Owen Chambers never shied away from the big moments.
Two years ago, he scored 22 points to help Coudersport top Brockway and cap an undefeated season to win the school’s first District 9 title in nearly a decade.
Last year, he poured in 27 against previously unbeaten Ridgway and helped the Falcons repeat in the D-9 Class AA championship game.
And this year, his signature shot: a game-winning steal and 3-pointer as time expired to cap a 27-point performance and give Coudy a victory in the first round of the PIAA playoffs.
He just always seemed to show up.
“He had good games against teams that weren’t so so good, and he also had good games against teams that were really good,” said Brian Furman, his coach for all four seasons at Coudersport. “He came to play every game.”
For his scoring, leadership and records shattered, Chambers earned the 2018-19 Charles M. Ward Award as Big 30 Player of the Year.
He beat out a talented field of finalists that included Belfast’s Adam Enders and Olean’s Mike Schmidt.
He becomes the second straight Falcon to win the award, following Jared Green, and is just the third Pennsylvanian to take home the hardware (Bradford’s Jon Hannon, 2004) since the award began in 2002.
“It’s an awesome award,” Chambers said. “I know Jared won it last year, so it’s pretty nice to keep it in the Coudersport name. This summer I went to a bunch of camps, and Mike Schmidt was at a few of them. I remember playing against him, and he is a great player as well. It means a lot to beat out all of that good talent.”
Chambers’ accolades are enough to fill an entire page. He ends his career atop the Coudersport, North Tier League and District 9 all-time scoring lists with 2,269 points. The Big 30 record belongs to Enders, who finished his career with 2,594 points.
But those individual numbers aren’t what Chambers will remember most from his time in Coudersport.
“The main thing I want people to remember would be the four straight NTL titles, the four straight District 9 championship appearances and the two gold medals,” he said.
Chambers and his teammates ran through the NTL with ease, going a spectacular 63-1 in four seasons, won two of those four D-9 title appearances, and captured several PIAA playoff wins.
But Chambers approached a mid-December NTL game with same intensity and fire as he did an early March playoff game against a powerhouse from Pittsburgh.
“I’ve always gone into every game thinking the same thing, that we need to try and come out with a win,” he said. “Before the games I always have the same routine, and you just have to keep it chill.”
That routine?
“Go home, shoot about 100 shots and then I eat a turkey sandwich.”
Those 100 or so shots weren’t put up at school or at a local gym. No, he took them from the comfort of his home court.
“I’ve got an indoor gym at my house. Little smaller than regulation size and I’m normally getting about 300-500 shots per day.
“Got it when I was in fourth grade, and it was a nice gift,” Chambers recalled.
It’s no surprise then that Furman, who was a finalist for Big 30 Coach of the Year, said that Chambers was one of the hardest working and most prepared player he’s ever coached.
“The work that he put into the game that he put in over his years at Coudersport is just tremendous,” Chambers said. “The amount of time he spent — I can’t think there has been anyone who has worked harder than he has in basketball. It was just phenomenal the hard work and the time he put in.”
His role for this season changed, too. Not only was Chambers expected to put up his 25 points per game (he averaged 30.7), but he also had to evolve into much more of a leader on a team that had just two seniors.
“He worked real well with all the younger guys on the team, and that really stood out as he closed out his senior year of basketball,” Furman said.
The results carried onto the court again. Coudersport continued its reign of dominance across District 9, winning its games by an average of 35 points and suffering just two losses before the state playoffs — both defeats by Ridgway. This year’s Falcons fell in the PIAA Sweet 16 to eventual state Class AA runner-up Bishop Guilfoyle.
Chambers broke the school’s all-time scoring record in late January against Johnsonburg. He put up 40 points and led his team to 81 points versus a team that entered the game giving up fewer than 45 per year. The Falcons reached 90 points eight times this season, highlighted by a 106-point performance in their penultimateregular season contest.
“Before the season started, I had a talk with (Furman) and he said that I was going to have to become more of a leader this year,” Chambers said. “The main way was through practices and showing by example.”
Furman had plenty of stories to share about the player and person he’d come to know over the last four years, but one of the most recent — and selfless stories — stuck in the coach’s mind.
“After our last game, we are meeting in the gym and we are trying to get everybody together to leave, and Owen is not there. I went back down in the locker room to make sure everything is clean and picked up, and Owen is down there by himself cleaning up the locker room.
“That was the last game of his senior year. Just things like that. He took it upon himself to go down to the locker room and make sure it was clean.”
Chambers, who has received an abundance of attention and offers at the next level, is going to take some time to weigh his future.
After his basketball season ended, the three-sport athlete jumped right into baseball practices and games before taking a nine-day trip to France with his school French class.
For now, Chambers will enjoy the final few months at Coudersport and on the school’s baseball team, which, of course, has begun the year 4-0.
“I’d just like to thank mainly my teammates throughout the years,” he said. “They were able to help me when I was a freshman all the way to my senior year. WE were able to keep that Coudersport success going.”
