Kevin Kearns entered Mount Saint Joseph High School in Baltimore in 1962 and received varsity letters in 4 sports Football, Wrestling, Track and Field and Cross Country. But it was wrestling, that he would dedicated his life for the next 50 years of his life. After graduation in 1966, he attended the University of Maryland at College park. Winning a starting spot on the freshmen team, he would be named co-captain after the 1st match and would later be named Captain of the varsity team in 1970-71. The military draft cam calling his 5th year at Maryland and he was sent to wrestler for the All-Army team before going to basic training. After attending a number of different military training schools including Advanced Infantry School, he was sent to Vietnam to join the 101st Airborne Division near the DMZ. Once he was there he volunteered for a special operations school knows as the, "LRRP" school, which stands for Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol. Forty four men started that school and 14 graduated. He was assigned to a 5 man team and sent deep behind enemy lines to gather intelligence among other things. He returned from Vietnam in 1972 and returned to the University of Maryland to finish his degree in Physical Education. At that time, he was a graduate assistant coach under Sully Krouse and John McHugh. In those 3 years he also wrestled for the Baltimore Central YMCA and coached by the Legendary Hall of Fame Wrestlers, Johnny Eareckson, Doug Lee and Vernon Cronhart. In 1975, Kevin moved to Minnesota to wrestle and train with the Minnesota Wrestling club and represented the USA on a number of USA Greco Roman Teams. Returning in 1976, he became the head coach at Dulaney HS IN Baltimore and then Head coach at Johs Hopkins University in 1977. He returned to the University of Maryland in 1980 as Assistant Coach and would remain in this position under five different head coaches for 37 years.