‘A childhood dream’: Wichita’s Steele Gaston-Chapman joins Wichita State basketball
Former Campus high school standout Steele Gaston-Chapman has joined the Wichita State men’s basketball team as a preferred walk-on, head coach Isaac Brown confirmed to The Eagle this week.
Gaston-Chapman was a high-flying, defensive stopper and floor general for an undefeated Campus boys basketball team that looked poised to win the program’s first state championship in the spring of 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic abruptly ended the postseason.
For the Wichita native, joining the Shockers was a no-brainer decision.
“This has been a childhood dream,” Gaston-Chapman said. “I’ve been a Shocker fan growing up, going to games, being in the stands as part of Shocker Nation, so of course if I had the chance to play for my hometown team I would love to do that. When the opportunity came up, I just thought, ‘Why not?’ I know who I am as a player and I know what I bring to the table and I know I can help these guys.”
Gaston-Chapman, a 6-foot-1 guard, comes to the Shockers after a successful first collegiate season at the NAIA level, where he quickly became a starter for a good Southwestern College team and averaged 13.1 points and 3.4 rebounds.
When he decided to move on from Southwestern, Gaston-Chapman initially began exploring options to transfer to a junior college. But the opportunity to join WSU presented itself when Gaston-Chapman spoke with Chris Davis, his old high school coach at Campus. Davis knew WSU would be looking for walk-on players after all three of their walk-ons from last season (Brycen Bush, Jacob Herrs, Remy Robert) moved on from the program and reached out to WSU’s coaching staff to put Gaston-Chapman on their radar.
The WSU coaches were already familiar with the family after recruiting Steele’s brother, Sterling, who was verbally committed to the Shockers but ended up signing with Tulsa following the resignation of previous WSU head coach Gregg Marshall. There were no hard feelings between the two sides and they both agreed it would be a good fit.
And now both Gaston-Chapman brothers will be on Division I teams in the American Athletic Conference this season.
“That’s a dream come true. Glory to God,” Steele said. “Growing up as kids, you don’t know where you’re going to end up and the dream is always to go Division I. Not many people can say they have done that, especially with their brother. We’re both blessed.”
Steele Gaston-Chapman isn’t the typical walk-on.
For starters, not many 6-foot-1 guards can elevate and throw down highlight-worthy dunks like Gaston-Chapman routinely did last season at Southwestern.
That kind of athleticism alone will make Gaston-Chapman a valuable player to have in practice for WSU. He believes he’ll be able to hold his own on the defensive end, where he has a reputation for being a lock-down perimeter defender. And on offense, he’ll do his best to be a distributor and run whatever offense required.
“I’m going to bring a lot of energy on both sides of the floor,” Gaston-Chapman said. “I want to bring the tempo and the energy. When I get on the court, I try to be electrifying and create energy and put pressure on the opponent.”
WSU will only have 12 scholarship players for the 2021-22 season, one fewer than the allowed 13. The Shockers have typically had two or three walk-on players on their roster, as Gaston-Chapman is the first known walk-on for this season.
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