Baseball consists of more than statistics. It certainly did for the late longtime Piedmont High School assistant coach and scorekeeper Pete LaChapelle and all who were fortunate enough to meet him. LaChapelle’s affable nature always made a positive first impression, after which he would further impress people as someone knowledgeable and well-rounded.
Accomplished at basketball and baseball in his youth — and elected many years later to his high school’s athletic hall of fame — LaChapelle went on to graduate from Stanford and then Lincoln Law School of San Jose before embarking on a 30-year career as an Alameda County assistant district attorney in the County Counsel Department. LaChapelle also took pride in his musical abilities (he once declined an invitation to join the Kingston Trio) and later became an avid runner.
Possessing a vast knowledge of sports history, particularly of baseball, perhaps it came as no surprise that LaChapelle appeared most in his element during more than four decades of coaching baseball in Oakland’s Young America League, the Piedmont Pony League and Piedmont High School. Long a ballpark fixture, LaChapelle’s acquaintances were saddened to learn of his death Nov. 3 at 84.
“I thought something was missing so much that I didn’t even attempt to attend a (PHS) game (this season),” said LaChapelle’s friend and fellow former Highlanders assistant Clarence Mamuyac (father of former player Nate). “I would talk to (head coach) Eric (Olson) now and then, but with the pandemic, I just decided to stay away. It had to be a measure below what we experienced in the past.”
So steadfast was LaChapelle that the school created an award in his honor, the Piedmont High School Varsity Baseball Pete LaChapelle Loyalty Award, given annually to the parent who best exemplifies the values exuded by LaChapelle, whose son Erik LaChapelle and stepson Jeff Cathrall both played for the team.
“Pete was a fantastic guy who loved baseball and thrived being part of it,” said Eric Sullivan, the award’s 2013 winner. “He always had a positive word for the kids and good baseball advice for them. My son, Ryan ‘Sully’ Sullivan, was a four-year starting catcher on the varsity baseball team at Piedmont. Like the other boys on the team, Sully loved and respected Pete.”
Though having coached hundreds of kids through the years, LaChapelle still could recall many of their batting averages, earned run averages, positions played and maybe even some career highlights. He also remembered birthdays.
“Coach LaChapelle had an infectious happiness which he gifted to an entire generation of young men,” former Piedmont High player and 2010 graduate Cormac Craigie said. “Every day, he brought a genuine joy to coaching us, which we could all feel and will now cherish.”
The positive vibe flowed both ways.
“Sadly, when Pete had (a health) episode of some sort, (his wife) Barbara called the Fire Department,” Mamuyac said. “The paramedics came out, and one of the paramedics said, ‘Coach LaChapelle, is that you? It’s (former Highlanders pitcher) Jordan Remer,’ and Pete just lights up.”
Born Feb. 23, 1936, in Detroit, LaChapelle lived most of his early years in Webster Groves, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb. Like many in the area, LaChapelle followed the Cardinals and became an especially big fan of Hall of Famer Stan Musial. LaChapelle sometimes spoke of living some blocks down the street from “The Man” himself. LaChapelle’s family later moved to Denver, where his own sports talents blossomed at East High School.
A 6-foot-1 guard, LaChapelle was a three-year varsity basketball player and starter as a junior and senior. As a senior, LaChapelle’s talents led to a unanimous selection to the all-city first team for Denver high schools and a first-team nod for the state of Colorado. Basketball magazine selected him as one of the nation’s top 500 basketball players.
“I was a driver and a jumper,” LaChapelle said in 2009, “someone who went to the hoop constantly.”
LaChapelle also made all-city in baseball by batting a Denver Prep League-best .423 as a senior. A right-handed hitter, LaChapelle started at first base in that season’s prestigious annual Prep-Paroke All-Star Game pitting the best players from Denver’s public schools against those of the city’s parochial schools. Good hitting perhaps ran in the family as son Erik won the Alameda Contra Costa Athletic League batting title with a .625 average as a Piedmont High senior in 1999.
Pete LaChapelle also batted cleanup for the American Legion Duffy’s Drinks team of Denver who won 1953 state and regional titles. A teammate with Duffy’s and Denver’s East High School was longtime friend and fellow 1954 graduate Stan Williams, who went on to a 14-year major league pitching career. Through the years, LaChapelle stayed in touch with Williams, who died Feb. 20, also at 84. For his sporting success, LaChapelle was inducted into the East High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009.
“It means a lot; I don’t get a lot of things like this,” LaChapelle said then in a story that ran in these pages in advance of his induction.
LaChapelle went to play just one season each of basketball and baseball at Stanford, where he joined the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and went on to earn a bachelor of arts degree in economics. LaChapelle also displayed musical talent as a vocalist and ukulele player, which led to an offer from the Kingston Trio.
“Somehow, they knew him and he knew them,” son Tom LaChapelle said. “One of them had to take a sabbatical from the Trio, and my dad was approached by them to see if he could join them. But he was working by then and too busy with law school.”
Running later became a passion during Pete LaChapelle’s working life, with jaunts around Lake Merritt on lunch breaks. As with music, running became more than just a diversion, as he ran the Bay to Breakers for a number of years along with the Dipsea and the Woodminster. He is best remembered, though, for touching the lives of many others.
“For as accomplished as he was, he was most modest; he would never talk about himself,” daughter Tracy LaChapelle said. “He was a wonderful man, a wonderful father, and he is very missed.”
Pete LaChapelle is survived by Barbara LaChapelle, his wife of 43 years, son Steve LaChapelle, of Oakland; Tracy, life partner Sid Wagner and her son, Michael Hageman, of Cobb; Tom, wife Alex and their daughters, Sadie and Josie, of San Luis Obispo; Erik, wife Mayra and their son, Oliver of Alcala de Henares, Madrid, Spain; stepdaughter Suzanne Heske and her sons, Alden, Benjamin and Owen, of Piedmont; and Jeffrey Cathrall, wife Brenda and their son, Jake, of Rock Tavern, New York.
Donations can be made in Pete LaChapelle’s name to the Piedmont High School Boosters Club through The Pete LaChapelle Baseball Fund online at bayareane.ws/3xFkcf8.
Mike McGreehan is a former sports writer for the Bay Area News Group who especially enjoys soccer and baseball.