UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
Jim Bollinger ranks as one of the greatest all-around athletes in Blugold annals. He earned 12 letters and played on four championship teams in football, basketball and baseball. Bollinger captained the basketball team for three years including two of the greatest seasons in the 40-year history of Coach Bill Zorn. The Blugolds won the conference championship in 1955 and posted a 20-2 season record. The following year, they shared the conference title, played two games in the national tournament at Kansas City and finished with a 20-5 mark. Bollinger scored 1,057 points during his career and rates as one of the top free throw shooters in school history despite playing in an era prior to the inception of the bonus free throw rule. He averaged seven made free throws per game in 1955 and six per contest in 1957. He once made 17 of 19 in a game. The left-handed throwing quarterback guided the Blugolds to the 1956 football championship and a 7-1 season record under Coach Ade Olson. He was captain of that championship team and All-Conference as both a junior and a senior. He still ranks high in Blugold passing and total offense records. Bollinger played first base and some outfield on the Blugold baseball team which won a conference title in 1957 with Bollinger hitting over .400.
Bollinger's first job was as math teacher and football coach at Port Washington High School where he was hired by Blugold Hall of Famer Lefty Hoehn. There he won four championships and posted a 30-11-2 record in five years. He came to Eau Claire Memorial in 1962 and guided the Old Abe football team to a 27-3-2 mark with two conference titles and the baseball team to a 55-16 record and two state championships. In 1966, Bollinger went to Wausau where he served as assistant principal for one year and principal for three years. He came to UWEC in 1970 as Assistant Chancellor for Administrative Services.
