[ Originally published on: Friday, May 16, 2008 ]
Sometimes, things just don't seem to work out the way you thought they would -- but that's not always a bad thing.
Take Chip Daugherty, for instance. When he first set foot on the Deerfield Academy campus four years ago, he had dreams of playing college hockey.
Well, Daugherty will graduate from Deerfield at the end of the month and he's signed, sealed and about to be delivered to Cornell University this fall -- to play lacrosse.
''I came here with every intention of playing hockey in college,'' said Daugherty, but by the end of his sophomore year, a couple of cracks began to appear in those good intentions.
''I began to develop a real passion for lacrosse,'' said Daugherty, who was no stranger to the sport, having grown up in Longmeadow, which is a hotbed for lacrosse in western Mass. But more importantly, ''I was getting more interest from colleges in lacrosse than I was in hockey.''
But that's not to say he went unnoticed during his tour of duty throughout the ice houses of New England prep school hockey. To the contrary, the interest Daugherty received from hockey scouts wasn't anything to pooh-pooh. The University of New Hampshire and the University of Vermont, both Division I schools playing out of Hockey East, made note of their interest, ''but the majority of teams that contacted me were Division III schools, such as Williams and Middlebury,'' said Daugherty.
''And to be honest, I gave a lot of thought to playing Division III so I could play both lacrosse and hockey. But ultimately, I felt I wanted to go Division I and see what would happen if I concentrated on one sport,'' added Daugherty, who was also actively recruited in lacrosse by Dartmouth, Yale, Brown and Georgetown.
In this day and age of sports specialization, when student-athletes spend the entire year concentrating on a single sport, Daugherty is considered a rarity.
He played three sports -- lacrosse, hockey and soccer -- and picked up 12 varsity letters, the most an athlete can possibly earn, ''unless he opted for a postgraduate year, which I don't think anyone around here would object to,'' quipped Deerfield hockey coach Brendan Creagh of Daugherty, who scored 20 points in hockey on eight goals and 12 assists this winter and 18 points in soccer on eight goals and 10 assists during the fall.
''But,'' Creagh quickly added in a more serious tone, ''we know that's only wishful thinking … his ship has sailed.''
''Chip's a throwback athlete to an earlier time,'' said Chip Davis, the Big Green lacrosse coach. ''He's a great example that the pursuit of excellence doesn't equate to specialization in sports. And it's a bonus to those around him that his leadership ability is on a plane with his natural talent.
''He holds himself to a high standard every day,'' added Davis, ''and I just wish we could bottle him.''
As Davis pointed out, Daugherty's athletic prowess, which seems to know no bounds when it comes to seasons, isn't his only attribute that sets him apart. He's a leader, too, and was elected captain by his peers in all three sports during his senior year.
And that has made his coaches pretty happy.
''You'd have to look pretty hard to find a more loyal and dedicated athlete at Deerfield Academy,'' said Davis. ''No matter what the situation is, Chip remains a constant. He never gets too high, or too low. No matter what's going on out on the field, he never gets rattled.''
Creagh, meanwhile, took it one step further in describing Daugherty's leadership qualities by describing him as ''one of the best captains I've ever had. He leads by example … he works hard and is a tenacious player and he has the respect of his peers because of it.''
And when it comes to the locker room, ''he always says the right things at the right time,'' added Creagh.
Ironically, Daugherty has accumulated the majority of his bling from soccer, where, as a striker, he earned berths on the Western New England Prep School Soccer League All-Star Team as a junior and senior and was also named to the Mass. State Prep School All-Star Team this past fall.
''One thing you tend to forget about when you're talking about Chip is that he's a true senior,'' said Deerfield soccer coach Jan Flaska. ''And in the world of prep school athletics, there are some sophomores out there who are older than he is. Taking that into consideration, what he's done as an athlete and as a leader seem even more incredible.''
Flaska also admitted, ''Chip was one of two players I crafted our system around. In my opinion, he was the fastest player in the league … he was consistently able to get around the defense and shoot on goal.''
It has been Daugherty's quickness that has made the difference in lacrosse as well.
''Chip's as fast as anyone in the league,'' echoed Davis of his midfielder. ''He's got grit, speed and determination, and that's what college coaches like, because you can't teach those things … you're born with them.
''And that's why he's a jack of all trades out there on the field. I use him when we're a man up, a man down and I use him as a wing on faceoffs. He just fits into any situation you may run into out there on the field.''
Daugherty is matriculating from one of the premier prep school programs in the country to one of the elite collegiate programs nationally, as the Big Red has won the last six Ivy League titles in a row.
Deerfield, which is annually ranked among the best of the best in prep school/high school lacrosse in New England as well and nationally, has won or shared league titles in two of the past three years. And, if the Big Green wins its final two games, it will earn at least a share of this year's league crown.
''It's been a great run,'' said Daugherty, who saw his team's 31-game winning streak come to an end on Saturday. ''This was supposed to be a rebuilding year, but we used that as a motivating factor to make us work harder … and it's worked so far.
''We obviously were hoping to go undefeated, but the important thing is that if we win out, we'll still grab at least a share of the league title.''
With its season finale scheduled for Monday, the Big Green lacrosse team will do something tonight it does every Friday night during the season. The team will chow down at Antonio's in Greenfield. And for the 15 seniors on the team, it will mark the final time they will take part in this ritual.
For Daugherty, who hasn't missed one of these meals since his freshman year, no menu is needed. Much like winning, ordering food at Antonio's has become a habit: ''I always get a calzone … with pepperoni and sausage,'' he said.
Bob York is a Recorder wire editor. His e-mail address is byork@recorder.com.