There are some people who are destined to make their youthful passion a permanent, legacy-building way of life. Jim Davidson is one of those special individuals. Davidson’s love of soccer started at age 6, taking deeper root during his years at Naperville Central. As he told The Denver Post in an April 2016 interview, “It’s just such a great team sport, such a tactical game, such a cerebral game. It’s a game I’ve always loved being a part of.” That love drove all that he did. He was voted senior captain by his teammates and coaches, an honor and a privilege that he took to heart. He was the fiery, good-hearted leader of a talented group of young men whose crowning moment came as the 1988 runner-up in the IHSA State Finals. Devoted to team, Davidson shone as an individual, earning spots on the 1987 and 1988 All-State and All-DuPage Valley Conference teams, as well as the 1988 All-State Tournament Team. He was named the Naperville Sun Player of the Year that same year. Davidson shared that his favorite memory was having the opportunity to be a member of the first NCHS soccer team to play in the final weekend of the state tournament: “In spite of losing in the state championship game, it was an incredible journey capped off by the opportunity to play my final three games in a 24 hour period with a great group of coaches and teammates that included several of my closest friends. The loss was momentary; the memories and camaraderie that we experienced together will last forever.” That sense of togetherness was always important to Davidson, who counts a number of coaches and teammates as instrumental to his success, both as an athlete and as a person. He credits varsity coach John Paskvalich’s “ability to communicate straightforwardly and connect personally” as a model for his own coaching career, calling him an “incredible man and coaching mentor.” Davidson continues to be inspired by what he learned from assistant coaches Paul Zientarski and Jim Braun, citing their wisdom, positivity, and incredible ability to nurture student-athletes. Teammates Mark Ehlert and Steve Waight feature heavily in Davidson’s best memories. He remembered, “[Ehlert] was the senior varsity captain during my junior season and is without a doubt one of the best players to ever wear an NCHS uniform. He remains to this day the hardest player I have ever had as a teammate. I grew up playing on teams with [him] beginning when we were 10 years-old. I idolized him as a model teammate and held him up as a playing hero. ” Of Waight he wrote, “He was my closest teammate in high school. He was the consummate selfless team player that much of our team’s success is owed to…Much of who I am when it comes to player relationships is due to my friendship with [Steve Waight].” While Davidson’s team-first focus was a hallmark of his leadership as a young man, that focus and passion would only grow in the years that followed. Davidson loved his time as a Naperville Central Redskin, finding joy in the classroom and hallways. The positive influences of teachers like Kim DeWerff (now Eriksen), Jim Braun, Tom Henneberry, Pat Dolan, Bill Seiple, Andy Nussbaum, and Dave Dillon compelled Davidson to eventually pursue a career in education. As Davidson shared, a small moment of recognition in his freshman English class changed everything for him, showing him “the power and impact that a teacher can have on young people.” He went on to say, “It is no accident that I chose to become an English teacher and much of my career direction was shaped by that indelible moment in Ms. DeWerff’s ninth grade class.” Davidson took all of the lessons and examples of his high school years and eagerly dove into life at Eastern Illinois University, where he was a member of the Panthers Division I soccer program, earning recognition as a senior captain and a member of the All-MidContinent Conference team in 1992. He graduated with a BA in Journalism and went on to earn an MA in Education from DePaul University. Eager to put his training into practice, Davidson headed to Colorado where the next chapter of his soccer story began. He began his teaching career at Jefferson High School in Edgewater, Colorado, then took a position as an English teacher and soccer coach at Broomfield High School in the Boulder Valley School District, a position he’s held for the past twenty years. In that time, Davidson has shaped countless lives in classroom and on the soccer field, inspiring freshmen with his contagious love for Shakespeare, American literature, and rhetorical analysis, all while shaping young athletes to be full-hearted competitors and team contributors. His deep belief in the capabilities of his teams, coupled with high expectations and an enviable work ethic, has brought profound success for his programs. Under his leadership, the boys and girls teams have made 15 state championship game appearances, with 7 state championship wins between them (6 boys; 1 girls). He holds the boys record for most Colorado team state championships and has had the pleasure of coaching 5 high school All-Americans. Davidson is the all-time leader in Colorado coaching victories for boys soccer (323-40-25; combined record: 588-78-38), is a 6-time NSCAA West Region Coach of the Year, and a 6-time finalist for National Coach of the Year. He was the coach of the West team in the 2016 High School All-American game and inspired 15 NSCAA Team Academic All-American squads. In 2015, Davidson was named the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s National Coach of the Year, an honor that all who know him celebrated enthusiastically. “I will tell you,” said Dan Watkins, Wheat Ridge girls coach and president of the Colorado High School Soccer Coaches Association, “if there’s one person as a coach in Colorado, maybe even in any sport, that I could emulate and coach the same way and work the same way that he does, it would be Jim Davidson. He does everything the right way. He gets his kids to buy in and truly cares about them. He has created such a great tradition.”Davidson is married to his college sweetheart Kay, a chemistry teacher and cross country coach at Broomfield High. For all of his successes, Davidson holds his family as his most important focus: “I’d be remiss to not mention that everything I’ve been fortunate enough to accomplish in life is the direct result of the love, support, and opportunity provided to me by my wife, mother, father, and brother.” Soccer lives deep within Davidson’s soul. He has found a beautiful way to pay the game’s gifts forward: embodying the examples of all who inspired him and passing that wonder and determination on to his own student-athletes.