John "Chipper" Chapman (1941-1943)
During his first two years of football at MHS, Chapman played for coach George Moriarty and was a teammate of Ed Barry. The late Dr. Stanford Hopkins, team physician for 40 years, is quoted as having said that Barry and Chapman were the best backfield combination he ever saw at Marblehead. During the high school football season in those years, the old Boston Traveler featured, in its Monday evening edition, a picture of high school stars of the week. A mid-November issue in 1942 had a Stars of the Week picture of both Chapman and Barry next to each other on a rocky ledge, holding a football as if each were about to throw a pass.
In 1941 Marblehead lost to Lynn English 14-13. Chapman, then a sophomore, ran a short distance for one of the Marblehead touchdowns.
In 1942 Chapman scored six touchdowns and threw five touchdown passes in the team's unbeaten championship season. In Marblehead's 20-0 win over Peabody,.Chapman, on a 45-yard pass play, threw a touchdown pass to Charlie "Bud" Kelley. Marblehead defeated Lynn Classical 13-0 that year. On the first Marblehead touchdown, Chap-man passed to Barry who ran the remaining 50 yards to score. Barry passed to Chapman for Marblehead's second touchdown. In the team's 20-7 win over Salem Chapman had a hand in all three Marblehead touchdowns. For the first, he ran from the Salem 9 through his own left tackle to score. On the second, with the ball on the Marblehead 41, Chapman threw a pass to Bud Kelley who failed to make the catch. With the ball still in the air, a Salem defender deflected the pigskin into the arms of Ed Barry at the Salem 30. Barry went in to score to complete the 59-yard play. In the final period, Chapman made a 30-yard runback of a Salem punt to score Marblehead's third touchdown. Chapman scored Marblehead's second touchdown in a 26-6 win at Newburyport. A Newburyport punt was blocked at the Clippers' 23; a few plays later Chapman went in from the Newburyport 5. Marblehead defeated Danvers 20-0 that year. In the second period Chapman made a 23-yard runback of a Danvers punt and subsequent-ly scored the second Marblehead touchdown. Chapman passed to Girouard from the Lynn English 35 for Marblehead's first touchdown in a 26-0 win over the Bulldogs in '42. In the team's 13-0 win over Saugus that year Chapman threw 35 yards to Barry at the Saugus 40 and Barry went the rest of the way. In the last quarter Chapman made a 70-yard run for a touch-down.
In 1943, as team captain, Chapman scored 9 touchdowns and 3 points after and threw one touchdown pass. That year he played under coach George Moriarty for three games and when Moriarty entered the U.S. Navy the coaching reins were as-sumed by Ralph Hewitt for the remainder of the season. Chapman scored two touchdowns in Marblehead's 31-7 win over Newburyport in 1943. The team defeated Gloucester 13-0 that year. In the first period Chapman scored on a pass interception runback of 96 yards. He got in front of Gloucester's great back, Alex Destino, to get the ball. In a 33-0 win over Danvers he ran 40 yards for a touchdown early in the game and scored another touchdown and had two conversions. In a 20-6 win over Lynn English Chapman placekicked the con-version after the first Magician touchdown. The second touchdown came on a pass from Hayes to Chapman on a play good for 30 yards. He figured in all 3 Marblehead touchdowns in a 19-0 win over Beverly, running wide around right end to score the first TD and, in the 3rd period, he ran off to his right at the Beverly 12 and fired diagonally to Bud Kelley in the Beverly end zone. In the 4th period a flat 5-yard pass from Hayes to Chapman produced the third touchdown. Marblehead lost to Saugus 7-6 that year. Marblehead's touchdown in the third period resulted from a 60-yard march in which Chapman gained most of the yardage. The drive was culminated by a 10-yard pass from Hayes to Chapman.
John "Chipper" Chapman became an outstanding defensive back at Dartmouth. After graduation he was in the U.S. Army Air Corps. Chapman retired from the University of Connecticut where he founded the hockey program and served as assistant football coach.
