Chris Prosinski’s Hall of Fame Moment Arrives
Laramie, Wyo. - Chris Prosinski grew up watching University of Wyoming football, staying up late for Cowboys basketball games and pretending that the backyard fields of Buffalo, Wyoming were War Memorial Stadium.
Wearing the Brown and Gold was a dream for Prosinski. Beyond his dreams: Being enshrined among the finest athletes in University of Wyoming history.
Chris is a former Wyoming safety and seven-year NFL veteran who will be inducted into the University of Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday evening. To be followed by on-field recognition during the game against the University of Northern Colorado on Saturday.
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“It’s a huge honor to be inducted into the Wyoming Hall of Fame and included with these six other inductees that are going in this year,” Prosinski said. “As a Wyoming kid, I always dreamed about wearing the brown and gold. My dreams probably never made it this far, to be inducted into the University of Wyoming Hall of Fame. That’s why it makes it so special.”
The honor is the culmination of a successful football career. Prosinski's football journey began with backyard games in a community without an established youth football program. This eventually carried him from Buffalo to Laramie and then into the NFL.
Upgringing
Prosinski’s Buffalo, Wyoming upbringing remains central to his story.
He grew up with a close group of friends who had known one another since elementary school. Without an organized flag or peewee football league, they first learned the sport through backyard games before playing at the middle-school level.
Prosinski and his friends helped lay the foundation for one of Buffalo High School’s most successful athletic eras. Several of those friends come to mind: Smith, Kinzer, Laken, and Wyoming’s own Ryan Charles. Too many to list them all!
“We were very competitive, and it just continued to grow,” Prosinski said. “When we started getting into high school, we held each other accountable, and we all wanted to play for each other."
“A lot of us didn’t care about the stats or who scored the touchdowns or who got the interview. We really just wanted to win. It was a group of friends that’s hard to come by, and we’re still all really close. It’s something I’ll cherish forever.”
Prosinski started for three seasons under former Buffalo football coach Pat Lynch, playing quarterback on offense and safety on defense. The Bison reached three state championship games, won two titles and finished undefeated in each of Prosinski’s final two seasons.
He also helped Buffalo win a state basketball championship as a senior while playing for his father, Paul Prosinski.
Lynch recalls Prosinski as someone who excelled on and off the court.
“Chris Prosinski was a better person off the field than he was on the field,” Lynch said. “He was a quality kid. He led by example. He was an honor student and just an all-around good kid.”
“He was a quiet leader,” Lynch said. “He wasn’t a yeller or a screamer. He led by example. He was definitely a student of the game. He was probably the hardest-conditioning athlete I’ve ever coached, and he pushed all of his friends to greatness.”
Prosinski credits Lynch with helping football overtake basketball as his primary sport.
“I just loved being coached by him,” Prosinski said. “He had a way of making the game fun but still holding us accountable. A lot of us high school players idolized Coach Lynch. He had a huge impact on my shift from basketball to football early in my high school career.”
University of Wyoming Career
Prosinski was the top-ranked Wyoming recruit in the 2006 class and received an offer from Cowboys head coach Joe Glenn.
Prosinski committed within 24 hours.
“I grew up going to Laramie in the fall to watch football games,” Prosinski said. “I idolized the Casey Bramlets, the Jovon Bouknights, Marcus Baileys and Josh Davises - and really any former athlete before me. It was something that had been in my blood for a long time, the brown and gold.”
“When I got the offer, it was probably one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make.”
Prosinski redshirted during his first season at Wyoming before emerging as one of the most productive defensive players in University of Wyoming history.
He recorded 373 career tackles from 2007–10, the sixth-highest total in program history. His 140 tackles in 2009 remain the fifth-most by a Cowboy in a single season.
Prosinski tied Ward Dobbs for the team lead with three interceptions in 2008. He earned honorable-mention All-Mountain West recognition in 2008 and 2009 before receiving second-team honors as a senior in 2010.
He was also a four-time Academic All-Mountain West selection and served as a team captain during his senior season.
Prosinski said Glenn and assistant coach Mike Breske gave a raw player from a small Wyoming town the time and opportunity he needed to develop.
“They took an opportunity on a Wyoming kid from a town of 4,000 people,” Prosinski said. “I was probably more raw than a lot of the other freshmen coming in, but they were patient with me. They let me redshirt, and I think they saw potential there.”
Former Wyoming safety John Wendling also provided Prosinski with a blueprint for what was possible. Wendling was a senior when Prosinski arrived in Laramie and was inducted into the UW Athletics Hall of Fame in 2025.
“I was fortunate enough just to watch a lot of how he handled everything,” Prosinski said. “I was a sponge, soaking up a lot of information from him. I watched how he prepared for games, how he practiced, how he studied film and how he took care of his body.
“He really provided a blueprint for me of what a successful football player at that level looked like.”
Prosinski’s first game in a Wyoming uniform offered an early indication that the kid from Buffalo belonged. The Cowboys welcomed Virginia and future NFL star Chris Long to War Memorial Stadium in 2007 and walked away with a 23-3 upset.
“I can still remember it to this day,” Prosinski said. “I remember coming out for warmups and just seeing how big they were. To be able to run out onto War Memorial in front of that many fans, coming from a small high school, is a memory that I’ll certainly have forever.”
Other defining moments followed.
Wyoming stunned Tennessee in Knoxville in 2008. One year later, the Cowboys defeated Fresno State in double overtime in the New Mexico Bowl, securing the victory with a goal-line stand.
Prosinski’s final game at War Memorial Stadium provided a fitting conclusion. Wyoming
defeated rival Colorado State 44-0 in the 2010 Border War to win the Bronze Boot.
“We had a tough season, but that made up for a lot of it,” Prosinski said.
“I grew up bleeding brown and gold,” Prosinski said. “Being the only four-year university that the state has, it’s all I’d really ever known.
“I know the characteristics that a lot of Wyoming people embody. They’re loyal, tough, and hardworking. That’s what I tried to bring to the program.”
Prosinski did indeed.
The NFL Called
The Jacksonville Jaguars selected Prosinski in the fourth round of the 2011 NFL Draft with the No. 121 overall pick. He went on to play seven seasons for Jacksonville, Philadelphia, and Chicago.
Prosinski played in 88 regular-season games and made 18 starts while playing for Jacksonville, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Prosinski finished his career with 164 combined tackles, 127 solo tackles, seven passes defended, one interception, one sack, and one forced fumble.
Favorite NFL memories?
“One of my only interceptions in the NFL was against Tom Brady in Jacksonville,” Prosinski said. “I still have the football. I don’t know that my kids understand now, but maybe someday
they will.”
Prosinski said another favorite memory was a Thanksgiving night upset against the Green Bay Packers when he played for the Chicago Bears.
"One of my favorite games was probably in Chicago when we played Green Bay on Thanksgiving night. I got the opportunity to start and had a pretty solid game, Prosinski said. "We ended up beating Green Bay, upsetting them. You grow up watching Thanksgiving Day games and to be able to actually play on a few of them, those are always fun."
After retiring from the NFL, Prosinski returned home to Wyoming. He lives in Sheridan with his wife, Lexie, and their three children and works in wealth management at Eliason Financial.
Lynch reflected on his former player's HoF induction.
“He let his actions speak a lot louder than his words did,” Lynch said. “I’m really proud of him being inducted into the Hall of Fame; that’s for sure.”
Prosinski’s name will be honored Friday night, but he views the achievement as something shared by the people who accompanied him along the way.
“I’m getting this honor individually, but it certainly wasn’t done individually,” Prosinski said. “There have been so many people who helped me along the way and had a huge influence and impact.
“I think of my family, my parents, my brother, my wife and kids, all my friends, the community of Buffalo, my former coaches and former teammates. It’s an honor that has my name on it, but I think it represents all those people who helped get me here.”
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