The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Euclid’s Chaplin started her career with a dream
From a young age, Constance Chaplin never backed down from a challenge.
At age 7, Chaplin made her way to the local recreation center in Euclid, grabbed a pinney practice jersey and draped it over her shoulders.
The other kids there that day at the Bath House were older than her, but the young, aspiring basketball player didn’t care. She confidently went out and competed.
Nearly a dozen years have passed since that day. The memory still makes her smile.
The memory also reminds Chaplin of where her current journey started, a journey that will enter its next phase this week when Chaplin embarks on her final postseason tournament when the Euclid girls basketball team hosts Madison in a Division I sectional final on Feb. 21.
To be sure, the journey is far from complete. A senior with the secondseeded Panthers, Chaplin has signed a national letter of intent to play college basketball at Eastern Michigan University starting next season.
But this current chapter is a special one. It’s one that has seen her become the all-time leading scorer in Euclid girls basketball history and bring pride to the Panthers’ girls basketball program as a dangerous opponent on the schedule.
So as the final weeks of her career in a Euclid uniform wind down, Chaplin has a smile of nostalgia and accomplishment on her face.
“It’s been a good ride,” Chaplin said, pausing for a moment. “No, a great ride. It’s surreal to me that it’s almost over. And surreal to me that I’m going to college to do this. But it’s been great.”
It actually shouldn’t be surreal. After all, Chaplin set the goal to be a college player — and even fosters dreams of someday playing in the WNBA — many years ago when she was not only playing at the Bath House and at the local YMCA, but also dribbling around town on her own.
When her mother saw her fervor for basketball, she purchased her daughter her own basketball.
Chaplin never stayed far from her ball.
Maybe that’s why she’s the player she is today, heading into the tournament averaging 29.3 points, 12.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 4.4 steals — among the area leaders in all those categories.
“I’ve been working on my game since I was about 6,” she said. “I was always dribbling, shooting around. Ever since my mom bought me my own basketball, I’ve dribbled every day. People say I’m smooth, like it’s natural, and maybe it is. But I worked an awful lot on it.”
All with a dream in mind. To be good at her trade. “That was always the talk around my friends — going to the next level,” she said, chuckling when ‘the next level’ at that age meant junior high basketball. “We’re all in middle school saying, ‘I’m gonna do this.’ I had no choice but to feed off that energy. It was always about getting to the next level.”
Eventually, the next level became high school, where Chaplin as a sophomore co-starred on a Euclid team with All-Ohioan Rayjon Harris, a team that won a Division I district championship.
The Chaplin-Harris combo will renew its magic next year, as Harris is a member of the Eastern Michigan team.
“Those early years, especially playing with my sister Kelly on that team, were such a blessing,” Chaplin said. “That was so much fun.
“Getting to play again with Jonny is going to be great. She always said I was crazy when I said I knew what she was going to do (on the court). But that’s the chemistry we had. My favorite moment is still winning that district championship with her.”
Heading into postseason play, Chaplin has a program-record 1,619 points. Of the 22 games Euclid (15-7) has played, Chaplin has record 20 double-doubles and one triple-double.
She has 12 games of 30plus points and one game in which she scored more than 40.
The numbers are staggering and they make Chaplin — not to mention her opponents — shake her head. But those numbers aren’t what she wants to be remembered for when she hangs up her Euclid jersey for the final time.
She’d rather be known as a leader, such as this year when she was one of only three Panthers with varsity experience at season’s start.
She’d rather be known as a player who believed in the process — the hard work it takes to be successful, such as the early days at the Bath House when she went up against older players with one dream in mind.
To be the best she could be.
As she prepares to leave Euclid, it’s safe to say she’s done that.
“How I want to be remembered is as a person who followed her own path, a faithful person who believes in the work,” Chaplin said. “Someone who is caring and passionate about what she believes in.”
Kampf can be reached via email at JKampf@NewsHerald.com; On Twitter @NHPreps and @JKBuckeyes