CHICAGO — Fazson's Chapman knows one of the first stories he'll tell his future children.
Chapman, of South Shore and an Urban Prep-Englewood graduate, earned a scholarship to Youngstown State but dropped out after his freshman year because of poor grades. After a season at a junior college in Minnesota, he — with the urging of father, Kenneth — decided to return to Youngstown State, which on Wednesday will play James Madison in the Football Championship Subdivision national championship game.
"It was a very tough process, but my dad just told me: How do you want to be remembered?
"And my answer was: In a positive way," said Chapman, now a junior defensive lineman. "It's a great story to tell my kids, about how I got back on the right track."
When Chapman came back to Youngstown, he apologized to fellow defensive linemen and his position coach. He now is the recipient of the Joseph Nudo Scholarship, given once a year to defensive linemen only.
For Kenneth Chapman, his son going back to Youngstown was the only acceptable decision. Fazson is his 10th child, and he will be the sixth to graduate from college. Kenneth Chapman said he rarely saw his own father, and his mother was on drugs for most of his life.
"I wasn't going to repeat the cycle," said Kenneth Chapman, who, like Fazson's mom, Nicole, graduated from King College Prep. "I told him that he was going to go back and finish what he started. There's no quit in the Chapman name. I wasn't going to accept any BS with him or with any of my other kids."
Nicole Chapman said her son has succeeded in his second go-around at Youngstown because he's been "willing to work hard in the classroom and on the football field."
Chapman is an elementary education major and plans to teach at Urban Prep, an all-boys charter school, after graduating. He originally did not want to attend Urban Prep, but with steering from his parents, he did.
Now Chapman said he understands why his dad was so tough on him, recently sending him a text message that in part read: "Forever grateful to have you in my life to push me from average to greatness."
"He always said he wanted to be the man his father never was," Chapman said. "He always said there was a method to his madness."
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