By Ben Taylor

Chester Frazier

Summertime, and the living is easier for those members of the University of Illinois men’s basketball team who remain on campus – take some classes, lift some weights and enjoy late-afternoon pickup games at the University’s Ubben Basketball Practice Facility.

But this past year, after a frustrating 2007-08 season, senior guard Chester Frazier decided that he and his teammates needed more focus in their offseason training. Since NCAA regulations prevent instruction by the Illini coaching staff during the summer, Frazier took it upon himself to organize his teammates’ workouts.

“He had some guys calling him ‘Coach Chester,’” sophomore center Mike Tisdale recalled. “He had everybody in here working on their game because he knew it was important for the team.”

“I’ve been trying to be a good leader,” Frazier said. “I’m getting older, and I was trying to figure out what I could do to help Coach Weber when he couldn’t be around. Basically, I was being a leader and wanting to win.”

In fact, Frazier’s involvement was a direct result of his desire to enter the coaching profession after wrapping up his playing career this season. According to Weber, the fact that Frazier was able to get his teammates together to work on skill development, rather than simply play the typical free-flowing, pickup games during the summer, shows that he’s taking steps toward his dream.

“There’s no doubt he’s learning basketball and that he’s helping teach,” Weber said. “He made some big steps this summer working with the guys, running individual workouts on their own. That was key for us.”

Frazier’s teammates say that his tireless work ethic and mature outlook on life are two reasons they look to him as a leader. The determined athlete has repeatedly played with injuries throughout his Illinois career, suffering severe foot blisters, a sprained knee, a sprained ankle and a torn quadriceps muscle. Despite those maladies, he has missed just eight games because of injury and only three in the past
two seasons.

“I don’t think people appreciate how hard [Chester] works and how much he wants to win,” Weber said. “He’s given his body up, he’s played through injuries, and he’s played when doctors have told him not to play.

“He does it because he loves to play, he has a passion for it, and he appreciates being here.”

In additional to his physical troubles, in his sophomore season Frazier also had to deal with the death of his father, who had fought a long battle with lung cancer. That sorrow spurred additional admiration for how he handled the situation.

“Guys respect him,” senior guard Trent Meacham said of Frazier. “Now, in the season, we look to him for leadership and [as] someone who’s going to be solid. He knows what’s going on, so when guys aren’t sure about something, they can look to him.”

Frazier also looks to pay back in kind. Growing up in Baltimore, he was given the chance to escape a difficult youth environment through the game of basketball. After his final season, Frazier wants to enter the coaching profession and extend that opportunity to someone else.

“[Chester’s] had a goal of somewhere along the line to help other kids,” Weber said. “He’s from a tough neighborhood and didn’t have a whole lot growing up, but some coach or teacher along the way gave him a chance. I think he appreciates that.”

But Frazier has one more season in uniform to help guide the Illini back to the NCAA tournament, a task he will likely approach with his usual selfless attitude.

“I try to keep guys motivated and keep them energized,” Frazier said of his on-court mentality. “I sacrifice a lot of myself on the court to let my teammates shine more.

“I just try to find as many ways to make them feel as important as they can be on the court.”

Taylor ’05 MEDIA, MS ’07 MEDIA, is an assistant sports information director at the UI Division of Intercollegiate Athletics.