J

This article is the fourth installment of a summer series entitled Sports Rewind. This summer, The Manchester Times will take a look back at Coffee County Central High School’s 2022 Graduates that continued to play their sport at a Colligate level. Rewind the clock and take a look at the CCCHS Class of 2022’s Freshman Year in Colligate Sports. This series will run from May 24 to August 2, 2023.

On November 19, 2021, Elli Chumley sat in the Coffee County Central High School Library surrounded by family, coaches, teammates and friends. She reached down, grabbed a pen and signed.

In Spring 2023, Chumley finished her first year of Colligate Basketball at Freed-Hardeman. She shares that her favorite memory from the past year was winning the Mid-South Conference Championship.

Back on Feb. 27, 2023, Freed-Hardeman took on Shawnee State. In the first quarter, Freed took a small lead 16-14. Coffee’s own Chumley managed a layup that gave Freed their first points of the game. But by halftime, Shawnee took over 31-30.

Chumley opened the third with back to back layups. In the third, Freed outscored Shawnee tying the game up at the beginning of the fourth. Freed then scored 20 points in the fourth, winning the game 65-61.

This win claimed Freed’s first Mid-South Conference Title.

At the end of her first Colligate season, Chumley sits with 155 points, 28 steals and 150 rebounds. She started in 34 games and played for a total of 782 minutes in her freshman season.

Outside of her time with basketball, Chumley majors in pre-professional biology and plans on becoming a veterinarian. She loves her school for a variety of reasons. She shares, “I love that Freed is always about your faith first. Of course academics, athletics, relationships, etc. are important here as well and we’re encouraged to pursue those, but our faith is always number 1 and intertwined into all those things.”

She shares, “I was blessed enough to have parents and a family that encouraged Christ in my life since day one. My faith [at college] has been impacted in a way that was so much bigger than I imagined.”

She continues, “I’ve grown up in the church all my life, but going to a university where faith is the number one priority really just solidified what I’ve believed all my life. It’s kind of like wearing dirty glasses and you finally clean them and you’re like “oh wow.”

In her own words, Chumley describes her deepest friend, “Jesus is a friend to all, a forgiver of all, and a savior to all. The one and only savior.”