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Big Man On Campus
A two-sport superstar, Chas Gessner continues to pursue his All-American dreams...

He turns 21 just days before the start of football practice, yet the day that most consider a once-in-a-lifetime rite of passage is merely a blip on the radar screen for this two-sport star. He’s got more important things to think about.

“I won’t be doing much for my 21st birthday,” he says rather indifferently.

This will happen when you’re a two-time lacrosse All-American and a returning football All-American – not to mention captain of the 2002 football team.

Such is the life of Brown wide receiver Chas Gessner. When the 6-foot-5, 230-pound senior from College Park, Md., isn’t busy catching passes and breaking Brown football records, he’s leading the Bears’ lacrosse team to the national rankings. He was a first-team All-Ivy wide receiver and a first-team All-Ivy midfielder last season as Brown finished near the top of the Ivy standings in each sport.

Gessner came in as a highly prized recruit with some very big shoes to fill as a wide receiver and a leader. He’s done an admirable job at both. His freshman season, Gessner made 43 catches for 560 yards and eight touchdowns in Brown’s pass-happy offense, and he was named the Ivy League’s Rookie of the Year for his contributions. Since that impressive rookie campaign, he’s plugged himself into the list of Brown All-America wide receivers. They’ve had All-America selections for five straight years and counting. He’s also helped the Bears record some successful seasons.

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"When I came in we had great upperclassmen, and great leaders. Those guys were not only great football players, but also great teachers."

Sherryta
Since Gessner came aboard, Brown has posted an impressive 15-6 record in Ivy play, including an Ivy championship in ’99. Gessner credits a solid foundation who came along before him as the reason for the success of Brown’s program, and their wide receivers.

“When I came in we had great upperclassmen, and great leaders,” says Gessner, who was a freshman when two-time All-American Stephen Campbell was a junior. “Those guys were not only great football players, but also great teachers. Our senior class this year had a chance to come in and play and be a part of that, and we’ve been able to continue Brown’s success as we’ve gotten older – because we learned from the upperclassmen.”

And so goes the Brown wide receiver program – a veritable revolving door of All-Americans. A budding freshman wide receiver comes in, a graduating All-America wide receiver goes out – year after year. The door opened in 1997, with the All-America selection of Sean Morey, and it still spins routinely to this day, churning out nationally recognized wide receivers without even saying goodbye to the bellhop on their way to a shot at an NFL career.

Chas Gessner

Senior
6-foot-5
230 lbs.
  • Hometown: College Park, Md.
  • High School: Good Counsel
  • Career Ambition: To be a successful businessman and entrepreneur
  • Summer Job: Internship with Gilbane Properties, Inc.
  • Favorite Thing About the Ivy League: The fact that you can play athletics on such a high level and prepare yourself for success after your athletic career is over.
  • Pregame Ritual: 23 Starbursts
  • Hobbies: I like to play basketball whenever I get a chance and I spend a lot of time listening to music but I haven't exactly had tons of free time in the past couple of years.
  • Toughest Opponent: They are all tough
  • Favorite Movie: Legends of the Fall
  • Favorite CD: Jay-Z, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1.
  • Top Vacation Spot: Radziwells in the Hampty Hampts

That certainly seems the case for Gessner as well. Last season, he racked up 1,182 receiving yards – tops in Division I-AA last year and the fifth-best total in Ivy history – on his way to being named second team All-American by both the AP and The Sports Network. In addition, his 131.3 receiving yards per game was the best in the country, and his 9.2 receptions per contest was second-best in the nation. His is also currently fifth on the Ivy League all-time touchdown receptions list, with 24 career TDs, and he is sixth in all-time Ivy League receptions, with 180. He’s chasing his mentors in the record books, who are ranked 1-2 in most career categories. Morey, who currently plays for the Philadelphia Eagles, is second in the Ivy League for career catches, and first for career receiving yards and career touchdown receptions. Campbell, who enjoyed a brief stint with the Buffalo Bills before injuries ended his football career, is first in career receptions, and second in career yards and career touchdown catches.

Gessner obviously learned well from his mentors. In a game against Rhode Island last season he hauled in 19 receptions, tying a Brown and Ivy League record, and pummeled the Rams defensive backs – not to mention the Brown record for receiving yards – with 269 yards in the game. His physical dominance causes opposing defensive coordinators to shift their entire game plan to concentrate on Gessner, and no doubt gives them countless headaches. Fordham coach Dave Clawson had this to say about Gessner: “He’s ridiculous. I don’t know if there’s a player we face other than him that you absolutely have to change your defensive scheme to take him away.”

Clawson should know. After making 31 catches for 495 yards and three touchdowns in the first two weeks of last season, the Rams’ week-three game plan was to concentrate on Gessner in order to shut down the Bears' offense. They held him to five catches and 94 yards – but teammate Michael Malan made them pay with 267 rushing yards and five touchdowns in a 40-23 Brown triumph.

On three occasions last season the opposing team held Gessner to fewer than 100 receiving yards. You already know what happened to the unfortunate Fordham defense. Columbia adhered to the same philosophy and held him to a season-low 33 receiving yards, yet Malan ran for 183 yards and four touchdowns in a 45-21 Brown victory. Dartmouth held Gessner to 88 yards, but the combination of running backs Joe Rackley and Malan ran for 249 yards and two touchdowns as the Bears won 41-16. So even when Gessner isn’t putting up huge numbers, he’s distracting the defense so much that it opens up the offense for his teammates.

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"I saw Brown as a great opportunity to go to one of the best schools in the country."

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Last season, Gessner was a finalist for the prestigious Walter Payton Award, presented annually by The Sports Network to the nation’s top Division I-AA player. This season, he’s already been recognized as the nation’s number-two rated wide receiver in Division I-AA (behind fellow Ivy Leaguer Carl Morris, of Harvard) and is a preseason All-American.

A two-sport star at Brown, Gessner looked at a couple of schools for lacrosse only, and looked at a couple for just football. Ultimately, he choose Brown and the Ivy League for its ultra-competitive academic and athletic reputation. For him, it wasn’t the best of both worlds, it was the best of all three worlds.

“I saw Brown as a great opportunity to go to one of the best schools in the country,” he says. “And I would be crazy not to consider a place where I could come in and be a part of an offense that passes the ball so much. And for lax, I could join a program that is always in the top 20 and has been successful for a long time.”

Gessner and the rest of the Brown football team are looking for big things again this season. They came close to a perfect year when he was a freshman, compiling a 9-1 record with their only loss a 33-28 set back to Cornell. Last season, they went 6-3 overall (5-2 Ivy), but all three losses were by narrow margins.

“We think we have the ability to win each game we play,” says Gessner. “We want to avenge those close losses we had last year, the games that could have easily gone either way.”

Gessner knows the road to the Ivy championship, and to perfection, goes through perennial powers Harvard and Penn. The Bears’ first home game and Ivy game this season is against Harvard, who finished last season with a perfect 9-0 record.

“That’s a big one for us,” Gessner says.

Should the Bears go through the Ivy schedule with their typical success, and should Gessner have another solid season, he will be faced with possibly the toughest decision of his young life – concentrate on a career in football and prepare for the NFL draft, or play lacrosse?

“I know that anything can happen,” he says with a laugh, probably because he’s been posed the same question hundreds of times. “I’ve talked about it with my lacrosse coach, and we think that if there is any possible way for me to play lacrosse and still reach my NFL goal, then I’d like to try to do that. But right now, who knows? I love playing lacrosse, and it would be really hard for me to give up.”

Be assured, there are six men who will gladly advise Gessner on his springtime activities. On a silent night, perhaps you can hear the other men’s lacrosse head coaches whispering to Gessner, “The NFL … concentrate on the NFL.”

-- Nathan Fry
Career Highlights

Gessner was named Second Team All-America by the AP in 2001.

Gessner had the most recieving yards in Division I-AA last year and the fifth-best total in Ivy history with 1,182.

Gessner has 24 career touchdowns, fifth best in Ivy League history.
DID YOU KNOW?

Chas Gessner also plays lacrosse. He earned first team All-Ivy honors in 2002