Ogden High’s Chet Colvin piles up rushing yards and volunteer service
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- Ogden High’s Chet Colvin (23) runs the football as Ben Lomond’s Lance Workman (10) pursues in the 69th Iron Horse Game on Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021, at Ben Lomond High School in Ogden.
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- Chet Colvin, right, volunteers with Humanitarian XP in Mexico in 2021.
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- Chet Colvin, front, volunteers with Humanitarian XP in Panama in June 2022.
OGDEN — Chet Colvin is the latest 1,000-yard running back for Ogden High’s football team.
The senior rushed for 1,169 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2021 and it was the fourth straight season Ogden had a 1,000-yard running back (Rhyle Hanson in 2018, Logan Shobe in 2019-20).
“I wasn’t really expecting it but I owe that all to our line, that’s the biggest part,” Colvin said this summer.
Ogden head coach Erik Thompson, who calls the plays on offense, interjected.
“His coach finally wised up and started giving him the ball 20 times a game,” he said.
This all happened for a player who obviously spends plenty of time working out, playing football and such. But Colvin hasn’t been with the team the past two summers for about a month at a time.
Rather, he’s volunteered weeks of his summer vacation to go to Mexico and Panama through an organization called Humanitarian XP, HXP for short, that builds health and education centers all over the world.
Colvin went to Mexico for three weeks last year to help build a school room. In June, he went to Panama to help build a hospital room.
While his Ogden High football teammates are running gassers, lifting weights and sweating in the hot Utah sun, Colvin is working on construction crews in tropical, humid areas and there’s nowhere else he’d rather be.
“I like to serve. I like to make other people happy and I feel like I’ve been given so much so I need to give in return,” Colvin said.
Colvin’s older sister went on a service trip with HXP, Colvin heard her stories about it and decided he wanted to go. Colvin calls the work rewarding.
“Between the two years, I’ve gotten some of my friends to go on the trip with me, so I think I’m kind of inspiring them to serve,” Colvin said.
He says service work in general is something he was raised around and something he and his family embrace. His goal is just to make others happy.
“I’ve just grown up knowing service, ever since I was a little kid I’ve been taught to serve others and that’s what I’ve done my whole life,” Colvin said. “We’ll pitch in whenever we can. Anytime anyone asks us to do something, we’ll try to be the first ones to help anyone in our neighborhood.”
And then around late June and early July, Colvin’s back in the United States to gear up for football season. If last year is any indication, being away for three weeks isn’t detrimental for football.
“He missed 7-on-7 last year and came in and ran for 1,200 yards and it didn’t matter. Chet comes with his spiritual power and makes it up,” Thompson said.
As Colvin initially picked up the starting running back workload, he would try and run defenders over instead of avoiding them. He says his vision and anticipation have improved.
“Now it’s like, I hit the hole, I see different holes, I can bounce, I can cut. I don’t run into people, I try and avoid them now,” Colvin said.
Colvin had some success early last year with 100-yard games against Providence Hall and Grand, both of which were wins, and another 100-yard game in a close loss to South Summit.
Things really took off in October with 550 rushing yards and seven touchdowns over the final three games as Ogden beat Ben Lomond, Manti on the road in the playoffs and lost to No. 1 Juab 31-24.
Already this season, he has a 16-carry, 172-yard game to his name in an Aug. 12 loss at Canyon View.
At least nine more games (eight regular-season games and at least one playoff game) remain, so Colvin could plausibly hit the 1,000-yard mark again this year and keep Ogden’s impressive streak going.
Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.