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 .