[3][4] With his legendary group of mares, known as the "4 Rs" (Ragamuffin, Rotallen, Ravanelle and Roulette), Norty was generally recognized as the best mounted player in the US at that time.
With his brother Seymour H. Knox III, he presented an application October 19, 1965, to obtain a National Hockey League expansion team in 1967, but was rebuffed.
In 1968, the NHL Board of Governors rejected their agreement to move the Oakland Seals to Buffalo pending league approval.
Knox was a principal owner of the Buffalo Sabres from their foundation as a National Hockey League franchise in 1970 until a few months before his death.
The brothers also brought their vision of a state of the art sports and entertainment complex originally named the Marine Midland Arena and now called the KeyBank Center to life.
The 20,000 seat complex was completed in 1996 and is located at 1 Seymour H. Knox III Plaza on the waterfront in downtown Buffalo.