Jan Chapman

A track, football, and basketball standout at Arkansas City Junior College, Jan Chapman will be honored for his accomplishments when he is inducted into the Tiger Athletic Hall of Fame on Feb. 12.

“It was such a surprise that when I was informed about the honor, I almost cried,” Chapman said. “For somebody to remember you after so many years is pretty special.”

After starring as an All-State quarterback for the 1953 Arkansas City High School state football champions, Chapman turned down a scholarship offer to attend the University of Arizona and instead followed his friends to ACJC.

Chapman played quarterback for the 1954 Tiger football team that went 5-3-1, and was a member of the 1954-55 Jayhawk Western Division champion/Region VI champion basketball team that finished fourth at the national tournament. He also was elected freshmen class president.

After a semester at ACJC, Chapman decided to accept the scholarship offer to Arizona. He lettered in track and football during two semesters in Tucson, but then decided to join the Navy.

Chapman spent two years in the Navy, and played football, basketball and baseball at the naval center. After his stint in the Navy, Chapman re-enrolled at ACJC in the spring semester of 1958.

This time, Chapman concentrated solely on track, and went on to finish undefeated in the javelin, winning the Kansas and National Junior College championships.

He has several fond memories of his time at ACJC.

“Because I went in as a freshman with all my high school friends, I bonded with a lot of those guys,” Chapman said. “Coming back to ACJC in 1958 gave me the opportunity to make a lot of new friends, which benefited me a lot as a person.”

After the spring semester at ACJC, Chapman accepted a football scholarship to the University of San Diego, where he participated in football, basketball and baseball.

Chapman was a three-year starter in football, was named an honorable mention Small College All-American, and was third in the nation in punting his senior year. He also was named associated student body president his senior year.

Following his graduation from San Diego in 1961, Chapman signed a short-lived free agent contract with the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League. His roommate during training camp was Chargers’ team captain Jack Kemp, who spent 13 years as an NFL quarterback and later served as a United States senator.

Legendary head coach Sid Gillman was the coach of the Chargers, while Chuck Knoll and Al Davis were assistant coaches on Gillman’s staff. All three coaches are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

In 1962, Chapman began his teaching and coaching career, which spanned 37 years. He went on to earn numerous awards, including Coach of the Year and Teacher of the Year.

Chapman served as a head coach in football, basketball and track. He also served as an athletic director and social science department head, and was the head of the San Diego Chargers’ statistician spotters from 1968-1995.

In 1995, he was inducted into the University of San Diego’s Hall of Fame. Although he retired from teaching in 1999, Chapman is still coaching and serves as the co-head coach/quarterbacks coach at Southwestern Community College in Chula Vista, Calif.

Chapman credits his former teachers and coaches at ACJC with helping him get to where he is today.

“I think back on all the help I got from coach (Dan) Kahler and Mr. (Dan) Stark,” Chapman said. “Mr. Stark had great patience with me in his chemistry class. If it wasn’t for that, I would probably be digging ditches right now.”

Stark, the school’s all-time winningest men's basketball coach, who died in 1979, will be inducted into the Tiger Athletic Hall of Fame posthumously, along with Chapman and Lavonna Jacobs-Baden.

Chapman and his first wife, Barbara, who died in 1995, had four children together, Jan Jr., David, Christy and Tricia. He remarried in 1999 to his present wife, Chris, who has three children of her own.