Remembering ‘Big Nige’
Otterbein’s #97, Nigel Chatman
Julia Grimm ’22
Photos provided by Adam Prescott
T
here is a small sticker on the office door of Tim Doup, Otterbein’s head football coach and assistant athletic director. It’s cut in the shape of a football player wearing sunglasses, flexing his arms and sporting a red jersey with the number 97 on it. At the bottom, it reads “Big Nige.” This is an everyday reminder of the fun-loving and competitive young man Doup once knew: Nigel Chatman. Chatman, then a sophomore at Otterbein, died last fall in a car accident. He was a football player, member of the speech and debate team and was working toward his degree in communication studies. Football, like many other things in his life, was something Chatman was determined to give his all toward. When he wasn’t put in as a starter on game days, he was visibly upset, but that passion and drive only pushed him to work harder. He was known for dancing around the locker room in his cleats during a break. Coach Doup calls it his favorite memory of Chatman. “He was the life of the party,” says Doup. “He was our spiritual leader, our guy that was our motivator, a competitor and one of the funniest people I’ve ever been around. He could make a bad day into a good day.” Chatman brought this mentality to other activities he was involved in too. Susan Millsap, professor of communication and advisor of the speech and debate team, recalls how Chatman would reach out to his fellow debaters, including one of his teammates who had a hard time sticking up for herself.
In remembrance of their loud, happy and boisterous friend, members of the football team and other students keep special reminders of him around, including the idea that they “play big” for him. “I don’t feel sorry for us,” says Doup. “I feel sorry for the people that never met him.” ■
30 April 2020
Photo by Katie Frame
“He would turn to her and say, ‘You need to speak up. Come on. You need to say something. Don’t let them talk over you,’” says Millsap with a laugh.
