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Physical Education Teacher and Chatham Coach Gail Chesnut to be Honored

CHATHAM-  Gail Chesnut, physical education teacher and coach of the Chathams from 1957 to 1991, will be honored for her distinguished career on Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 2PM.  A permanent plaque will be installed in Chatham High School.

Ahead of her time, Gail Chesnut worked with great enthusiasm and tenacity to establish a girls’ sports program for the community that would be equal in stature to the boys’ program and superior to programs found in neighboring school districts many times larger in size.

This was during a time when public schools in New Jersey did not offer a high level of competition for girls.

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Jackie Biggs, CTHS Class of 1971, stated, ” I am in support of recognizing the lifelong dedication of Gail Chesnut to women in sports and more specifically to the development of character, sportsmanship, and integrity in the girls of Chatham Township High School. Long before Title IX and the national advancement of women’s equity issues, Gail Chesnut championed the belief that girls could, should, and would compete and excel in all aspects of their education, both athletically and academically.”

Through her emphasis on building character in her students, Gail Chesnut guided and inspired thousands of girls, building a program in Chatham that would set the standards of excellence for future generations to come.

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“Thanks in large part to Ms. Chesnut, I found a niche where I felt I belonged, made friends with people of a wide variety of backgrounds, interests and social milieus, and learned that teamwork not only makes everyone look better than she might look individually, but  can also make winners out of players possessing only average skills”, said Susan Morse, CTHS Class of 1970. “I learned that effort can count for as much as God-given talents and that one should always play to the whistle---i.e., never stop short of pursuing one’s goals. I truly believe that one of the reasons I was admitted to Yale in their second year of coeducation had to do with Gail Chesnut.”

Today, Chatham’s outstanding girls’ lacrosse program can trace its origin and ultimate success to the efforts of this remarkable teacher, coach and role model. 

In 1972, Gail Chesnut developed a girl’s lacrosse program, one of the first public school lacrosse programs in all of Northern New Jersey. 

In order to improve the competition for the girls in the ensuing years, she implemented the North Jersey Invitational Lacrosse Tournament ( NJSIAA).  Her tournament format inspired the NJSIAA to form a girls’ state tournament, which began in 1978.

Gail Chesnut was recognized for the vital role she played in the growth of this sport when she was inducted into the New Jersey Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame in 1998.

Currently, the girls’ lacrosse team at Chatham High School ranks in the top 10 in New Jersey and has been ranked nationally. Graduates of the Chathams have gone on to play women’s lacrosse at many prestigious Division One schools including: Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Lehigh, Loyola, Holy Cross, Boston University, and the University of New Hampshire.

Additionally, young women have committed to play lacrosse at, among others, St. Joseph’s, Lafayette, Hamilton , Yale, and many others.  Her 1975 women’s lacrosse team is still the only undefeated and untied team in Chatham High School’s history – male or female.

Sue Connors, Chatham Assistant Lacrosse Coach said,“My experience with Gail Chesnut stems from playing four years of field hockey and lacrosse for her at Chatham Township High School (1978-1981) winning field hockey state championships in each of those four years. I went on to play two sports in college. Having had this varied athletic experience, I can say with certainty that Gail Chesnut was the finest coach I have ever had the pleasure of playing for, at any level. She exemplified what all coaches should strive to achieve: a level of fairness, respect, professionalism, dedication and discipline. She demanded excellence, not just in play, but more importantly, in effort. I have taken the lessons learned on those fields and applied them not only to my own coaching style, but to larger principles of what it takes to succeed in life. ”

During her years in Chatham, Gail Chesnut also led the field hockey teams to an overall remarkable win-loss record of 271-72-33, including 12 conference championships, 1 county, and 8 sectional and 6 state titles. 

Ms. Chesnut was also the recipient of many coaching awards, including the 1978 Star Ledger Coach of the Year, and the 1985 Morris County Coaches Award and 1985 NJISAA Coaches Award.

The high level of play Ms. Chesnut established in field hockey also led to many of her students continuing to play at the college level. 

As with the girls’ lacrosse program, Chesnut can be proud of the many accomplishments her students had in field hockey nationwide, including the graduate who went on to become one of the first four female varsity captains in the history of Yale University field hockey, a sport to which she'd been introduced by Gail Chesnut.

Gail Chesnut had a positive impact on many students in the community. In addition to her outstanding sports teams, she encouraged and developed a broad range of athletic activities for students of all levels of ability during her years in Chatham. 

Her annual Girls Athletic Association shows packed the gym with more than a thousand spectators and participants, involving over half the high school girls in gymnastic routines created by the students themselves. 

She coached the cheerleading squads and, during her own time, chaperoned ski club trips, teaching many of Chatham’s students basic skiing skills- with humor and patience.  For a period of time, she even coached the boys’ junior varsity basketball team.

Although she is now retired, Gail Chesnut continues her commitment to the students of our community by funding an award given each spring to an outstanding senior girl athlete at the annual awards assembly. 

In addition, she has established a student council service award at Chatham High School, in memory of Beda Johnson, one of her former Chatham students. Both men and women alumni from across her years of teaching and coaching have donated funds to the Gail Alling Chesnut Sportsmanship Award.

A plaque honoring her 30-plus years of dedication to the children of the Chatham’s will be dedicated Saturday, May 21 at 2PM in the Chatham High School. Members of the community are invited as this outstanding teacher and coach is honored.

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