Kragthorpe Honored by Utah Chapter of the National Football Foundation

Utah State University special assistant to the athletic director Dave Kragthorpe was honored by the Utah Chapter of the National Football Foundation Wednesday night [April 23, 2008] at the chapter's 14th Annual Awards Banquet. Kragthorpe was recognized for his contribution to amateur football in Utah.

Other recipients of the honor include USU alumni LaVell Edwards (1949-51) in 2001 and Chris Pella (1963-64) in 2003.

 

The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame is an exciting and progressive, member supported, non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the future of amateur football at the local, state and national levels.

 

Since its beginnings in 1947, the Foundation has relied upon the support of volunteers to bring its mission and goals to communities all across the nation. Today, thanks to the more than 100,000 volunteers who became members over the past 56 years, the National Football Foundation has grown to 119 chapters with a presence in 48 of the 50 states.

 

The Utah Chapter of the National Football Foundation was founded in 1994 and is an integral part of the National Foundation.

 

Kragthorpe is in his third year as Special Assistant to the Athletics Director. Kragthrope has been at Utah State as an athlete, athletic director and Alumni Association officer. In his position, he is in charge of the Aggie Up fundraising program, while assisting in raising money for the Athletics Center Project.

 

Prior to joining the athletic department, Kragthorpe worked in the USU Alumni office for more than a decade.

 

Kragthorpe was a two-time all-conference selection as a football lineman at Utah State in 1953 and 1954 and was named to the school's all-century team in 1993. After graduation he played one year with the New York Giants.

 

Kragthorpe was an assistant football coach at Idaho Falls (Idaho) High School and head coach at Roosevelt (Mich.) High School. He then was an assistant at the college level at Montana, South Dakota State and Brigham Young, while also serving as head coach at South Dakota State and Idaho State.

 

While at Idaho State, he coached the Bengals to the NCAA I-AA national championship in 1981. He then served as the athletics director at USU from 1983-84 before returning to the collegiate coaching ranks at Oregon State and earning PAC-10 Coach of the Year honors.

 

In 2005 he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Utah State.

 

He and his wife, Barbara, have two grown children in Kurt, who is a sports writer for the Salt Lake Tribune and Steve, who is the head football coach at the University of Louisville.