Former Utah Catholic high school coaches to be honored by Utah Sports Hall of Fame

Courtesy photo

Photo 1 of 4

Joe Cravens

SALT LAKE CITY — Four former coaches at Utah Catholic high schools will be inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame April 6 at a banquet at Little America. Joe Cravens will receive coach of merit honors. John Colosimo, Gil Cordova and Gail Meakins will be recognized as distinguished coaches.

As St. Joseph Catholic High School girls basketball coach, Joe Cravens posted a 93-20 record in five seasons, going 42-2 in region play, and was named the 2013 Utah Girls Basketball Coach of the Year. He enjoyed a 28-game winning streak, and his teams won Class 1A girls state championships in 2012 and 2013.

Before working at St. Joseph’s in Ogden, Cravens served as the men’s head basketball coach at the University of Utah (interim), Idaho State and Weber State. During his time at these universities, he received Coach of the Year trophies for the 2002-03 season in the Big Sky Conference, the national Mid-Major schools and the NABC District 7.

In that 2002-03 season, Cravens’ Weber State team went 14-0 in Big Sky play, making him the second coach in conference history to go unbeaten. He finished his WSU tenure with a 116-88 overall record in seven seasons, including 58-44 in conference games. As Idaho’s coach, he went 42-41 in three years, and was 12-12 at Utah in 1989-90 after becoming the interim coach six games into the season. Prior to coming to the Intermountain West, Cravens was an assistant coach at Texas-Arlington, Southwest Texas State, Washington and UC Irvine.

“I think that after winning a lot of awards along the way in my 35-year-career that this is a crowning jewel,” he said of the Utah Sports Hall of Fame award. “I think it’s a very high honor.”

“My success at St. Joe’s Catholic High School had a lot to do with this,” he added. “I think the reason I got this award was not because of what I did at St. Joe’s or at Weber State, it was a combination of that.”

John Colosimo launched the football program of Juan Diego Catholic High School when the school opened in Draper. During his 21 years as the Soaring Eagle coach, his teams won 80 percent of their games. Prior to his time at Juan Diego, Colosimo was the head football coach at Judge Memorial Catholic High School in Salt Lake City for 12 years. Between the two schools, his teams won 17 region championships, including 12 in a row. Juan Diego’s eight state titles included two “three-peats.” He ranks No. 4 all-time in Utah high school coaching, with 234 victories.

The National Federation of High School Coaches Association recognized Colosimo in 2004, and in 2014, the National Football Foundation’s Utah chapter honored him for his service to high school football. In addition to football, Colosimo has coached boys and girls basketball and served as an athletic director.

The Utah Sports Hall of Fame recognition is “quite an honor; when you go through the list they have of former coaches [who have received the award], they have been coaches, they’ve been legends, and I’ve wondered, ‘Have they got the right guy here?’” he said. “I’m humbled and I’m honored to be in that group.”

As he looks back over his career, Colosimo said it’s the players he remembers. “The kids that we had over the years, both at Judge and Juan Diego, have just been outstanding young men. It has been an honor to have those kids. It’s been quite a journey and it has been a lot of fun.”

As coach of both the Park City High School and Judge Memorial Catholic High School swim teams, Gail Meakins won a total of 10 state swimming championships. The six girls titles came via two “three-peats,” one at each school. Her athletes also won three boys championships at Judge.

Between the girls and boys programs at the two schools, Meakins was a five-time state Coach of the Year. She also served as a two-time president of the Utah Swimming Coaches Association. After her tenure at Judge, she went on to serve as an assistant coach at Cornell University.

“It is nice to be recognized, but more importantly, the opportunity to be able to coach and to work with the people I worked with – that’s what’s really important,” Meakins said. “Being able to work with young people with enthusiasm and the hard work they put in, that certainly enriched my life more than I probably did theirs.”

Gil Cordova, who represented Judge Memorial CHS as a quarterback during his high school career, went on to lead his alma mater as football coach. Under Cordova, Judge teams made six appearances from 1969-1975 in state championship games, winning three titles. His unbeaten team of ’72 is considered one of the best in Utah history, and his program is among five schools that have played in five consecutive title games.

Cordova said the Utah Sports Hall of Fame honor really belongs to all the players. “For me, it’s the players that ultimately had the commitment for success,” he said.  

After coaching at Judge for 11 years, Cordova led the programs at Kearns High and Skyline High for two seasons each, completing a career that produced 37 all-state players. Cordova’s sons Anthony and James were multi-sport athletes for Judge in the 1980s, and James joined his father as a winner of multiple state titles as football coaches at their alma mater. Cordova said he learned a lot during his playing and coaching careers, and had the opportunities to meet NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches such as teammates of Vince Lombardi.

“I learned a lot about the psychology of the game at each level from them,” he said.

The honorees will have their names displayed at the Utah Sports Hall of Fame Museum, located on the northwest corner of the City Creek mall in Salt Lake City.

The awards banquet is open to the public. Tickets are $65 per person and may be obtained by visiting www.utahsportshalloffame.org.