Coach Steve Chadwin has begun his 39th year as head coach of the varsity boys’ basketball team at AFS — a remarkable tenure for a scholastic coach.
Entering the new season, AFS boys’ basketball teams had won 16 Friends Schools League titles and logged 626 victories with Coach C at the helm.
So, we thought it would be fun to count back the seasons to when Coach C started, and see what the world looked like then. We learned that in 1979 a gallon of gas cost 86 cents, a Toyota Corolla was a mere $3,698 and a new piece of sports equipment, the snowboard, was making its debut on the slopes. The nuclear accident at Three Mile Island caused a big scare, 63 Americans were taken hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and Margaret Thatcher broke a gender barrier to become prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Fast forward to November 28, in the season opening game, and there was Coach C once again on the sidelines at Hallowell Gym, intensely following every move on the court, alternating between offering encouragement and showing his displeasure, as his team battled Episcopal Academy. With the lead in hand, and less than a minute on the clock, Coach C called time out, huddled his players around him. “Do Not Foul! Do Not Foul!” he told them, as he set the strategy that would prevent Episcopal Academy from having a chance to score.
Later, when asked what it was like to begin his 39th season, he was casual and calm in his reply. “It’s fun. I still enjoy teaching and working with kids. They get a good education here. Thirty-nine years is a long, long time. We’ve had plenty of success in developing good student-athletes,” he said. “Basketball’s just the hook.”
Coach C was honored in April when he was one of five coaches inducted in the inaugural Coaches vs. Cancer High School Coaching Legends Dinner.
