DENVER, Colo. – Longtime former Colorado State University Pueblo football coach John Wristen received the Joe Kearney Service Award here Monday evening at the 30th Annual Colorado Chapter National Football Foundation (NFF) and College Hall of Fame Scholar-Athlete Awards Banquet held in the Grand Ballroom at the Denver West Marriott.
 
The Joe Kearney Service Award is given to someone that has made contributions to the sport of football in the state of Colorado. Wristen is the 21st recipient of the Joe Kearney Award since its inception in 2003. There were two winners of the award in 2015.

The Joe Kearney Service Award is named in honor of longtime former athletics administrator Joe Kearney, who left an indelible mark on the gridiron throughout his nearly 30 years in college athletics. As one of the most highly respected administrators in the country, Kearney left an indelible mark on the gridiron throughout his nearly 30 years in college athletics.

Kearney served as the athletics director at University of Washington from 1969-76, before being hired as Michigan State's athletics director in 1976 and after winning 11 Big Ten Championships and winning the NCAA men's basketball title in 1979. He then spent one year as the athletic director at Arizona State, before spending 14 years (1980-94) as the Commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference. He received NACDA's prestigious Corbett Award in 1991.

Dedicated to promoting the good that comes from the game of football, Kearney established three chapters (Colorado, Southern Arizona, King County (Wash.)) of the National Football Foundation throughout the country and was actively involved in the Southern Arizona Chapter until his health declined. He also served as a board member for the College Football Association; acted as president of the Collegiate Commissioner's Association; gained recognition as a special delegate to Congress on Title IX; and served on the U.S. Olympic Committee for 16 years. In his honor, the WAC established the Joe Kearney Award, which has been presented to the conference's top male and female athlete each year since 1991-92. Kearney passed away on May 5, 2010 after an eight-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

Wristen earns this year's Joe Kearney Service Award after spending 15 years as the head football coach at CSU Pueblo before retiring after the completion of the 2022 season. In his 15 years with the ThunderWolves, Wristen revived the football program in 2008 and it him just seven years to lead CSU Pueblo to an NCAA Division II championship in 2014. Overall, he led the Pack to seven Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference titles and eight appearances in the NCAA Division II playoffs. He was named the RMAC Coach of the Year six times and he compiled a 131-36 overall record and a 107-24 mark in the RMAC and retired with the second-best winning percentage (.784) among active Division II coaches.

As the starting quarterback at then University of Southern Colorado, he was an Honorable Mention All-American quarterback, guiding the then-Indians to its only NAIA playoff appearance in 1983. At the time, Wristen graduated at USC's all-time leader in passing yards (3,283) and touchdown passes (26).

Wristen began his coaching career as a graduate assistant under Bill McCartney at the University of Colorado during the school's 1990 national championship season. He then followed CU assistant Gary Barnett from Colorado to Northwestern in 1991 and spent seven seasons serving the Wildcats' running backs coach.

After his time at Northwestern, Wristen returned to serve as an assistant on Barnett's staff at Colorado (1999-06) and spent seven seasons in Boulder, before being named CSU Pueblo's coach in 2006.

Along with Wristen being presented the Joe Kearney Service Award, the Colorado Chapter NFF handed out its collegiate award winners at Monday's banquet as CSU Pueblo senior defensive lineman Trey Botts (Aurora, Colo./Lutheran) was named the Defensive Player of the Year and sophomore receiver Andrew Cook (Tucson, Ariz./Ironwood Ridge) was named the Special Team Player of the Year. The other collegiate award winners honored on Monday were Colorado Mines' Brandon Moore being named the Collegiate Coach of the Year, while Colorado Mines' senior quarterback John Matocha was named the Offensive Player of the Year and Fort Lewis senior defensive end Max Hyson was named the 2022 Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

The Colorado Chapter NFF also recognized its high school Scholar-Athete Award winners and also gave other awards to Luis Pacheco (Special Champion Award), Terrence Miles (John Adams Officiating Award), Gerry Strabala (Jim Turner Award), Dave Plati (Jim Saccomano Award) and Dick DeWire (Keith Jendent Award).