There’s a story passed down from Angels.
One day, Steve Finley of the Anaheim ball club was walking around with a magic powder bag necklace.
Getting the best of his curiosity, teammate Darin Erstad asked about the necklace to which Finley replied, “It’s magic powder, man.” Erstad never refuted the reality of the magic powder; he instead got a bag for his own.
Superstitions are synonymous with sports like Creole cuisine is to New Orleans.
For the self-described country boy, Harold Chauvin had none.
He only walked up to the starting line and looked his opponent square in the eye and declared, “I’m gonna beat you.”
And he always did.
Harold Chauvin has been to every induction ceremony since Loyola’s Hall of Fame was re-installed in 1993, starting with the induction of his coach James “Big Jim” McCafferty.
Since then more than a half-dozen of his teammates have been inducted, including the entire 1951 track team.
On Saturday night, looking at a photo taken a half-century ago, Chauvin joked, “I hope to be remembered as good looking as I do in this photo.”
The image was of a college-aged country boy with parted hair, a tank top and track shorts.
He looks hardly the part of an athlete, maybe a casual partaker of archery at most.
That’s because Chauvin was a shooter – but he became a runner who for three years was unbeatable in the mile and two-mile events and left Loyola undefeated.
‘DO YOU DISSIPATE?’
In 1949 Loyola re-installed a track team for the first time in a decade. In an effort to return track to the glory days that included an Olympic gold medalist, they set coach McCafferty on a mission to find the best runners Louisiana had to offer.
The mission took McCafferty 60 miles southwest, deep into Cajun country.
During an AAU meet Terrebonne High School, senior Harold Chauvin caught the eye of McCafferty after attaining three wins and a second place finish in four events in both the junior and senior divisions.
McCafferty’s accomplice Joe Fueselier approached Chauvin after the meet and asked, “Do you dissipate?”
A confused Chauvin responded, “Huh?”
“Do you drink?”
No.
“Do you smoke?”
No.
“Do you chase women?”
Chauvin let out a chuckle, and the rest is history.
OUTRUNNING THE ‘PACK
McCafferty’s team, made completely of newcomers, outran the competition. Chauvin, in his first meet, won the mile event at the Turkey Day Races (known today as the Crescent City Classic.)
Winning became a tradition for Chauvin.
During his collegiate career, the biology graduate set school records in the mile (4:22.6) and two-mile (9:47.1) events. Undefeated in both, Chauvin also went undefeated in the 880-yard event his junior year. He was named captain his senior year and garnered accolades such as “Wolf of the Week” by The Maroon in 1953.
After graduating from Loyola, Chauvin served in the U.S. Army where he “hid” from track, saying after eight years of lettering in track (between Terrebone High and Loyola), he was tired of the competition.
Looking back, he said, “I should have run. I would’ve made ’em famous.”
Michael Nissman can be reached [email protected].
Harold Chauvin, 1950s track star at Loyola. (Photo Courtesy of Loyola University)
