Indiana University of Pennsylvania Athletics

There is a provision within the Athletic Hall of Fame By-Laws that an IUP graduate need not have played or coached on campus to qualify for induction.

Rather, an individual may have "later achieved great success in athletics as a coach, player or administrator." Such are the credentials earned by Dr. Francis ··”Bernie” Kish that bring him to induction today.

Appointed executive director of the national College Football Hall of Fame in April, 1995, four months before opening its doors adjacent the campus of Notre Dame University, Kish has earned a national reputation that parallels the Hall’s.

Working in concert with the National Football Foundation, the College Football Hall of Fame has built manifold programs recognized across the country for their ambition and outstanding quality.

The site in South Bend has attracted more than 425,000 visitors from all 50 states and over 40 foreign countries.  Its special events program is considered one of the best in the Hall of Fame "industry," as is its model Traveling Hall of Fame.

Kish is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Sports Museums and Halls of Fame, whose membership includes 147 sites worldwide.
Immediately preceding his current post were positions at the University of Kansas as special assistant to the athletic director and ticket operations director.

Kish completed a doctorate (Ph. D.) in higher education at Kansas in 1998, following a master's in public administration at the University of Missouri at Kansas City in '72.
After graduating from IUP with honors in 1960 as a social studies major and distinguished military graduate, Kish embarked on a 30-year U. S. Army career that included 10 years' duty in Germany, Vietnam and Cambodia as he rose to the rank of full colonel, earning a Legion of Merit award and a Bronze Star.

Married to the former Judy Bernhardt since 1971, he has two daughters, Keri Ann, now an attorney in Dodge City, Kansas, and Kathryn Marie, with a public relations firm in Beverly Hills, California.