Hall of Fame
Back To Hall of Fame
Back To Hall of Fame
Fred Chambers was a two-sport standout on the hilltop, earning a total of eight varsity letters while helping lead the West Liberty basketball and baseball teams to multiple championships from 1960-64. A clever point guard for head coach Ollie Olson's Hilltopper basketball teams, Fred was a three-year starter and four-year letterman on the hardwood. West Liberty won the WVIAC title in 1961 and dropped an overtime heartbreaker to Morris Harvey in the 1964 WVIAC Tournament final.
It was in baseball that Fred really made his mark. After he and his teammates virtually re-started the sport in 1961 under Hall of Fame coach George Kovalick, they went on to win the NAIA national championship in 1964. The Hilltoppers went 10-6 during the 1962 season but made people sit up and take notice in 1963, going 17-6 overall and rolling to an unbeaten (11-0) West Virginia Conference title. Chambers and his teammates picked up where they had left off in 1964, going unbeaten in league play once again (12-0) and taking a 22-6 record to St. Joseph, Mo. for the NAIA World Series.
West Liberty opened the double-elimination tournament with a 2-1 loss to Wartburg (Iowa) in a 16-inning marathon but battled back to win elimination games against Western Washington, Sam Houston State and Georgia Southern before beating Grambling, 6-4 and 3-2, in the championship finals. Chambers was named to the All-Tournament Team after batting .320 in the series and also earned NAIA All-America, All-District and All-WVIAC honors.
The son of WLU Hall of Famer Floyd Chambers, Fred attended mortuary school in Cincinnati and retired after a long and successful career with the Chambers and James Funeral Home in Wellsburg.
Back To Hall of Fame
