An Ironic Road To Stardom Jon Chatfield’s Arrival At Lake City Might Only Have Been Possible After Tragedy Nine Years Ago
Jon Chatfield wonders what his parents would think about his basketball talents.
And he also wonders, with irony, how their deaths nine years ago might have set him on a path that has led to his basketball success at Lake City High School.
Though his parents haven’t been able to watch his high school career, he’s become a favorite son of Timberwolves fans this season.
He’s convinced he made the right decision to transfer from Kootenai High School to Lake City. His transition from the A-4 ranks to A-1 has been nothing short of stellar.
But he’s convinced he’d still be playing at Kootenai - and his talents would still be relatively unknown - if his parents were alive.
“They wouldn’t have let me move,” Chatfield said. “I’m sad that they didn’t get a chance to watch me in high school; it would have been nice if they’d been able to follow my career.”
Raised most of his life near Harrison, located on the southeastern end of Lake Coeur d’Alene, Chatfield lost his parents in a span of nine months. His mother died of cancer in November 1986. The following August, his father died when their mobile home fell off its jacks and crushed him.
“When my mom had cancer, I was so young I didn’t understand a lot of the stuff that was going on,” the 17-year-old Chatfield said. “It didn’t hit me until my dad died. It was pretty upsetting.”
Chatfield, a 6-foot-3 wing, is thankful he had grandparents nearby.
“My (maternal) grandparents were like my parents,” he said. “If there was a difference growing up, I didn’t notice because they took over the role (as parents).”
Disappointed last year that Kootenai didn’t qualify for state and realizing graduation would gut the team, Chatfield decided he wanted to transfer to an A-1 school. Initially, though, his grandparents opposed the change.
“Now they see it was a good idea,” said Chatfield, who lives with his sister who moved from Los Angeles to Coeur d’Alene this summer.
As much as Lake City coach Jim Winger would like to take credit for Chatfield’s career - and contrary to innuendos - the coach did not recruit Chatfield.
“In fact, I almost screwed the whole thing up,” Winger said, laughing. “Jon’s sister called Ron Adams (LC athletic director) and said Jon was going to transfer. He wanted to know if we had a summer program and what he had to do to be able to play. I just took the message and put it on my desk and thought ‘Yeah, all right, whoopee.”’
Winger invited Chatfield to an open gym last spring.
“It took me less than a minute to know he was damn good,” Winger said. “I’d never heard of him. I don’t spend a lot of time analyzing the A-4 scoring leaders.”
After watching Chatfield play well on the Timberwolves’ summer team, Winger knew he would play a key role in LC’s season.
“He’s had more of an impact than I even imagined,” Winger said.
Chatfield, though, wasn’t sure what his role would be on the team. “At first, I was really nervous when I came up here,” he said. “I honestly didn’t know if I’d make the team. I had never watched an A-1 game before, so I didn’t know what to expect.”
Chatfield is averaging 26.8 points and 9.5 rebounds, and he’s shooting 53 percent from the field (15 of 37 from 3-point range) in addition to outscoring the next closest T-Wolf by more than double.
Chatfield scored a season-high 33 points Saturday against Boise, including all of LC’s 19 points in the first quarter. His career high is 37, and he’s 35 shy of 1,000 career points.
Still, Chatfield said he hasn’t come close to playing as well as can.
“I haven’t shot as well as I can,” said Chatfield, who made 47 percent of his 3-pointers last season. “I don’t know why, but my shooting has started slow every year. Last year, I was 0 for 9 for 3-pointers in the first four games. I honestly think I’ve been off so far.”
Chatfield wishes he’d played at the A-1 level for more than one season.
It could have happened. Chatfield and his dad were going to move to CdA when the accident occurred.
In some ways, Chatfield wonders if he’d be as good a player today had the accident not happened. Living near Harrison didn’t afford him as many social a ctivities.
So Chatfield grew up doing what he loves most - shooting the basketball. He shot year-round, 2 to 3 hours per day, outside or inside.
“If we’d moved to Coeur d’Alene, I might have developed other interests and not played basketball as much as I have,” Chatfield said.
Mullan coach John Drager was an assistant in the early 1960s at Mullan when Kootenai, led by the Chatfield brothers, was a power in the Panhandle.
Led by Gary, Ray and Dick Chatfield, Kootenai went to state in 1963 and ‘64, Drager said, then lost to Mullan in overtime at district in ‘65. Mullan went on to win state that year.
“He sure passed it (talent) on to his kid,” Drager said of Gary Chatfield.
Jon Chatfield never got to talk to his dad about his high school days, or about playing at state. But he’d like to play on a state-qualifying team, and figures to do so with the Timberwolves.
All of which would make Chatfield’s late parents and grandparents proud.
“I don’t miss a game,” Chatfield’s maternal grandfather, Doug Rose, said. “His parents would be real thrilled with him. They wouldn’t have been too surprised because all those Chatfields were good ballplayers, even Grandpa (Ray) Chatfield. I guess it ran in the genes.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CHATFIELD’S STATS Season G Pts Avg 1995-96 6 160 26.8 1994-95 19 439 23.1 1993-94 19 317 16.7 1992-93 12 49 4.1 Totals 56 965 17.2