When Ken Kraft steps down from his position as Northwestern’s senior associate athletic director, no one will wonder what he contributed to the university.
Rather, everyone will ask what Kraft hasn’t done.
From student-athlete to coach to administrator, he’s been at NU since 1953.
Kraft announced Thursday that he’ll be retiring at the end of June.
“It’s been a great run,” he said. “It’s difficult for people of college-age to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives, but I was lucky. I fell in love with Northwestern and found my destiny.”
Kraft, a 1997 inductee into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, will be welcomed into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame next month.
Four other former NU athletes will join Kraft in the Hall: Julie Calahan Bauer (basketball), Joel Collier (football), Mark Loretta (baseball) and J. Daniel Zehr (swimming).
“I think it’s a testament to Kraft, for anyone these days, to remain at an institution for so long,” NU Athletic Director Mark Murphy said. “Such passion and love will be difficult to match.”
During his years as an NU wrestler, Kraft won a conference title in the 167-pound weight class and still boasts the fifth-best winning percentage in NU history.
Following graduation, the Galt, Ill., native was hired as the Cats’ head wrestling coach, a position he held for 22 years. He made history, becoming the first person to lead his brother to an NCAA Championship when Art Kraft won the 157-pound weight class in 1960.
Kraft also founded one of the premier collegiate open-wrestling tournaments, the Midlands Championships, in 1963. This competition is held at Welsh-Ryan Arena every year. He will remain the tournament’s director after he retires.
Kraft also worked in wrestling outside of Evanston, serving two terms as president of USA Wrestling’s board of directors and working as a commentator for NBC and ABC. He also wrote an instructional wrestling book.
Kraft plans to stick around college wrestling even after he retires.
“Being with those young people day-to-day and being able to impact them and them being able to impact you is so special,” he said. “That’s what I’m going to miss.”
