BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Three-time Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) All-America selection Joseph “Joey” Colton ’17 of Harvard University will join the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Hall of Fame during a ceremony on Friday, November 20, at his alma mater following the first night of the 2026 Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Championship hosted at Blodgett Pool.
He becomes the 50th member of the CWPA Hall of Fame as the former Crimson standout joins Richard Hunkler (Slippery Rock University/Coach, 2002), Dick Russell (Bucknell University/Coach, 2002), Lynn Kachmarik (Slippery Rock University/Athlete, Bucknell University/Coach, 2003), Ed Reed (Brown University/Coach, 2003), John Barrett (University of Maryland/Athlete, 2004), Paul Barren (West Chester University/Referee, 2004), Sue Kolczak (Slippery Rock University/Athlete, 2005), George Gross (Yale University/Athlete, 2005), Robbie Bova (Slippery Rock University/Athlete, 2006), Scott Schulte (Bucknell University/Athlete, 2006), Katie Grogan (University of Massachusetts/Athlete, 2007), Russ Yarworth (University of Massachusetts/Coach, 2007), Betsey Armstrong (University of Michigan/Athlete, 2008), Tom Popp (United States Naval Academy/Athlete, 2008), Diane Stein Swigart (Slippery Rock University/Athlete, 2009), Lars Enstrom (Brown University/Athlete, 2009), Leslie Entwistle (Slippery Rock University/Athlete, 2010), Chris Judge (Fordham University/Athlete, 2010), Carrie Basye-Becker (Slippery Rock University, University of Maryland/Athlete, 2011), John Benedick (Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Coach, Administrator, 2011), Kristin Stanford (Indiana University/Athlete, 2012), Mark Gensheimer (Bucknell University/Athlete, 2012), Adele McCarthy-Beauvais (Princeton University/Athlete, 2013), Simon Gould (University of Arkansas-Little Rock/Athlete, 2013), Tom Tracey (Villanova University/Director of Officials, 2014), Mike Schofield (United States Naval Academy/Coach, 2014), Goga Vukmirovic (Princeton University/Athlete, 2015), Rich Russey (Brown University/Athlete, 2015), Shana Welch (University of Michigan/Athlete, 2016), Tony Paxton (Bucknell University/Athlete, 2016), Krista Peterson Polvi (Indiana University/Athlete, 2017), Jeff Hilk (Bucknell University/Athlete, 2017), Patricia Ann “Trish” McGuire (Slippery Rock University/Athlete, 2018), Steve Ennis (Brown University/Athlete, 2018), Elyse Colgan (Princeton University/Athlete, 2019), Garrin Kapecki (Bucknell University/Athlete, 2019), Julie Hyrne (University of Michigan/Athlete, 2020), Luis Nicolao (United States Naval Academy/Athlete, 2020), Dan Sharadin (West Virginia University/Villanova University/Collegiate Water Polo Association/Coach & Administrator, 2023), Ted Bresnahan (Johns Hopkins University/Coach, 2024), Carl Quigley (St. Francis College Brooklyn/Coach, 2024), Peter Sabbatini (Princeton University/Athlete, 2024), Aaron Recko (United States Naval Academy/Athlete, 2024), Igor Mladenovic (St. Francis College Brooklyn/Athlete, 2024, Ashleigh Johnson (Princeton University/Athlete, 2025) Javier Gonzalez (University of Massachusetts/Athlete, 2025), Alex Mujica (University of Massachusetts/Athlete, 2025), Luis Limardo (University of Massachusetts/Athlete, 2025) and Brian Stahl (University of Massachusetts/Athlete, 2025) in earning the organization’s highest honor for performance in the sport.
The inaugural individual from Harvard to earn a position in the Hall of Fame, he places his alma mater among elite company as Slippery Rock University (nine), Bucknell University (six), the University of Massachusetts (six), Princeton University (five), Brown University (four), the Untied States Naval Academy (four), the University of Michigan (three), Indiana University (two), St. Francis College Brooklyn (two), Villanova University (two), Fordham University, Johns Hopkins University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, the University of Maryland, West Chester University, West Virginia University and Yale University previously posted an alumnus/former employee in the Hall of Fame.
Additional information on the Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be released within the week following consultation with Harvard pertaining to reception location, time and other pertinent details.
The program single-season (121) and career (312) assists record holder at Harvard, Colton stands ninth in goals (197) and second in steals (147) for a career at Harvard. He holds the first (121 in 2014), second (77 in 2016) and seventh (T-57 in both 2015 and 2013) place single-season assists marks at the school, while also rankings seventh (12 in 2016) in single season field blocks along with ninth (47 in 2014) and 10th (46 in 2013) in single season steals,
A three-time ACWPC All-America honoree (2014 – Honorable Mention; 2015 – Honorable Mention; 2016 – Third Team), four-time ACWPC All-Academic and CWPA Scholar-Athlete selection (2013-to-2016) and the 2014 CWPA Northern Division Most Valuable Player (MVP), Colton claimed All-CWPA Northern Division First (2014, 2015) and Second Team (2013) status prior to receiving All-Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) First Team (2016) laurels following the formation of the conference.
A 2016 NWPC Championship All-Tournament First Team honoree, he picked up CWPA Championship All-Tournament recognition in 2015 (Second Team) and 2014 (Second Team).
Team captain in both 2015 and 2016, the highlight performance of Colton’s tenure in Cambridge came in 2016 as he led Harvard to a program-record 27 wins, a 27-7 record, the program’s inaugural NWPC Championship and the program’s first National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship berth.
The 2013 Harvard Men’s Water Polo Rookie of the Year prior to receiving the team’s 2014 and 2016 Most Valuable Player nods, he stands as Harvard’s first NCAA Championship All-Tournament honoree with Second Team honors after helping the Crimson down Bucknell University (13-12 OT SD) in Cambridge on November 26 and the University of California-Davis (16-15 OT) at the University of California in Berkeley to reach the NCAA Championship Final Four. The Third Place finish at the NCAA Championship is tied for the highest placement by an East Coast program equaling the University of Massachusetts (1995, 1999), the United States Naval Academy (2007), Princeton University (2009, 2011, 2023), Queens College (1997, 2002), St. Francis College Brooklyn (2012) and Fordham University (2024, 2025).
A 2017 graduate of Harvard with a degree in Economics, the Garden Grove, Calif., native and El Toro High School alum currently works in Seattle, Wash., as a Product Marketing Manager for Wizards of the Coast, a family of studios specializing in building role playing, trading card and digital games for all genres of players with products including Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons.
