By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

It has been a special week for Windham High School boys basketball senior Chase Eye.

On Tuesday, Eye posted the first triple-double of his career.

In the victory over Lordstown, Eye scored 28 points, pulled down 10 rebounds and dished out 10 assists.

On Friday night, though in a loss at Bristol, Eye celebrated another milestone by scoring the 1,000th point of his career.

Eye is the 11th Bombers boys basketball player in school history to reaching the scoring feat, joining Joe Fabry (1,737 points), Mason Angle (1,540 in time spent at both Windham and Crestwood), Bert Jones (1,452), Matt Knight (1,416), Phil Workman (1,337), Brian Kiser (1,335), Ian McGuire (1,256), Cody Apthorpe (1,132), Parker Rickey (1,092) and Mikilyen Jones (1,017).

As someone who knows what it takes to achieve the milestone, Windham head coach Cody  Apthorpe reflected on Eye’s accomplishment.

“Scoring 1,000 points has generally been a goal for many players, but many players fall short,” Apthorpe said, “because to reach the milestone, a player needs to be resilient, consistent, hard working and carry an attitude of continuously wanting to make yourself better.

“I am so happy for Chase that he will have this individual effort to remember, but if you asked him, his focus is first on the success of our team,” Apthorpe added. “Chase has consistently been a great example for his teammates and our youth, and I am extremely proud and honored to coach him this season.”

Apthorpe returned to Windham to coach basketball, after a stint coaching at the middle-school level at Rootstown, when Eye was a freshman so the first-year head coach has watched first-hand how Eye has transformed himself as a player.

Both physically, fundamentally and as a team leader and teammate.

“I have often, jokingly, told people that I wish we had one of those life-sized cardboard cutouts of Chase from his freshman year,” Apthorpe said. “The side-by-side comparison of then to now would truly say it all when it comes to his work ethic. Not only has he transformed his body into what you see today, but he has continued to develop his skills as well.

“Leadership can take on many forms and Chase leads with his actions, efforts and results,” Apthorpe added. “He will use his words when necessary, but his actions almost always speak for themselves.”

They speak loud enough to show that he is now one of only 11 players in Windham’s storied basketball tradition of history that have scored at least 1,000 points.