Now healthy and a little smaller, Chase Walker still a dominating force for St. Charles

The senior post player averages 19.8 points and nine rebounds per game for the Cardinals

Photo by Gabe Haferman

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Chase Walker doesn’t have quite as big of a size advantage over most of his opponents as he used to, after the 6-foot-9, 297-pound center intentionally lost more than 60 pounds over the past three months.

However, the St. Charles senior has developed into an even more dominating post player this season after drastically improving his speed, endurance and defensive play as a result of his weight loss.

“Chase has always been a skilled basketball player and he had a lot of success in past seasons, but he was definitely overweight,” St. Charles coach Mike Ryan said. “He weighed 405 pounds his sophomore year and he could only go four minutes a quarter back then; and last year, he needed at least two minutes of rest each quarter. When he got tired, he was a liability defensively, and he couldn’t shoot as well at the free throw line, because he was so exhausted.

“But Chase has worked really hard to get into better shape, and he can play all 32 minutes when we need him to. His cardio is a lot better, and he’s a lot more explosive. His biggest improvement is that he moves, laterally, so much better defensively, this year.”

In addition to having enough height and strength to overwhelm the majority of his opponents in the low post, Walker also has deft ball-handling skills and a soft shooting touch rarely seen in high school players of his size.

“Chase’s size is hard to deal with and he’s excellent around the basket,” said 30th-year Watterson coach Vince Lombardo, whose squad was swept by St. Charles this season, losing 44-23 on Dec. 9 and 35-27 on Jan. 20. “He has excellent footwork and great hands, which enables him to get in a good position to score or pass to open teammates. He also has a soft touch around the basket and a very good midrange jump shot.”

While making 68% of his field goals this season, Walker is averaging a team-high 19.7 points and 3.0 assists. The Illinois State University recruit also is averaging a team-best nine rebounds and three offensive rebounds per contest.

“Chase is the most dominant basketball player in our school’s history,” said Ryan, whose squad is 10-7 overall and 4-2 in the Central Catholic League. “He’s a lot bigger than most high school players, and people his own size can’t guard him one-on-one, because of how strong, quick and smart he is.

“Not only can he score at the rim, but he made 35 percent of his 3-pointers last summer and he’s got a turnaround jumper from 15 to 16 feet away, where he steps forward and then fades away, that’s absolutely unstoppable.

“He gets double- and triple-teamed a lot, but he’s a good decision-maker from the post, with great passing ability. He’s so unique in his game that he changes how teams have to guard and prepare for us.”

Walker said he’s grateful to be healthy and enjoying such a strong season, after a series of injuries kept him off the court for several months last year.

“I missed a lot of time because I was injured, and I thought I was going to miss the start of my senior season, so I’m really enjoying every moment with my teammates this year,” Walker said.

After averaging 17.8 points and 9.5 rebounds and being named first-team all-CCL, second-team all-district and honorable mention all-state as a junior, Walker was playing the best basketball of his life over the summer when he suffered a grade 2 sprained ankle while blocking a shot in late June.

Walker had to hobble around on crutches for a week and then use a walking boot to protect his ankle, costing him nearly two months of court time.

Shortly after he returned to action, Walker then suffered a broken left index finger when a teammate smacked his hand while he was driving toward the basket in late August.

“I thought I had just jammed my finger at first,” Walker said. “But when I held my hand up, my finger was dangling to the side and our trainer had to pop it back in place. This was on my shooting hand and I had to take even more time off, which was really frustrating.”

While Walker’s finger was still healing, he defied his doctor’s instructions by playing basketball during a recruiting trip at Illinois State in September, and he broke the same finger once again. This break was more severe, causing Walker to have two metal rods surgically inserted into his finger on Sept. 23.

“I was mad at myself, because I wasn’t even officially cleared to play again, when I broke my finger the second time,” Walker said. “I was supposed to wait a few more weeks, but I wanted to show that I could play basketball with college players and my competitive spirit led me to make a bad decision.”

It proved to be a long, painful recovery process, as Walker wasn’t cleared to play again until right before the Cardinals’ season started in late November.

“I was scared because my finger hurt so bad and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to shoot the same way,” Walker said. “The lowest point happened when I was in class and I couldn’t bend my finger around my pencil to write with it. I almost cried when that happened, because I was starting to wonder if I would ever be 100 percent again.

“I was voted a team captain this season and I beat myself up, worrying that I wouldn’t make it back in time to play the whole season with my teammates.”

While Walker was recovering from his surgery in October, after receiving encouragement from his mother, Angela Thorne, he began working with a nutritionist to change his diet in an effort to lose weight. He also dedicated himself to getting up early and working out every day before school.

“I played at 360 pounds as a junior, and I was right around there again in the fall,” Walker said. “But my mom sat me down and told me that if I wanted to play college basketball, I couldn’t stay this heavy.

“I started cutting weight in October. I stopped eating bread and sweets at lunch. I cut out carbs and dairy, and I upped my protein, eating lots of chicken and vegetables, and drinking protein shakes.”

As Walker quickly shed more than 60 pounds during the next few months, he noticed a big improvement in his energy level when he was cleared to start playing once again.

“I’m able to run faster and jump higher because I’m much lighter on my feet,” Walker said. “I’m able to stay on the court a lot longer now, and I’m shooting the ball better because my legs aren’t getting as tired.”

Walker has developed into a more menacing defensive presence, as he’s leading the Cardinals’ in charges taken and he’s now able to guard all five positions.

“The video doesn’t lie and I could see that I wasn’t reliable at all, defensively, at the end of games, because I was getting winded,” Walker said. “Now, I’m able to move better laterally to stay with guards a lot better. I’m able to hedge ball screens a lot better to get to my man.”

Walker credits his family, including his father Charles Walker, mother, older sisters Aahlaysia (age 24) and Kyria (21) and younger brother Ziyon (5) for being his biggest supporters.

Charles was a fine player while growing up in Whitehall, Thorne played basketball at Ohio Christian University and Kyria plays basketball at Wilmington College.

“The reason I work so hard is I understand the sacrifices that my parents make for us, and I want to make them proud,” Walker said. “I used to play my dad one-on-one for years, until he beat me 7-6 in a close game and told me he’s done playing me.

“My sister (Kyria) and I have always been competitive, and she still plays me and thinks she can beat me. We’ve always made each other better. And Ziyon is always on the bench with us at every game.”

Walker credits St. Charles’ coaching staff, as well as trainers Jason Dawson and Andrew Lavender, for teaching him to play basketball at a higher level. Dawson played college basketball at Gardner-Webb and Wofford, and Lavender played college basketball at Oklahoma and Xavier.

After coming off the bench as a freshman at St. Charles, Walker started at center as a sophomore, earning first-team all-CCL and third-team all-district honors.

“I’ve always been a post, but I’ve always worked on having guard skills as well,” Walker said. “I learned a lot from my parents, my sister and all of my coaches. And I learned a lot from watching a lot of basketball on T.V. and seeing how the guys with similar body types play the game and use their abilities.

“(Former NBA players) Zach Randolph and Carmelo Anthony were two of my favorite players.”

As a senior, Walker is ranked fourth on the Cardinals’ all-time scoring list with 1,073 points behind 1992 graduates Bill Cain (1,329) and Chris Kitsmiller (1,175) and 1977 graduate Marquis Miller (1,128).

St. Charles still has five regular season games remaining on its schedule, before competing in the Division I district tournament.

“It feels amazing being one of the guys to score over 1,000 points here and forever putting my name on the leader board, so that my little brother can come here years later to see my name there,” Walker said. “Hopefully, I can score enough in our final games to move all the way up to second.

“And hopefully, we can make a run to district finals and win it, for our first district championship since 2017.”

In addition to being the Cardinals’ best player, senior point guard Zach Auletta said Walker is also a great teammate and team captain.

“Chase is definitely our No. 1 guy,” Auletta said. “It wouldn’t be possible for us to do this well without him on our team. He’s a great leader and he’s very humble despite how good he is.

“He’s a Division I (college) athlete, but you would never know it by the way he interacts with everyone off the court, except for how big he is!”

Walker, who has a 3.3 cumulative grade point average, also has a reputation of being respectful to adults, often answering questions from teachers, coaches and reporters with “Yes sir.”

“You can’t find a teacher at St. Charles who has a negative thing to say about Chase,” Ryan said. “For how big and talented he is, he truly wants to be treated like everybody else. He’s a gentle giant and a genuine person. He has great parents, who hold him accountable and make him strive for more.

“On top of being naturally talented, he’s worked very hard. His best attribute is how selfless he is. He’s very loyal to St. Charles, and he wants to be very successful for our team, because he cares so much about his teammates and coaches.”

Walker, who signed a national letter of intent in November to play at Illinois State, has set lofty goals for himself both academically and athletically.

“Hopefully, I can be a 1,000-point scorer in college, too, and get (Illinois State) to the final four,” Walker said. “My ultimate goal is to go to the NBA. But I also want to major in business, so that I can go to law school and eventually become a sports agent, so that I can help young athletes navigate their future.

“I have big goals, but my dad’s always told me that it just comes down to hard work, and that I shouldn’t be afraid of it. I’m going to keep working hard to try to make these dreams happen.”