Badger legends is a series dedicated to celebrating our former men's soccer players who have taken their experience at Wisconsin and shaped it into a new path. Each month, we'll be celebrating one men's soccer alum from a different decade.

This month we celebrate the career of Jim Froslid, who played on the team from 1985 to 1988, leaving a memorable impression in the record book.

For Froslid and the rest of his Minnesota friends and family, soccer was the offseason training sport for hockey. It was an activity that the best of the best in the community took place in, including 1980 USA Olympic Gold Medalist, Rob McClanahan.

"As early as five years old my main sport was hockey as it is for so many young kids growing up in Minnesota," Jim explained.
 
"In my early childhood I played soccer as it was considered good dry-land training for hockey, the concept of the games was similar and the conditioning was unmatched."

Froslid's turn to soccer stemmed, as most great change does, from multiple intersecting influences in his life. The first of which came from the ABC broadcast of the 1982 FIFA World Cup that took place in Spain. Jim, glued to the TV during every game of the competition, became enamored with the passion of the players representing their countries, as well as the sheer scale of the sports' global impact.

"I remember watching the Final in a hotel during a youth soccer tournament and ABC host Jim McKay saying, 'one out of three people on earth will be watching the World Cup Final today.'"
 
The second reason for Froslid's turn to the beautiful game was a pair of coaches in his Youth. Lou Churchich, a Yugoslavian man who helped lead Jim's North Suburban Soccer Association U16 team to a state championship, as well as Stan Mirza, a former Ukrainian goalkeeper.
 
"A couple of amazing coaches who had a knack for teaching, challenging and making you laugh," Froslid described. 
 
"They both took me under their wings and taught me a love for the game that I never lost."
 
By the time Jim reached high school, he found himself playing soccer just as much as hockey. And with the success his team kept finding, it became hard to turn away from the sport post-high school. With the lack of a varsity team at the University of Minnesota, Froslid turned his head towards its neighboring state for a chance to play Division I soccer.
 
"I looked at Boston College and Michigan State but chose Wisconsin as they were really the only ones to recruit me." 
 
It was UW men's assistant coach Dean Duerst who first invited Froslid to visit the campus. Outside of the general campus amenities and opportunities that awaited him, like the rich history, beautiful scenery and respectable journalism program, Froslid's decision to represent UW came after a meeting with coach Bill Reddan. Reddan, who served as the first head coach in program history, instantly became a man for Froslid to admire, with his infectious energy, wisdom and a kindness that welcomed him to the city.
 
"To this day," Froslid says, "he is in my top 10 most respected people I have ever met."

 
Jim's decision to join the team was instantly validated in his first collegiate game. In one of his fondest memories playing for the Badgers, Froslid subbed into a 0-0 match against Ohio State during the 8oth minute, before receiving a pass that he shot into the back of the net, scoring his first goal on his very first touch.

"On the bus ride home I thought to myself, 'this college soccer stuff is easy'," Froslid said, before he added "It took me one year to score my next Badger goal. Humbling. Not so easy."

Eventually, Froslid figured out how to consistently find the back of the net, and often in dramatic fashion too. By his senior year in 1988, he was named captain and scored 11 on the season. Not only did that total lead the team, but five of those goals were game-winning, the second highest number of game-winning goals in a UW Men's soccer season. One of the goals came off a bicycle kick against Milwaukee in the Panther Classic Tournament, a memory that Jim still holds.
 
Outside of all the memorable goals he scored, Froslid's favorite memories from his playing time involve the little moments with the team. He loved the conversations he would have with his teammates on the bus rides, or when his team went through the convoluted journey to San Jose, California, involving the first plane ride in program history.
 
Froslid finished his senior season as the leading scorer on the team, the team captain, the team MVP and earned a spot on the All-Mideast Region team.

He ranks 14th on the all-time goal scoring list for UW. 

 
Froslid's playing time with UW was over, but his career in soccer was just getting started. Froslid majored in journalism while attending UW and gained experience working with several different papers like the Badger Herald, Madison' The Capital Times and the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal.

His experience with both soccer and the media landed him a job with the US Soccer Federation, where he worked as a press officer during the 1994 World Cup in Chicago. Jim continued to oversee USA Soccer throughout the duration of the 90s, not only as a press officer, but eventually as the director of all the National Youth teams, helping develop young American soccer stars like Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley.
 
"Soccer has grown leaps and bounds since my time at Wisconsin in the 1980s," says Froslid.
 
"The 1990s were the largest growth years for our sport.  In a span of 10 years, we hosted a men's and women's World Cup, an Olympics, won two women's World Cup titles, a men's Copa America semifinal and a men's World Cup Round of 16. We also started a men's pro league that still flourishes today."

   
"I grew up playing soccer at the National Sports Center as it was only 10 minutes from my house," Froslid explained. 
 
"My dad played a small role in passing the legislature to build the 55-continuous fields in Blaine.  And he was later part of a small group that started USA Cup."
 
Jim credits his time with the Thunder as the source of his business knowledge, something he later utilized as the venue director for the 2016 Copa America competition.
  
"When you work at the grass roots level like this you really understand where most credit belongs for the success of soccer. The players, coaches and administrators at these levels played their role for the most part in obscurity and for very little, if any, recognition or pay.  I am proud to have worked side-by-side with many of the "heavy lifters" at the grass roots level."
 
Froslid now works for Brock USA, ensuring that places around the country have turf for their athletic complexes, adding to his expansive resume. But all that work can be credited back to his time playing soccer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where the connections he made on and off the field set his life up for success.
 
"I'm most proud of being part of an incredible network of people called – University of Wisconsin alums.  I can't tell you how many times I have played my "UW card" or my "Badger soccer card" in my life and have had doors open and relationships cemented because of it." 
 
"My fondest memories have been created after my playing days.  Young players need to realize the friendships you forge during your college years have the potential to be lifelong. I feel very fortunate to stay in touch with so many former teammates. And what is even cooler, I am friends with some Badgers players that I never played with – older and younger. The Badger bond is incredibly powerful. No one can take it away from you.  We all played Division I sports for one of the greatest universities in the world."