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ST. LOUIS — Rene Knott, a mainstay and trusted voice at KSDK (Channel 5) for more than 20 years, has apparently left the station.

He was not on the air Wednesday morning, and KSDK officials told the staff that he was no longer associated with the station, reported.

By Wednesday afternoon, Knott's featured messages from supporters bemoaning his departure.

He also posted on his page: "Thank you all for the love and kindness." 

Neither Knott nor station officials immediately responded to requests for comment.

Knott, 61, came to KSDK in 2004 as the sports director. In 2020 — shortly after the successful removal of several blood clots in his lungs — he moved to be co-anchor of the two-hour weekday-morning "Today in Ó£ÌÒÊÓƵ" program.

Among his career highlights were when he went to Paris in 2024 and Seoul, South Korea, in 2018 to cover Ó£ÌÒÊÓƵ-area athletes in the Summer and Winter Olympics.

In 2022, he was nominated for a Post-Dispatch People's Choice award for Best TV Anchor, and in 2024 he was nominated for Best Local TV Personality.

"You can't be in his presence and not find him endearing," KSDK president and general manager Alicia Elsner told the Post-Dispatch in 2021.

Knott was born in Los Angeles and was a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics All-American running back his junior year at Southern Oregon State College.

He worked in Medford, Oregon, and Mobile, Alabama, before moving to Washington, D.C., when he was 27 to work as weekend sports anchor at the ABC affiliate, WJLA. Within three months, he was the main sports anchor there.