Chester J. "Chet" Aubuchon

Year Inducted: 1978

Chet Aubuchon was Michigan State’s first basketball All-American making the dream team after his junior year in 1940.

He was not big for a basketball player, even in those days, standing only 5’10” and weighing 140 pounds.  But the little guard was a court wizard – a master dribbler and ball handler.

Chet entered Michigan State in 1937 following a brilliant career at Horace Mann High School in Gary, Indiana.  He captained the team, made All-State and played on two Indiana AAU Championship Clubs.

He was part of a three-man contingent called the “Gary Gang,” which included teammates.  Bob Phillips and Max Hindman.

Chet made the varsity as a sophomore, after an outstanding year on the freshman squad, but it was as a junior that he began receiving national attention.  They called him “The Houdini of the Hardcourt,” a player who performed like a magician.

He was named team captain and received All-American honors following that season.  With a brilliant future ahead fate took a cruel turn.  While working in the campus electrical shop that summer, he scratched a finger and it became infected.  Blood poisoning resulted, spreading throughout the body, and transfusions became necessary to keep him alive.

After six months in hospitals, another six months recuperating and the loss of a full college year, Chet returned to campus, returning to basketball, was again elected captain and again led the Spartans to a winning year.

After graduation he served four years in the Navy, including twenty-seven months in South Pacific war zones during World War II.

After the war, he played briefly for the professional Detroit Falcons, and then was hired as assistant basketball coach under Al Kircher at MSU in 1949-50.

He then coached at high schools in Owosso and Holly and came to Port Huron in 1954 to coach basketball at Port Huron Junior College.

He was also Athletic Director, teacher and Dean of Men before becoming Dean of Student Personnel when J.C. became St. Clair County Community College in 1967.

In 1964 Chet was honored by MSU and the MSU Varsity Club.  In 1976, after twenty-two years of service to the youth of Port Huron and St. Clair County, Chet with his wife, Janet, retired to a new home in Ruskin, Florida.