College Sports Information Directors of America

Lifetime Achievement Award
Presented to individuals who have served at least 25 years in the athletics communications profession (as of July 2025) who are retiring or leaving the profession. Years of service vetted by the Special Awards Committee. 

John Kean – Missouri S&T (retired)

After serving as the Director of Athletic Communications for the last 34 years at NCAA Division II Missouri S&T, John Kean stepped down from that full-time role on August 5, 2024. He continues to work with S&T athletics in a part-time role as an athletic communications consultant.

Joining the staff in 1990, Kean played an integral part in S&T's successes, covering countless stories of the accomplishments of Miner teams and their student-athletes. In his time with Missouri S&T, John covered several Miner teams that won conference championships as well as over 100 student-athletes who earned Academic All-America honors. Additionally, he promoted seven Academic All-America of the Year selections, 23 GLVC Scholar-Athletes of the Year, six winners of the Richard F. Scharf Paragon Award, and two Ken B. Jones Student Athletes of the Year honorees.

Kean was inducted into the CSC Hall of Fame in 2021 and last June, received the 2024 Warren Berg Award for outstanding commitment to athletic media relations in the college division. Among other honors, he received the Dr. Thomas Kearns Service Award from the GLVC in 2018 and the Roy Pickerill Distinguished Service Award from the NCAA Division II Sports Information Directors Association (D2SIDA) in 2023.

Among his leadership roles, Kean was president of D2SIDA for four years before serving another three years on the College Sports Communicators Board of Directors from 2018-21. He served on the GLVC's scheduling committee and the programming subcommittee during the creation of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Sports Network. 

Kean's contributions also extended to several NCAA tournaments, both on the regional and national level. He has worked in nine men's basketball and two women's basketball Division II Elite Eight championships and helped develop the NCAA DII men's basketball website home page.

Jim Naumovich, Great Lakes Valley Conference Commissioner: "John’s dedication to promoting Missouri S&T, their teams, student-athletes, and coaches throughout his impressive career will be his lasting legacy in Rolla, Missouri."

Melissa Ringhausen, Missouri S&T University Director of Athletics: "John is one of the greatest in his profession and Missouri S&T is fortunate to have had him in this role for over three decades. Throughout his career, John worked tirelessly to capture the essence of every game and to promote the performance of our student-athletes. His devotion to Miner Athletics and commitment to his profession have earned him numerous honors and accolades on the conference, regional, and national levels. 

John’s guidance and wisdom has left an indelible mark in the lives of countless student-athletes, coaches, and administrators of NCAA intercollegiate athletics. It has been a privilege and honor to work with John.  On behalf of Miner Athletics, I thank him and his wife Lisa, for his years of exceptional service."

Roy Pickerill, Kentucky Wesleyan SID Emeritus / Special Assistant For College Relations, CSC Hall of Fame (1999), CSC Lifetime Achievement Award (2017): "My association with John began eons ago. He has always been an icon to all sports communication professionals with his expertise, leadership but more importantly his friendship to everyone. To paraphrase Tina Turner’s 1989 mega hit song…‘You Are Simply the Best.’"



Luke Rinne, University of Missouri-St. Louis Assistant Athletics Director for Media Relations: "I’m not sure there are enough words to describe John’s impact he’s had at Missouri S&T and to intercollegiate athletics as a whole. His dedication and contributions to not only S&T but Division II and College Sports Communicators is well known inside of those circles. He has spent countless hours promoting his teams over a legendary 34-year career and has been part of several significant moments in that athletics department history. 

As examples: John got to tell the story of S&T’s softball team becoming the first women’s sports team at S&T to win a conference championship last season and told the story of Tershawn Wharton who played at football at S&T and is a two-time Super Bowl Champion with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Most important are the friendships he’s made with student-athletes, coaches and administrators on that campus and across the country through CSC. I got to witness firsthand his dedication to our profession serving as his assistant for nearly 10 years. Colleagues from across the country are thankful for the time he’s put in running the Division II Men’s Basketball page and the countless late nights he’s put into keeping that site updated with scores from across the country. It’s a valuable resource that a lot of us have used. I’m so proud of my friend and colleague and I can’t thank him enough for taking a chance on me in 2008."

Don Weast, Emporia State Associate Athletic Director, Media Relations: "John Kean was the poster child for a successful small college SID/communicator. He was a steady influence for his teams no matter their level of success on the field or court. He played a huge role on a national scale through his involvement with Division II basketball and CoSIDA/CSC. Most importantly, John understands the personal level of athletics and always made it welcoming when we traveled to Rolla.  In fact, he was the first (and so far only) host SID to take me bowling the night before a game!"

Kean looking back on his memorable career…
"When people ask me about my career, I always tell them that I’m a very lucky person. I’ve been around sports nearly my entire life and always enjoyed talking and writing about it, so to land in a profession where I would be able to highlight the great accomplishments of our teams and student-athletes turned out to be a dream come true. It wasn’t the path I initially planned to be on, but it certainly couldn’t have worked out any better. I am so appreciative of all the individuals I’ve been able to work with over the last 34-plus years, whether they are colleagues, administrators, coaches, student-athletes, media or those close to the program. Any success I had in my career is in part due to them and they certainly had a hand in shaping my career in this profession as well."