on social media with the hashtags #knappstairclimb, #dontdrivedistracted, and tag its Instagram or Twitter account, @knappmemorial.
More information about the fund is available at knappmemorial.org.