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    Former WAC Commissioner Kearney dies at age 83

    May 7, 2010 3:18:51 PM


    The NCAA News

     

    Joe Kearney, longtime commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference and athletics director at three Division I institutions in the '60s and '70s, died Wednesday in Tucson, Arizona, at age 83.

    Kearney was commissioner of the WAC from 1980-94. Before that, he had served as athletics director at Washington, Michigan State and Arizona State.

    "He was a wonderful boss," former Washington football coach Don James told the Seattle Times. "If you had a problem, you could go down and talk about your problem and he would say, ‘I will work on it and you go back to work and do the things you can do,' and I would always get an answer within a few days. That's all you can ask for, to know where you stand on every issue."

    Kearney was born in Pittsburgh in 1927. After World War II, he attended Seattle Pacific, where he played basketball. After graduating, Kearney eventually worked his way to Washington, where he earned his Ph.D. There, he served as an assistant athletic director before he succeeded Jim Owens as athletics director.