Dr. Joe Kearney, the Commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference from 1980-94, passed away yesterday at the age of 83. Kearney died at the University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona, after an eight-month battle with pancreatic cancer.
Current WAC Commissioner Karl Benson issued the following statement: "
Joe was my colleague, my mentor and my very close friend. He touched
the lives of thousands of administrators and student-athletes
throughout this country and the world - college sports is better
because of Joe Kearney."
Dr. Kearney served 14 years as WAC Commissioner and took great pride in the direction the conference took during his tenure in which he enabled the WAC to obtain its first national television package in basketball when it signed a multi-year agreement with ESPN; crowned its first national football champion; earned its first Heisman and Outland Trophy winners; merged with the High Country Athletic Conference to form a single administrative structure for men's and women's athletics in 1990; and oversaw expansion with the addition of Fresno State in 1992.
One of the nation's more respected administrators, Dr. Kearney earned one of his profession's highly acclaimed honors when he was named the 1991 recipient of the prestigious Corbett Award, given by the National Collegiate Athletic Directors Association annually to the collegiate athletic administrator who through the years most typified former LSU athletic director James Corbett's devotion to intercollegiate athletics and worked unceasingly for its betterment.
Dr. Kearny was a former member of NACDA's Executive Committee (1981-85) and was active in several areas. He was also the former chair of the NCAA Insurance Committee, former President of the Collegiate Commissioners' Association, a former member of the NCAA Public Relations Committee, NCAA Television Committee and CFA Board of Directors. Dr. Kearney was also the Chair of the NCAA Special Committee on Amateurism and a NCAA Representative to the United States Olympic Committee's Executive Board.
Before his appointment as the fourth Commissioner in WAC history, Dr. Kearney was the athletics director at three of the nation's premier state universities. He was named Director of Athletics at the University of Washington in 1969 after he had been the Assistant Athletics Director for Operations for three years. A member of several NCAA Committee during his tenure at Washington, Dr. Kearney also gained recognition as a special delegate to Congress and the office of health, Education and Welfare on the topic of Title IX.
In April 1976, Dr. Kearney was named the Director of Athletics at Michigan State University and, in only three years, brought the program to its peak. During the 1978-79 year, the Spartans captured Big Ten titles in football, basketball and baseball, and the basketball team won the state of Michigan's first national basketball championship. Dr. Kearney moved from MSU to Arizona State in January 1980, where he remained until his appointment as WAC Commissioner on July 1, 1980.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pa.., on April 28, 1927, Kearney graduated from El Monte High School (Calif.) in 1945. After a stint n the Navy where he served during World War II, Kearney earned his bachelor's of arts degree from Seattle Pacific University. He then began a teaching and coaching career at Paradise High School (Calif.) in 1952.
Following were stints which included the positions of assistant basketball coach at Washington (1953-54); teacher, counselor and three-sport coach at Sunnyside (Wash.) High School (1954-57); principal and three-sport coach at Onalaska, Wash., (1957-61); principal of Tumwater (Wash.) High School (1961-63) and Assistant Executive Secretary for the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (1963-64).
Dr. Kearney earned his master's degree from San Jose State University in 1963 and received his doctorate in higher education from the University of Washington in 1970.
In 1994, he moved to Tucson following his retirement as WAC Commissioner. Since then, the WAC has annually given out the "Joe Kearney Award" which goes to the top male and female athlete in the conference.
Dr. Kearney is survived by his wife of almost 60 years, Dorothea Kearney, along with five children and eleven grandchildren.