BOULDER — John Stearns, a legend on the baseball diamond and football gridiron for the University of Colorado in the early 1970s, passed away Thursday in Denver after a courageous fight against stage IV cancer. He was 71.
Born August 21, 1951 in Denver, he starred as a prep at Thomas Jefferson High School in football, baseball and basketball and was recruited to CU by assistant football coach Steve Sidwell.
Inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 and CU’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008, on the diamond he played in 140 games for the Buffaloes, mostly at catcher, with a career average of .366 with 28 home runs and 101 runs batted in. He had one of the best single seasons in CU history as a senior in 1973, when he batted .413 with 15 homers and 48 RBI’s; he led the NCAA in home runs and slugging percentage (.819) while leading CU to a 32-11 record under the late Irv Brown, the school’s best-ever once the schedule expanded to 25 or more games in the mid-1950’s. Those numbers helped him become CU’s first All-American in the sport.
On the gridiron, he remains CU’s all-time record holder in interceptions (16) and return yards for both a season (158) and career (339). He also 194 tackles and 18 pass deflections at the safety position. Stearns pulled off perhaps the “gutsiest” play in school history, when he ran for a 12-yard game out of the punt formation, from the Buff 10-yard line no less, on a 4th-and-9 play with CU nursing a 23-17 lead over Houston early in the fourth quarter in the ’71 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl. The Buffs went on to win, 29-17, and finished No. 3 in the national rankings. He earned first-team All-Big Eight honors in 1972 and was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the ’73 NFL Draft.
He was initially drafted out of Thomas Jefferson High School by the Oakland A’s in the 13th round of the 1969 Major League Baseball Draft, but chose to enroll at CU. Following a stellar career in both football and baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies made him the second overall selection in the ’73 Draft.
After the better part of two seasons in the Phillies’ minor league system, he was called up to the majors in September 1974, getting a single in two at…
Born August 21, 1951 in Denver, he starred as a prep at Thomas Jefferson High School in football, baseball and basketball and was recruited to CU by assistant football coach Steve Sidwell.
Inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 and CU’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008, on the diamond he played in 140 games for the Buffaloes, mostly at catcher, with a career average of .366 with 28 home runs and 101 runs batted in. He had one of the best single seasons in CU history as a senior in 1973, when he batted .413 with 15 homers and 48 RBI’s; he led the NCAA in home runs and slugging percentage (.819) while leading CU to a 32-11 record under the late Irv Brown, the school’s best-ever once the schedule expanded to 25 or more games in the mid-1950’s. Those numbers helped him become CU’s first All-American in the sport.
On the gridiron, he remains CU’s all-time record holder in interceptions (16) and return yards for both a season (158) and career (339). He also 194 tackles and 18 pass deflections at the safety position. Stearns pulled off perhaps the “gutsiest” play in school history, when he ran for a 12-yard game out of the punt formation, from the Buff 10-yard line no less, on a 4th-and-9 play with CU nursing a 23-17 lead over Houston early in the fourth quarter in the ’71 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl. The Buffs went on to win, 29-17, and finished No. 3 in the national rankings. He earned first-team All-Big Eight honors in 1972 and was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the ’73 NFL Draft.
He was initially drafted out of Thomas Jefferson High School by the Oakland A’s in the 13th round of the 1969 Major League Baseball Draft, but chose to enroll at CU. Following a stellar career in both football and baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies made him the second overall selection in the ’73 Draft.
After the better part of two seasons in the Phillies’ minor league system, he was called up to the majors in September 1974, getting a single in two at…
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