Forget what happened this weekend at the West Virginia Class AA State Baseball tournament. Whether the Indians won a fifth-straight state championship is moot for purposes of this blog (which they did).

 

Forget that Chapin Murphy earned all-tournament honors, stepped up big offensively and defensively to help the Indians win their fifth-straight title. Seriously, set that aside for just a few moments and read on.

 

There’s a reason for the request.

 

Long before the first pitch was thrown in Charleston, the senior standout Murphy had already earned status of champion and it had absolutely nothing to do with his showing as a baseball player. Instead, it had everything to do with growing up under some recent hard circumstances and facing it like a man.

 

Most already know Chapin Murphy is an all-state football player. Most probably know Murphy’s senior season at BHS is at a minimum all-state worthy. What most don’t know is that for a good portion of his final year at Bridgeport High School is that Murphy had more than books, athletics and a social life to deal with.

 

The 18-year-old just graduated senior had something more important than receiving his diploma. He had something more important to deal with than chasing a state title. And definitely something more important than having a fun evening out.

 

For months now, Murphy has been living with his grandparents. In large part, he was there to take care of his ailing grandfather; a man he’s looked up to his entire life in John Book.

 

Book’s daughter, and Chapin’s mother, Kelly Rolstad said her father had battled Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s for nearly a decade. Last week, the deadly combination of disease got the upper hand.

 

A week ago Wednesday, on May 23, John Book – a very well-known youth coach and trusted mechanic – passed away. About the only regret he may have had in life was not being able to see Chapin play baseball his senior year.

 

“One of the last things he said was ‘get me out of this bed. I want to go to the baseball game.’ We thought of ways to get him to a game and we couldn’t,” said Rolstad. “There’s a part of me that thinks he felt he was letting Chapin down, but I know Chapin never felt that way.”

 

For most of the 10 years the diseases took a grip on Book, he didn’t miss a game that he could attend if his blood was on a field. In fact, his past year he attended all of Chapin Murphy’s football games with the exception of the final contest more than three hours away in Bluefield.

 

While Book loved to watch all of his grandsons, particularly in sports, and his granddaughter Dareth, he also loved coaching sports. Rolstad said her father coached in Bridgeport Little League for 12 years, from 1998 until 2010.

 

“I was actually carrying Chapin during dad’s first year,” said Rolstad, whose father coached Atha Trucking. “He was an athlete himself and played baseball, basketball and football. Baseball was his love. He got to coach all my boys – Cole, Brennan and Chapin – and he coached for years when he didn’t have a child of his own involved. The kids got their love of sports from him, particularly baseball.”

 

Chapin Murphy said his earliest memories of his grandfather come from the diamond. He would watch his older brothers play and his grandfather coach.

 

“I remember going down to the baseball field when I was four or maybe five years old. I would sit in the dugout or in the outfield. My first year in Little League he coached me and it was awesome,” said Murphy. “He didn’t treat me any different than anyone else and he taught me everything I know about baseball and it’s stuck.

 

“The big thing was, and you realize it as you get older, that he was teaching more than baseball,” he continued. “He was teaching you about doing the right things. He taught you that if you lost then you had to show sportsmanship and carry the same attitude. He felt it was important to learn from losing as much as you felt good about winning. I don’t like to lose, but I always tried this year to do all the things he taught me so I wouldn’t let him down.”

 

It’s safe to say he didn’t. Instead, he was by his grandfather’s side nearly every day until the end.

 

“It’s been hard because I was close to him and it was hard watching him decline. Here was a man that loved life and a good guy, which made it even harder,” said Murphy. “People may think a teenager taking care of his grandfather is a big deal, but being there for the last several months wasn’t a big deal because he was always there for me and such a huge influence. I needed to be there because I watched when thing started getting bad a few years ago.

 

“I was able to share moments with him and also be there for my grandmother because I know it’s been tough on her as well,” he continued. “I was so happy he was at the football games, but I know it hurt him not being at our baseball games this year. When I’d get back to him after a baseball game, I’d wake him up and tell him what happened and he’d get the biggest smile and then go back to sleep. I know he was still pulling for me. Knowing that has given me a little bit of a boost for sure this year.”

 

Instead of dreading the situation, Chapin Murphy was thriving from it and doing all he could. And if needed to step up more, his mom said that’s what he did.

 

“He was at a party one night and my dad fell and it was really late. Instead of trying to make an excuse, he got up and went home and helped his grandmother. The thing that makes me so proud is he never complained,” said Rolstad. “Having him there because we were in a new home a little further away made a stressful situation a bit easier to face.”

 

It also made a mother who, like most, teeters on the edge of her seat at sporting events take things more in stride heading into the state tournament this weekend.

 

“I’m definitely proud they are there, but I’m more proud of how he’s dealt with this,” she said earlier this week. “I think it’s a reflection of lessons my dad taught with sports and coaches try to teach about the importance of relationships. Dad always said if you could help someone then you helped them. It’s ironic in a beautiful way that Chapin ended up helping him. I think that was a big lesson that resonated with Chapin.”

 

In the end, no scoreboard could keep a total of what Chapin Murphy faced, dealt with, overcame and grew from this year. The only thing you need to know is that because of how he handled his situation, he won long before he ever headed to Charleston.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo, by Ben Queen Photography, shows Chapin Murphy in action on the diamond, while the second picture shows him with his grandfather, John Book, prior to a BHS event. In the third photo, "Coach" John Book of Atha Trucking is shown with a young Chapin Murphy, while the grandfather takes in action last year sporting the number of his favorite Indian. Bottom three photos courtesy of Kelly Rolstad.