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Feature story on
Larry Chester
Larry Chester is a defensive
tackle for the Miami Dolphins. Larry played college football for Temple and
Southwest Mississippi Junior College. He was signed to a five year contract by
the Dolphins as a free agent in 2001. This article was written by
Robert Hoffman and was posted here with his permission. The interview with
Larry Chester took place on 12/7/02 during the 2002 NFL season. This feature
story was originally printed in the Enterprise Journal newspaper
(Mississippi) on 3/3/2003. Hammond’s Larry Chester
has made it with NFL’s Miami Dolphins By Robert Hoffman In the NFL there are many players who
receive recognition for their sheer athleticism and physical ability. It’s all
too easy for us to be impressed by a player’s height, weight, vertical jump, or
40-yard dash time. In addition, these characteristics are measurable and allow
us to make comparisons from athlete to athlete. While all players in the NFL
have superior athletic skills and/or physical ability, there are many players
who rely more on their toughness, determination and sheer will. These qualities
are often not immediately visible and can’t be measured. Athletes who rely on
these qualities can often go unrecognized and are rarely given the credit they
deserve. Larry Chester, a starting defensive tackle for professional football’s
Miami Dolphins and native of Hammond, Louisiana is one of these professional
athletes. Larry’s athletic career began at Hammond
Louisiana High School. Chester was a Division 4A All-District Choice as an
offensive tackle and a second team selection at defensive tackle during both his
junior and senior seasons. For all the prowess he displayed in football, Larry
gained as much notoriety, if not more, for his efforts in other sports. He
earned all state accolades in the shot put and discus for the track team. Larry
also finished second in the nation in power lifting as a senior. Still, Larry
Chester had a burning desire and this desire was to play football. After high school, Larry spent two years at
Southwest Mississippi Junior College. He got his first big break when former
Temple defensive line coach Ron McCrone took a trip down to Mississippi, in
order to take a look at eventual Temple and Jacksonville Jaguar star running
back, Stacey Mack. Mack mentioned to the recruiters that Chester was a
hard-working player worth taking a look at. The recruiters invited Larry to
play in an upcoming all-star game. At this time, Chester was playing the
offensive guard position and the all-star game already featured many guards.
But Chester was undaunted. He seized the opportunity to play by switching over
to the defensive side of the ball, where his outstanding play impressed McCrone,
and won him a spot on the Owls’ team. Growing up
in Louisiana and attending junior college in Mississippi, you might guess that
Larry had some difficulty adjusting to Philadelphia and Temple. However,
Chester adjusted fairly easily and only has fond memories of his time at
Temple. “Temple was very good to me. I had a lot of fun there. The atmosphere
was good.” Reportedly, some of Larry’s fun was using his tremendous strength to
move his teammates’ cars without their knowledge.
While at Temple, Larry had an impressive
career on the field. During his senior year, Larry was a second-team All Big
East selection. He finished the season with 63 tackles, including seven for
loss, five sacks and a fumble recovery. Perhaps his biggest moment at Temple
occurred late in a tightly fought contest with the University of Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh was driving for a go-ahead field goal, when Chester sacked the
quarterback. The loss on the play knocked the Panthers out of field goal range
and preserved a big victory for the Owls. Despite his success at Temple, Larry never
fully found his stride at the collegiate level. He was often surrounded by
players who lacked his skill and drive. Temple also endured multiple
defensive-line coaching changes during Chester’s college career. This lack of
continuity affected Chester’s overall growth and strategic knowledge of the
game. When asked about this Chester elaborated, “Unfortunately, at the time I
was confident in my abilities, but I really struggled with the knowledge of the
game.” As challenging as Chester’s on the field
college experience sometimes had been, it was nothing compared to the battle
that awaited him in the professional ranks. Larry was not considered a big time
NFL prospect for two reasons. First, at 6’2”, he is considered short for a
defensive tackle. Second, he did not play at a football factory such as an Ohio
State, Notre Dame or Oklahoma. Chester went undrafted for these reasons.
Fortunately for Chester, one person noticed the special drive that he had and
took the initiative to become the mentor that he needed. The defensive line
coach of the Indianapolis Colts at the time, now Chicago Bears defensive
coordinator Greg Blache, had actually wanted to draft Chester. But, as so often
happens according to Blache, “everybody wants their guy and you only have so
many draft (picks).” After the draft, Blache convinced Indianapolis to sign
Chester as a free agent and take a chance on him. Blache worked with Chester and ingrained in
Larry the importance of being trusted by his teammates and needing to fight and
persevere in order to succeed at the NFL level. “I impressed on Larry that as
long as he (Larry) could take care of his job, then the other ten guys (on
defense) could trust him. I think in college Larry felt as though he had to
make every tackle.” As a relentless worker, Chester had a difficult time
resisting the temptation to try and make every play possible. This behavior
frustrated both Blache and the coaching staff. As a result, Larry would often
miss assignments that enabled other players to make tackles. Still, when
training camp closed, Chester had thought he had made the team. Yet only one
day after training camp had ended, the Colts released him. At this point, Chester could have quit, like
so many other NFL hopefuls. However, Larry would not quit. After being signed
to the Colts’ practice squad, he pushed his way onto the active roster one week
later, as he continued to put together the lessons that Blache had taught him.
Blache used the following analogy to explain why Larry was able to finally make
it. “It doesn’t matter where you start the race. It’s how you run it and how
you finish it. He (Chester) didn’t start the race in the pole position, but he
ran it hard, he persevered. Now, he’s a starter in the NFL when all of those
“beauty babies”, all those first round picks are gone. They didn’t pay
attention to detail, and they didn’t win the trust of the people around him and
he did.” Chester, for his part, realizes that he
wouldn’t have made it without Blache’s mentoring. “(Blache) is the type that
will get in your head to make you a better player. If you are really over
confident, he’ll keep you down. If one of the players is down on himself, he’ll
work with you and work with you. I was kind of in between so he just kind of
teetered tottered with me and… I made it”. After three years with Indianapolis, Chester
signed on with the Carolina Panthers. In Carolina, he really began to get the
attention of NFL people for his high level of play. Unfortunately, he broke his
left fibula in a game against the Atlanta Falcons in 2001. As an injured free
agent, Larry wondered what kind of interest he would find for his services.
However, after only one day on the market the Miami Dolphins showed enough faith
in Larry’s abilities to sign him to a five year, multi-million dollar contract. In addition to Larry’s maturation on the
football field, he has also grown off of it. Chester recently married his long
time fiancée Neiko Sanders. When asked about his top goals, Chester is quick to
point out the importance of family. “I want to the best man, husband (to my
wife) and father (to my three kids) possible.” The premium that Chester puts on
family is probably due to his extremely close relationship over the years to his
mother. Many people close to Larry think that he has often survived the tough
times in his career by continually focusing on a desire to help his mom
financially. According to former coach McCrone, “I get the feeling that the
ability to help his mother has always been a source of motivation and
inspiration for him.” Back on the field in 2002, Larry’s first
year with the Dolphins was a successful one, even though he estimates he is only
85-90 percent recovered from his broken leg. Larry has stepped successfully
into Miami’s scheme, in which his job is to plug the middle of the line so that
star middle linebacker Zach Thomas can roam free and make tackles. While this
role does not allow Chester to pile up gaudy statistics or recognition from the
media and fans, it does the one thing that Greg Blache knew Larry would need in
order to make it in the NFL. It asks the other ten defenders to trust him, and
thanks to Larry’s tough and determined play they do. As a result, Larry Chester
has made it in the NFL.
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