University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Athletics

Roaming in the outfield from 1968 to 1971, Jack Friess started all 126 UW-Oshkosh baseball games to help the Titans begin the rise to conference and national dominance that they would enjoy for the following three decades.
 
Noted by local newspapers for his defensive prowess, Friess accumulated a .286 batting average with 22 doubles, five triples and eight home runs. He also drove in 70 runs, scored 76 times and stole 29 bases while striking out just 35 times during his 420 career at-bats.
 
Friess helped UW-Oshkosh to an 87-39 record, including an impressive 47-7 mark in WIAC competition, a four-year sweep of both the conference and district championships and a berth in the 1971 NAIA World Series.
 
The best season for Friess came in 1971 when he received All-District 14 and All-Area IV First Team honors by the NAIA and All-WIAC Honorable Mention recognition after hitting .345 with seven doubles, two triples, two home runs, 31 runs batted in and 18 stolen bases.
 
UW-Oshkosh won conference and district titles that season and advanced to the NAIA World Series for the first time in program history with a 9-0 victory over Missouri Western State University in the championship game of the Area IV Tournament.
 
UW-Oshkosh finished fifth with a 1-2 record at the 1971 NAIA World Series in Phoenix, Ariz. Friess was named to the All-World Series Team after counting three hits, including an inside-the-park home run, and two stolen bases during a 9-5, 10-inning loss to Southwestern Oklahoma State University and hitting a two-run triple during a 7-3 victory over Grand Canyon University (Ariz.).
 
Friess came to UW-Oshkosh from Cedarburg High School. During his first season with the Titans in 1968 he hit .185 with three doubles, one home run and 12 runs batted in. UW-Oshkosh captured conference and district titles before being eliminated by Winona State University (Minn.) in the NAIA Area IV Tournament.
 
The following year, Friess hit .203 with five doubles, two home runs and seven runs batted in. The Titans claimed conference and district titles before being eliminated by Upper Iowa University in the NAIA Area IV Tournament.

Friess enjoyed a stellar season in 1970, earning All-Conference, All-District and All-Area First Team honors after hitting .342 with seven doubles, two triples, three home runs, 23 runs scored and 20 runs batted in. The Titans repeated as conference and district champions before being eliminated by William Jewell College (Mo.) in the NAIA Area IV Tournament.
 
UW-Oshkosh won 26 games during the 1970 season for a then-program record. Friess led the Titans to an 8-4 triumph over NCAA Division I University of Wisconsin that season by belting a first-inning grand slam.
 
In addition to playing baseball, Friess appeared in three varsity contests as a member of the 1968 and 1969 UW-Oshkosh men’s basketball teams.
 
Friess was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the 23rd round of the 1971 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. He played the 1971 season for the organization in the minor leagues and hit .284 with three doubles, two triples and 13 runs batted in.
 
Friess followed his minor league baseball career by teaching in Green Bay for two years. He then taught at Webster Middle School in Cedarburg before returning to Cedarburg High School as its head varsity baseball coach in 1979.
 
Friess went on to coach 41 seasons at Cedarburg High School. The Bulldogs won 600 contests during his leadership and appeared in six WIAA State Summer Baseball Tournaments, including visits to the championship game in both 1997 and 1998. Cedarburg High School named its baseball field after Friess in 2014.
 
Friess, a 1971 UW-Oshkosh graduate, was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association in 1999 and the Old Time Ballplayers’ Association of Wisconsin in 2012. He was inducted into the Cedarburg High School Hall of Fame twice, as an athlete in 2012 and a coach in 2024.
 
Friess retired from Cedarburg High School in 2019, but remains involved with the school by working on the chain gang at football games and operating the scoreboard at basketball contests.
 
Friess lives in Cedarburg with his wife Karen. They are the parents of sons Andy, Billy and Danny.