THETFORD — Despite a terminal cancer diagnosis, Scott Chapman was determined to do what he loved doing — anything related to track and field.

So when his former coaching colleague at Thetford Academy, Emily Silver, visited him in the ICU at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center on May 19, two weeks before his death, it was no surprise that the conversation quickly turned to their favorite sport.

Chapman talked about the athletes he’d been coaching in shot put, discus, javelin and pole vaulting at Stevens High School, where he coached in 2023 and 2024, “their successes and potential,” Silver said. “While Scott was clearly feeling very weak, his descriptions were as animated as ever.”

Though he was in intensive care, he was looking forward to the upcoming New Hampshire State Track Meet. The plan, with the aid of an iPad and his son Cole, was for Scott to coach his Stevens High School throwers that day. Cole would live stream the event to his dad and if Scott felt well enough, he’d provide pointers to his athletes after each throw.

But the day of the meet proved a rough one for Scott, and he wasn’t able to watch the events live. “The Stevens coaches did film each throw for my dad to analyze when he was able to watch them,” Cole Chapman said. “He did end up seeing the throws later that same day and was pleased with the results.”

Chapman died June 1, 2024, of cancer. He was 66. He helped build a successful track and field program at Thetford Academy, where he coached for a decade.

Cole now coaches at Thetford, and when the younger Chapman suggested one final meet in Scott’s honor, the longtime Thetford Academy track and field coaching duo of Joel Breakstone and Emily Silver joined him in organizing it. The inaugural “Scott Chapman Cowboy Classic,” so named for Chapman’s love of all things cowboy (he’s named after Western actor Randolph Scott), took place on Aug. 17.

Born in Springfield, Vt., but raised in Claremont, Chapman discovered track at Stevens High School and was a standout in the 440-yard dash (which was replaced in 1980 by the 400-meter dash). In his senior spring, in 1976, he set the school record of 50.64 seconds in the 440 at the New England Championships. It still stands.

After high school, he moved to Hawaii in 1977, training to lower his time in the quarter-mile while attending broadcasting school. Though he aspired to a career in radio, Chapman’s path led him to South Carolina where he had gone to lend his carpentry skills in the rebuilding effort following Hurricane Hugo. There he met Olivia Scott who had moved there for work and was living on Folly Beach. Two years later, they were married, settling in Post Mills in a home that was the gathering place for the neighborhood kids. Scott embraced the role of the coaching dad, and the names of the teams he coached, including the Ligers and the Atomic Roosters, reflected his playful sense of humor. He made a living as a builder.

Since Chapman coached only the field events, and because Thetford Academy doesn’t have its own track, the organizers of the Cowboy Classic limited the meet to shot put, discus and long jump. It was also part celebration of life and part fundraiser for a memorial plaque in Chapman’s honor. Alumni, parents, current athletes and friends turned out to honor Chapman and to raise money for a memorial plaque, no track and field experience required.

For some attendees, though, the meet was a milepost in a long involvement in the sport Chapman championed. Chapman’s coaching style blended a keen competitive drive with a welcoming demeanor that brought new students into the sport and a sense of humor that endeared him to athletes and his fellow coaches.

Grace Clement, who graduated from Thetford Academy in 2018, said she was often the only girl working with the throwers. “It was always so lovely how he treated me the same,” said Clement, now a toddler teacher and grant writer in Burlington. “He made the same jokes with me as he did with all of the guys.”

Clement’s father, Darren, also learned from Chapman how to throw. She and her dad still get together to practice, and the younger Clement still keeps a shot and shot put shoes in the back seat of her car, and her father now competes in masters throwing events.

Chapman’s trademark of giving everyone equal attention, regardless of ability, was abundantly present. Current athletes and recent graduates gave pointers to their parents at the shot put circle.

This included 2024 graduate Charlize Brown, who coached her mom, Jess, dad, Frank, and sister, Nicolette. Amid much laughter and teasing, Jess and Frank both won the 50+ age divisions for men and women in both shot put and discus.

The Men Under 50 division proved a little more competitive. Scott’s sons, Ethan and Cole, who graduated from Thetford Academy in 2011 and 2014, respectively, and who both competed for Southern Connecticut State University, went first and second in the discus, while their sister Ella, a 2013 graduate, took top honors on the women’s side.

As a nod to Chapman’s playful attitude, not all of the awards were competitive. At the end of the meet, Coach Silver conferred the Most Athletic Hat Award on Sanders Jurgelewicz, while Least Impressive Competition Footwear honors went to Brady Sloop and Satchel Arnold.

During his years at Thetford, Chapman became known for problem solving and making sure his athletes had the equipment they needed. The school’s lack of a track and a field events area was less an obstacle than another hurdle to take in stride. Breakstone recalled Chapman’s long search for a set of pole vault mats culminating in a quest to Oxbow High School in Bradford, Vt., to pick up a set of “fourth-hand” mats with a pickup truck.

“The mats were really big and a little precariously loaded onto the truck, so he drove slowly and I drove behind him on Route 5 just in case a mat fell off the truck,” Breakstone said. Thetford Academy athletes were able to vault at school for the first time, using the mats and a homemade pole vault box that Chapman built himself.

“Scott made the field events area a reality,” Breakstone said. “He advocated for them, did the work, and found others to contribute their time.” He poured the concrete for the two throwing circles, painted the lines and built the toeboard for the shot put circle. “It was really a labor of love, and we’ve all benefited from it so much.”

Chapman moved back to Springfield, purchasing a home there in 2021, and decided that the commute to Thetford would be a little too far. The program that Chapman helped to build continues today. The boys’ team at TA has won the Division III state track and field championship for the past five years and the girls’ team has won in three of the last five.

For the family, the Cowboy Classic was a way to celebrate Chapman’s impact on the community. Ella and Ethan Chapman both remarked that they knew that their father’s reach was great, but that it wasn’t until they heard all the stories told that day that they realized just how many people’s lives he influenced. Their brother Cole, who works as a Valley News sales representative, said that for him, the stories confirmed that his father had a track and field obsession. He would regularly spectate at track meets and Cole joked that he would have been sorry to have missed this one.

“He would stop to watch a track and field meet even when he had no dog in the fight,” Cole Chapman said. “He even stopped to watch a random track and field meet in Connecticut when he was down there on a job.”

For Olivia, Scott’s wife of 28 years, not only was the Cowboy Classic a celebration of track and field, but with over 120 participants, such a large turnout was also a validation “of how my kids are loved and respected. I was especially touched to see the representation from Southern Connecticut State.”

Scott Chapman coached his obsession at Thetford Academy for a decade. His last text to the Thetford coaches captured both his humor and faith in the program he had helped to build: “My coaches, ever since I sold my house, I have wanted another. This week I bought a home in Springfield and will be moving in sometime next month. This is not a call for furniture moving help, it is however, most likely my resignation…It is hard to leave, but I feel TA track is on a hot streak and has never been better, don’t screw that up. I’ll be watching. Thanks a gabillion.”

If the number of track and field alumni who turned up for Chapman’s last meet is any measure of the program’s continued success, then Silver and Breakstone have fulfilled his wishes. After all, they know he’s watching.

Joseph Deffner is a freelance writer and a teacher and coach at Thetford Academy.