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Len Chappell passes away

Wow. Sad news. Another great one gone from the earthly Deacon community. RIP, Len.

Condolences to his family and friends.
 
Unstoppable force in the paint who could also step out and shoot with touch. One of the first Deacon legends.
 
He was the 1st Wake star that I recall. I pray for comfort and peace for his family and friends. Sad
 
Made it to ESPN with a pic of Len vs OSU in the NCAA Tournament game along with a good pic of the Deacon head at center court of the Joel.
 
Pretty sure that’s the Final Four game against OSU.

Didn’t realize Chappell was an All-Star for the Knicks. Averaged a near double-double.
 
Very sad. I enjoyed watching him play for two years and he was special and a nice guy. Attending the basketball games back then was a student must. I will always remember his shot, from (almost) mid-court, to set the (then) record of 50 points (UVA) in a game. Why mid-court? He was passed the ball and all teammates ran away and wouldn't accept a return pass. Standing there with all students shouting 'shoot' he finally did. Drained it!
Crowd went wild, then 'Bones took him out.
 
Rest In Peace Mr. Chappell, have heard stories about him from my Dad since I was a kid. Every bit as a big of a Wake Forest legend as Chill and Timmy.
 
He was my boyhood hero. One of my greatest regrets as a Deacon follower is that I never go to see him play in person. I wonder if the current generation of Wake Forest fans even realize what an important figure he was in establishing Wake Forest basketball when the ACC was just emerging as a leader in the college game.
 
He was my boyhood hero. One of my greatest regrets as a Deacon follower is that I never go to see him play in person. I wonder if the current generation of Wake Forest fans even realize what an important figure he was in establishing Wake Forest basketball when the ACC was just emerging as a leader in the college game.

Judging by the lack of responses on this thread it's obviously no. It's kind of disappointing honestly, but I can understand the younger crowd not really knowing enough about him to realize how big Len Chappell is in the history of Wake Forest sports.
 
Len was a big man who would have flourished in today's game as a "stretch" big. Back in his day, bigs were only supposed to shoot with at least one foot in the paint.
 
Pretty sure that’s the Final Four game against OSU.

Didn’t realize Chappell was an All-Star for the Knicks. Averaged a near double-double.

You may be correct about the picture that it was from the Final Four game but let me suggest a different likelihood. Wake played Ohio St twice that year. The first game was in Winston, early Dec. 1961 and was a meeting of top ranked teams. Lots of buildup and a huge turnout and long student lines to get into the game.

I say a Winston location as Wake is in white in the picture in question, usual for a home team. Anyway, Ohio St won rather handily in a late blowout and really set Wake back pretty bad for a long spell. Wake regained 'mo' later in the year and advanced to the FF semi, where we lost again to tOs, and where Ohio St was then higher ranked and likely the 'home' team this time (and would be in white).

We were a real good team but fortune had the best scholarship guy from both/each of the prior two years good freshman teams not available. (several reasons). One was a later pro for years. So, he was good the squad was missing, I believe, a likely starter, and also a good reserve for the 1962 year team.

Thus, Wake was missing that really excellent 5th player just as the Duncan/Chill team was missing a key player as their season final played out. Bad Wake luck I guess, but oh so close.
 
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