Chase Anderson slashes through the defense. (Julie Wheat photo)
He blazed his own trail.
By the time he graduated from Coupeville High School this past spring, Chase Anderson had compiled one of the best four-year runs by any Wolf athlete, ever.
A rare four-sport star, he was at the forefront for football, basketball, baseball, and track and field teams, before wrapping things up by being selected as the CHS Male Athlete of the Year as a senior.
Anderson was a wiry ball of energy who piled up stats, didn’t back away from the spotlight, and took great delight (it seemed) in frustrating his opponents.
Of all the things he accomplished, my favorite moment of his speaks fully to that last trait.
During a basketball game in his freshman season, Anderson was plugged into the game by Wolf hoops coach Brad Sherman, who gave him one task — do whatever it took to slow down a South Whidbey gunner who was making life miserable for the CHS defense.
From the moment he stepped on the floor, a glint in his eyes, he draped himself all over the Falcon sharpshooter, living about one solid inch off of him at every second.
Anderson was glued to his foe, both on and off the floor, and would have followed him into the timeout huddle if allowed.
First the Falcon stopped scoring. Then he stopped shooting. And then, finally, in a truly delicious moment, he wailed at his coach, “He won’t stop breathing on me!!!”
To which Anderson smiled, ever so slightly, and then moved from being an inch away from the South Whidbey player to a half inch away, as the nearest ref tried to cover his own smile.
Long after the baskets and the touchdown passes and the stolen bases filter away, that’s the moment I’ll remember most about him.
Few competed as hard as Anderson, and virtually no one else could cheese off a rival player like he could.
It’s a special talent, and the memory will endure.
He has places to be and wants to get there quickly. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Not that Anderson didn’t pile up a lot of baskets and touchdowns and other numbers. Cause he did.
Put him on the gridiron and he could (and often did) play every position, starting with his work as the Wolf quarterback, where he could sling touchdown passes or bolt for big yardage with his nimble toes.
Anderson could run you over, or run around you, and either way, leave you firmly in his rear-view mirror as he scampered down the field.
Even if you did catch up to him, he was always hard to bring down as well, often dragging would-be tacklers several more yards, even while being gang-tackled.
He also played defense, cracking people in half with explosive tackles and picking off passes, while handling kicking and punting duties for the Wolves as well, showing off an often-explosive leg.
When winter came, all thoughts turn to hardwood heroics, and Anderson made his impact felt in multiple ways.
A four-year varsity player, Anderson broke into the rotation thanks to his ball hawking skills, his aforementioned ability to irritate/shut down shooters, and his jets, getting out and hauling in long outlet passes from Logan Downes.
After two seasons of playing alongside the top scorer in program history (Downes finished with 1,305 points), Anderson became the go-to dude, popping the nets for 339 and 344 points as a junior and senior, respectively.
He closed his CHS career with 943 points, which has him sitting #7 all-time for a Wolf boys’ program which launched way back in 1917.
Once spring bloomed on the prairie — generally evidenced by 40-degree weather and brutal prairie winds — Anderson started as a baseball star, transitioned into the world of track as a junior while dealing with injuries, then returned to finish things back on the diamond.
During his oval campaign, he competed in the 100, 200, 4 x 100, 4 x 200, and javelin, winning league and district titles in three of those five events, before bringing home two state meet medals as a relay runner.
Staring down a future strikeout victim. (Morgan White photo)
Anderson’s hardball career was slowed a bit by injuries, allowing him to only hit and pitch as a freshman and senior, while he was limited to playing in the field during a curtailed sophomore season, but he still finished with some nice numbers.
He hit .391, .440, and .362 across his three campaigns, compiling career totals of 55 hits, 10 doubles, 35 RBI, 50 runs, 21 walks, and 63 stolen bases, while only being thrown out once by a catcher.
When his body allowed Anderson to stalk the pitcher’s mound, he whiffed 73 batters across 49 innings of work.
When it didn’t, he gunned down runners from deep in the hole at shortstop, still crackin’ off big throws while coming at things from a different angle.
Put it all together — the counting stats, the fact he was always a core player in every sport from day one to his final Senior Night, and that special fanatical zeal he brought to every game — and Anderson would certainly be included in any conversation about the best athletes to every pull on a Wolf uniform.
So, it should come as little surprise that today we induct him into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, enshrining him forever at the top of the blog under the Legends tab.
Anderson is currently chasing collegiate sports dreams, trying to crack the football roster at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga as a walk-on player.
Only time will tell what he may accomplish as a Moc, but he’ll always have a place in Cow Town athletic lore.
A star from day one. (Stephanie Pulliam photo)
