Mike Chapman went to school in Haddonfield, NJ and was the first Paul VI High School State Champion in any sport the school offered and the first to set a state meet group record in the Parochial “B” Javelin Throw.  Mike’s motivation in high school and his athletic career came from his principal, Fr. Joseph A Von Harleben, who taught him to out-train his competition in practice, seek information to improve his skills and imitate to perfection the right technique.  After over 55 years of experience as an athlete and coach of track and field, we have chosen Mike Chapman to represent our scholarship recognizing track & field and cross country athletes across the state of Arizona.

Just a few of the accomplishments of Mike are:

• Three-time state champion in track and field, setting records and winning numerous county and statewide major meet championships in the shot-put and javelin events while he captained the PVI track team to a perfect season in 1970.

• Attended and graduated from Camden County College where he was National JC Javelin Champion, and was given the Charles A. Wolverton Award as the school's most outstanding athlete in 1972, and in 1993, he was inducted into the Camden County College Sports Hall of Fame.

• Recipient of a full track and field scholarship to Arizona State University and was named twice to the All-Western Athletic Conference in the javelin. Mike’s best throws with the college implements were 54’7” shot-put, 161’9” discus, and 252’3” javelin.

• He competed in the 1980 USA Olympic Trials in javelin and had a lifetime best throw that year of 261’1”. Sadly, President Jimmy Carter boycotted the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, Russia, sending no USA athletes.

• USA Track & Field ranked Mike nationally for 6 consecutive years in the javelin, and the International Association of Athletics Federations, the world governing body of track & field, ranked Mike as a world-class track and field athlete in 1980-1981.

• And finally, in 2012, Mike was inducted into the prestigious South Jersey Track and Field Hall of Fame, which includes such great athletes as Carl Lewis and other Olympians.

• Mike coached at Arizona State University for 5 years and for 20 years at Scottsdale Community College before heading back east.

Mike’s words of wisdom:

“I would like to tell students today to welcome every day at school as a life gift from God to you and your classmates, so you can improve your knowledge skills and friendships, knowing that everything that happens there affects your future. So join in and participate in something because you can never get this time back in your life again.”