For 27 years, Jack Frost always put Winthrop athletics first. Now it’s his time to shine
Jack Frost was almost speechless when he found out he was part of Winthrop University’s 2025 Hall of Fame class.
“My former assistant, who’s now the assistant athletic director, gave me a call back in the middle of December, and I was really caught off guard,” Frost said of the call he received from Brett Redden. “I was really surprised ... because I really hadn’t thought about it the last year or so. I was almost speechless, and I told him that it was probably the greatest honor I’ve had in my career in athletics.”
Frost, 74, started at Winthrop in 1990 after working in sports information and public information at Eastern Kentucky. Frost said his plan was to stay at Eastern Kentucky and he had no intention of leaving. Administrators at Eastern Kentucky, however, made it difficult for him to stay.
“They wanted to add a marketing and promotions position to the athletic department, but to do that, they had to eliminate a position,” Frost said.
Frost said he was asked to take the marketing and promotions job.
“That’s just something I really never wanted to do. My love was in the sports information area, working with the athletes and the coaches. ... So I just told them I wasn’t interested,” Frost said. “I started looking for a position, and they gave me a terminal contract, which means I had a year in which to find another job.”
Around that same time the Winthrop position became open. Frost had prior knowledge of the school and had even toured its coliseum before. In September 1990, Frost interviewed and got the job.
“I put my application in immediately, and fortunately, I was brought back down to Rock Hill to interview,” Frost said. “At the end of that month they called; the assistant athletic director at that time was Tom Hickman, and he gave me a call. ... I accepted the job immediately. He asked me when I would be available to come down to Rock Hill and start to work. And I said, ‘I’ll be there in two weeks.’”
A long walk down memory lane
Frost’s first day at Winthrop was Oct. 15, 1990, and he worked there for 27 years. Over those years, he has been able to witness several conference championships and great athletic performances. There were a few that stood out to Frost.
He recalled when Winthrop advanced to four straight NCAA basketball tournaments, starting in 1999.
“It was the 1998-99 season. I’d been there eight years, Frost said. “We had hired Greg Marshall as men’s basketball coach, and things just seemed to take off,” Frost said. “Our basketball team won four straight championships, went to four straight (NCAA) tournaments, then we had a two-year break... and then we turned around and had another four-year run, actually a five-year run.”
He remembers Marshall’s first year fondly.
“I had a chance to bring a lot of media attention to Winthrop. We put our name on the map, so to speak. We did some research and that season through the work that I did, I was able to bring in about $2 million worth of free media exposure. We were on national TV a lot,” Frost said. “We got a lot of exposure, because we were considered the darling of the dance that year, because that was our first ever chance to go.”
The Eagles even had a Los Angeles Times reporter embed with the team that year as they went to the NCAA Tournament, Frost said.
Winthrop lost that first NCAA Tournament game, 80-41 to Auburn, the No. 1 seed.
Another season that Frost remembers well is 2006-07 when the Eagles ended up being ranked in the AP Top 25.
“We had a great basketball team. We ended up being ranked 25th in the nation that year, and we beat Notre Dame in the first round of the (NCAA) tournament out in Spokane, Washington, and that was historic. We became the first Big South Conference school to win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.”
Overall, Winthop has a 1-11 record in the NCAA Tournament, but Frost said college sports go way beyond wins and losses.
‘Wanting to shine the light on others’
“I’ve always thought that the only reason that my position, or any position in intercollegiate athletics, existed was because of student athletes,” Frost said. “You know, they were our focus. They were the only reason that we had a job, to report on their accomplishments and their games and record their history and statistics and try to promote them for national awards and whatever. ... I’ve already written my speech for next week, and I’ve emphasized that I believe in using the word we, because we were a team, not just my office, but, you know, everybody in Winthrop, that was in athletics. We worked together.”
Some of Frost’s colleagues and former co-workers agree that Frost was a selfless person and always put Winthrop in the forefront.
Winthrop athletics director Chuck Rey was a volleyball coach when Frost was still at the university. He spoke of the pride that Frost displayed about his work and promoting the university and its athletes.
“I know a lot of places talk about their athletics programs being a family, but Jack is one of those people that has always looked out for others ... always looked out for our student-athletes,” Rey said. “He knew them, wanted to get to know them personally, and cared for them. When even now, our student-athletes talk about Jack, they beam about him because of how much he uplifted and supported them. When we talk about winning or winning culture, it’s not about one or two things, or one or two people that do things right. It’s about a number of little things that go right over time and Jack continually would help guide those student-athletes every day.”
Mark Simpson, a senior associate commissioner with the Big South said that Frost’s work ethic was unique.
“When you dedicate yourself to an institution, to a mission, to an objective, to the goals of where you’re at, that speaks volumes to who you are as a person,” Simpson said of Frost. “He believes always, and I have the same mindset of, we’re here to service our student athletes, our administrators, and make sure that we’re promoting them and telling their story and celebrating their success. At the same time, we will welcome the media to our campuses or our events to show them what Winthrop is about. So it’s, it’s that certain mindset of wanting to shine the light on others all the time.”
‘Retirement’ with Legion Collegiate
Nowadays Frost is enjoying his retirement, although he couldn’t stay away from sports communication long. After he retired in 2017, he was approached by his wife’s nephew about starting a school in the Rock Hill area. Out of this came Legion Collegiate Academy, a charter school that opened in 2019 in Rock Hill. Frost serves as its sports information coordinator.
“I helped, you know, find the property where we built the school, met with city and county officials to make presentations and get approvals for zoning and stuff like that,” Frost said. “... After we got to that point where we opened the school I stepped away for about a year or so. Then I got a call back about two or three years ago asking me if I would like to be involved in the sports information coordinating area and also updating the website, because they had nobody available to do that. So I agreed to do that ... and I enjoy that, because it’s not a full-time position. It allows me to stay involved in athletics and work with the young people while still getting to enjoy retirement with my wife.”
The Hall of Fame ceremony is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday inside the Richardson Ballroom of the DiGiorgio Campus Center at Winthrop.
Other Hall of Fame inductees
Marthaline Cooper (Track & field, 2014-17): Cooper is one of the most decorated athletes in Winthrop track & field history. She was a four-time All-American and six-time Big South champion thrower. She finished third in the hammer throw at the 2015 NCAA outdoor championships.
Jacob Dempsey (Baseball, 2003-06): Dempsey helped Winthrop to a Big South conference championship in 2005 and NCAA regional appearances in 2005 and 2006. He is a two-time All-Big South first-team selection and one of the top run producers in program history.
Krystyna Freda (Women’s soccer, 2011-14): Freda is a two-time Big South attacking player of the year and still is the Eagles all-time leader in goals and total points in program history. She scored 63 goals in her career which is 10 more than any other player in Big South history. She finished her career with 144 total points.
Henry Kalungi (Men’s soccer, 2006-08): In his three seasons, Kalungi played in 56 games, starting 55 of them. During his time with the program, the Eagles were 41-13-8 with a 14-5-2 record in Big South play. He was drafted by the Colorado Rapids in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft. He played a key role in the 2006 and 2008 Big South championships as a defender.
Erin Lehman (Volleyball, 1998-2001): Lehman was a four-time Big South all-conference selection and finished her career as the program’s all-time leader in kills (1,505) and digs (1,522). Her digs record still stands and is 200 more than the next player. She was also named to the 2001 Big South all-tournament team.
Daniel Revivo (Men’s soccer, 2005-08): Revivo is one of the most decorated soccer players in Winthrop history. He was a three-time Big South first team all-conference selection and two-time all-region selection. In 2006, he helped the Eagles earn a Big South championship, scoring a hat trick in the title game. In 2008, Revivo scored the golden goal in double overtime to lead Winthrop over Coastal Carolina for the Big South title.