Blaise Chappell Made Them Go Out Kicking and Screaming

Huskies special-teams whiz showed staying power as a resilient walk-on player.

Please don't use the "R" word to describe me.

Blaise Chappell made this simple request, having heard enough annoying Rudy comparisons from his brother through the years.

Fair enough. 

That other guy, whose Notre Dame ultimate underdog story was made into a motion picture, pulled on a uniform for just one college football game and stepped on the field for only a handful of plays.

Chappell differed from this wannabe player.

While similarly short in stature and long on determination and never on scholarship for Washington, Chappell was a kick-blocking specialist who the Huskies relied on to unnerve opposing placekicker and punters.  

And he did, lettering for two seasons.

In other words, Chappell played.

Take that Rudy.  

He used a quick first step to continually dive at these kickers, arms outstretched, and make them remember him. 

Chappell likes to think his special-teams antics caused Michigan's barefoot booter Todd Schlopy, shown in the above photo, to miss a late 32-yard field goal in 1983, enabling the Huskies to pull out a thrilling 25-24 victory.

"I certainly wasn't a household name," he said. "But I wouldn't have traded it for anything. We were a final line between winning and losing games."

Today, this man of Native-American descent (Cowlitz tribe) is a special-education teacher's assistant for Seattle Public Schools and a Costco cashier and a jack of all trades for the wholesaler. He coached football for two decades at Garfield, Mercer Island and West Seattle high schools. It's been a long journey.

Chappell arrived at the UW from Seattle's O'Dea High but was a student only as a freshman. 

He found he missed football.

He walked on in 1982, but the 5-foot-7, 162-pounder wasn't invited to spring football. 

However, Chappell received unlimited weight-room access and he got himself in football shape. 

He suited up for a couple of games that fall, but just watched.

In the spring of 1983, Chappell finally got the attention of the other players and the coaching staff with his quickness.

"Jimmy Mora encouraged me to rush kicks," he said of the then-Husky linebacker and later high-profile coach. "I picked it up pretty quick."

Chappell blocked several kicks in practice one day, to the point that then-assistant coach Gary Pinkel shooed him out of the drill so they could get things done on the kicking end of it.

For the 1983 opener at Northwestern, Chappell was a special-teams starter for the first time, followed by that aforementioned Michigan game. He played a lot that season and he felt needed.

However, the life of a walk-on player offers no guarantee other than continuous struggle. 

Chappell got sick early the next season and and answered to a new special-teams coach in Bill Harris, who made it clear he wasn't partial to non-scholarship players. He drew one solitary play in 1984.

"I contemplated quitting," he said. "Jimmy Rodgers talked me out of it."

Chappell reclaimed his playing time in 1985, regularly making kickers nervous again and finishing up in the Freedom Bowl. He lettered again, felt needed and wanted. 

No, they didn't carry him off the field and or make a movie about him like Rudy. Yet this special-teams dervish had showed staying power and felt like he'd accomplished something. For a walk-on, he'd had a nice Husky career.

"It was a great feeling knowing it was over," he said, "and that I'd stuck it out to the end."