Most fans have one or two jerseys for their preferred teams, but the same cannot be said for Jared Running Jr.. The super fan has a total of 38 jerseys.

Recently Running Jr. was nominated fan of the week by a program known as the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCAA). This account is run on Twitter which has close to 34.2K followers. One of their photos shows Running Jr. wearing a UMD hockey jersey and holding a UMD flag. So far, that is Running Jr.’s highest honor for being a super fan for the UMD Bulldogs.

One of Running Jr’s favorite teams to watch is the UMD men bulldogs play hockey. He has had season pass tickets to the hockey games for the last 15 years. Running Jr. has watched the bulldogs since he was three years old. 

“Minnesota is where I grew up, so having a team so close to home is really nice,” Running Jr. said.

Running Jr. is a senior at the high school. Although he does not participate in any sports, you can always depend on him to attend almost every local sporting event he can.

“It all started when I was a kid watching sports and then my jerseys kept adding up more and more,” Running Jr. said. 

Many of Running Jr.’s jerseys are special, including his UMD custom jersey. On one side of the sleeve there is number 11, on the other side of the sleeve there is number 19, and on the back there is number 18. All of these numbers are years of the National Championship games the UMD bulldogs have won. The cost of this custom jersey ranged from about $300-$350 because the bulldogs wear the same jersey on the ice.

Like Running Jr., his father is a big sports fan. 

“Mike Schmidt is my favorite Phillies player, and after I had talked about wanting a jersey, all of the sudden Jared wanted one and soon enough he got one and from there, the jerseys just kept multiplying and multiplying,” Jared Running Sr. said.

Running Jr. has been attending UMD sports games for almost 15 years.

“The best thing that happened while I was at a game is attending the National Title games,” Running Jr. said.

The National Title games are more commonly known as Frozen Four. The Frozen Four consists of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) putting on two semifinal games and one championship game over the course of three days. These games are held at a preselected NHL rink. This tournament has been held since 1948 and has been continued every year since, besides COVID-19. Running Jr. is looking forward to hopefully reclaiming the frozen four “crown” this season.