Inducted 2016

Chuck Chamberlain grew up in Paonia, Colo., the son of the manager of a power company. He played football, basketball and baseball in high school, then focused on football and baseball in college. After attending college one year in Fort Collins, Colo., Chamberlain spent a year and a half at Mesa Junior College, then transferred to Northern Colorado where he was a football fullback and baseball pitcher. He briefly considered a career in forestry, then decided on coaching. "Best move I ever made," he said. After earning his master's degree at Northern Colorado in 1963, he was interviewed by the Kern High School District and hired in 1964. He joined the Arvin High faculty as a PE teacher, varsity baseball head coach, C Class basketball coach and varsity football assistant coach under Duane Damron. He remained at Arvin High until retiring in 2000. Chamberlain was the Bears' varsity baseball head coach for six seasons, leading Arvin to a league championship in 1966 and Central Section runner up that season. He spent six years as a varsity football assistant, the final four under then-head coach J.R. Williams. Williams left Arvin in 1970 to become the first football coach at Highland, and Chamberlain was promoted to varsity football head coach. Chamberlain's all-time record as a varsity football head coach was 164-167-3 in 31 seasons, according to Central Section historian Bob Barnett. The Bears were Sequoia Division Central Section champions in 1990. Arvin won outright or shared six league championships during his head football coaching career. Arvin went through six league changes during Chamberlain's coaching career, including a couple of stints in the South Yosemite League that consisted of the larger Bakersfield city schools. "It was tough to have a .500 season, and you had to work your tail off to get that," he said. Chamberlain said the highlight of his coaching career was the relationship with athletes and fellow coaches. "Having the Tarvers, Griders, Kennedys and Satterfields made me a smarter coach," he said. He and his wife, Marsha, have been married 52 years. They have two sons, three grandsons and a granddaughter.