2003 Top 50 List: Yes
Dan Collins List: Yes
Len Chappell was the best player on the excellent Wake Forest teams of the early 1960s. He was a year ahead of Art Heyman and won ACC Player of the Year over Heyman in 1961 and 1962 (Heyman won in 1963).
Chappell’s position on this list might strike some as high. He did not do as well nationally in All-America voting as others of that era – Heyman, Lennie Rosenbluth, even Ron Shavlik. In his junior year, he finished 17th in the AP All-America balloting, good for Honorable Mention. As a senior, he was 5th in AP balloting, making him the last player on first team, and he made second team UPI.
But Chappell is a player for whom a significant adjustment has to be made in light of his play in the ACC and NCAA Tournaments. Keep in mind that All-America voting at that time took place in late February or early March, before any tournaments had been played. All-ACC and Player of the Year voting took place after the ACC Tournament. This often provides an explanation when the ACC voting does not seem to line up with the national voting, and this is the case with Chappell. He is, quite simply, one of the outstanding tournament performers in ACC history.
In his three years, his teams went 7-1 in the ACC Tournament, winning twice and losing in the final once. In those games, he averaged 27.5 points. He is second to JJ Redick (who played four more games) in total career points in the tournament. Chappell, Redick, Larry Miller, and Tom Burleson are the only players ever to be ACC Tournament MVP twice. After the 1961 final in which Chappell scored 33 to lead the Deacs to a 96-81 win over Duke, Vic Bubas said:
”Chappell proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s an All-American in this tournament. If there’s a better big man in college basketball, I haven’t seen him. I don’t see how they could leave him off any All-American team.” – The Charlotte Observer, 3/5/1961
Then there’s the NCAA Tournament. In 1961, Chappell had:
- 31 and 20 in a 97-73 first round win over St. John’s, a team that was ranked in the Top 10 most of the season
- 24 and 15 in a 78-73 Sweet 16 win over #2 St. Bonaventure
- 32 and 16 in a 96-86 Elite Eight loss to St. Joseph’s
(As an aside, note that’s three straight matchups between the Baptists and the Catholics.)
So that’s an incredible three game run by Chappell, taking the Deacs to an unexpected Elite 8 appearance, after his incredible ACC tournament. But he wasn’t done. In 1962, Wake was back in the tournament, and this time, they made the Final Four and won the third place game. So Chappell had five tournament games.
- 25 and 18 in a first round 92-82 win over Yale
- 34 and 18 in a revenge victory over St. Joseph’s in the Sweet 16
- 22 and 21 in a 79-69 win over Villanova to send Wake to the Final Four
- 27 and 18 in the semifinal loss to John Lucas, John Havlicek, and Ohio State
- 26 and 11 in the third place game win over Walt Hazzard and UCLA.
So let’s add all this up. In ACC and NCAA Tournament play in this career, Chappell played in 16 games. His teams went 13-3 in those games. He scored 441 points and pulled down 223 rebounds, for an average of 27.6 points and 13.9 boards. He was MVP of the ACC Tournament twice, leading his team to two titles. He then led the Deacons, who were not ranked in the Top 10 either season, to an Elite Eight appearance and the only Final Four in school history.
He was pretty good in the regular season too. He’s all over the ACC record books. Last ACC player to average 30 points per game. Still holds the record for most points (50) in an ACC game. Had a record eight consecutive games of 30+ points, and a record of 27 consecutive games of 20+ points. In the Top 10 in career points per game and rebounds per game. 26 double-doubles in 1961-62, second only to Tim Duncan’s 29 in 1996-97. One of only four players to score 900+ points in a season. I could go on.
This is a case where the All-America voting does not do justice to how great a player this man was. Chappell was a man among boys whose physical strength was legendary, something like a 1960s version of Tyler Hansbrough. As a senior, he shot 383 free throws in 31 games – over 12 attempts per game. Even Hansbrough, the NCAA’s all-time leader in free throws, never approached that. Chappell was unstoppable.