Ask anyone who got to know Chuck Froehle '57 during his time at Saint John's University and they all remember the same thing: The enthusiasm with which he played the game.
"His motor was going all the time," remembers Don Catton, a classmate of Froehle's and his teammate on the football field during the early-to-mid-1950s.
"He wasn't a loud guy, but he was extremely active. There weren't too many times an opponent was able to get over him at his tackle position. He was all over the left side of our defensive line."
Helping a legend get started
Froehle (
FRAY-lee) arrived at Saint John's in the fall of 1953, the same season as
John Gagliardi. And the two-way lineman from Aitkin helped the legendary head coach start his 60-season tenure at the school on the right foot.
He became the first Johnnie football player to earn All-MIAC honors four straight seasons, and he was named an All-American three times (1954, '55 and '56).
"Chuck was one of the most enthusiastic and competitive guys I ever played with," said Wayne Hergott '57, the starting quarterback on those teams.
"He was a wild man. It wasn't unusual for him to block somebody, get up, then block somebody else – all during the same play. But he was steady. We could always count on him to have a hole open when we needed one."
A force on the ice
Froehle (
second from right) did not confine his talent to the football field. Despite weighing in at around 225 pounds, he spent his winters on the ice as a member of the Johnnie hockey team – a sport which Gagliardi also coached from 1954-59.
"He wasn't the smoothest player," recalls Jack Quesnell '59, a teammate of Froehle's on the hockey team. "He depended a lot on his size. But he was always there to protect his teammates.
"I was one of the smaller guys on the ice and Charlie protected me. In fact, after he graduated, I spent a lot more time in the penalty box because I didn't have him around to protect me anymore."
Froehle was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in the 19th round of the 1957 NFL Draft, but Quesnell said it didn't take him long to decide the NFL lifestyle wasn't for him.
"He spent a week with the Colts and said it was like going down to the handball court and banging his head against the wall," said Quesnell, who served as J-Club president during his senior year in 1958-59. "He just didn't care for playing at that level."
Leader in his community
Instead, Froehle eventually settled in Great Falls, Mont., where he worked as a sales representative for Deluxe Check Printers, Inc. He was also deeply involved in civic affairs, and was honored for his work with local youth before his death at the age of 50 from a heart attack in December 1985.
"He was a true friend of youth (who) established a rapport that was warm and genuine," his friend Lee Ebeling said in an obituary published in the SJU Alumni Magazine in the spring of 1986.
"All of the kids loved him because he sincerely cared for them."
That was the same enthusiasm that those who knew him at Saint John's had long been familiar with.
"He was one of those people who make coaching what it ought to be," Gagliardi said in that same obituary. "He was an exuberant guy who always gave 100 percent to everything he did: football, hockey and life.
"Once you knew him, you'd never forget him."
