By the time Chuck Locke graduated from Davis County High School in 1977, he had made his mark as one of the top all around athletes in the state. Locke earned 16 varsity letters for the Mustangs and was an all conference pitcher in baseball, all state in basketball, was selected to play in the Shrine Bowl and won 5 state championships in track and field.
It was through track and field that Chuck Locke would meet up with fellow Hall of Famer, Davis County head coach, Dennis Anderson and Mustangs throws coach, Stan Huggins. These men would become very influential in Chuck’s development and passion for our sport.
His high school career best in the shot put was 63’ 8 ¾”, and some 38 years later that still ranks as #7 all time on the Iowa high school list. In 1977, Chuck won both the shot at 62’ 9 ¾” and the discus at 178’ 3”. These performances were the best of all classes at the state meet that year.
Locke won the shot put at the 1976 Drake Relays. At the 1977 Relays he was a member of the “Kings of the Ring” trio, made up of himself, Jeff DeVilder of BGM and Steve Settle of Nevada. These young men all threw the shot over 60 feet that day, marking the first and only time 3 Iowa high school shot putters threw over 60 feet in the same competition.
After graduating from Davis County, Chuck went on to compete at Iowa State for 2 seasons, earning All Big 8 honors, both indoors and out.
He would go on to transfer to the University of Tennessee where he had his greatest success as a collegian. Competing on 4 SEC Championship teams and the Vols were perennial NCAA title contenders. Chuck was a valuable contributor winning 2 SEC titles and 2 All American honors in the shot put and an All SEC and All American honor in the discus. He still holds the Tennessee shot put record with his collegiate PR of 64-1.
In 1982, his senior season at Tennessee, Chuck asked USATF Hall of Fame coach Stan Huntsman if he could “go home” to compete at the Drake Relays. Chuck’s mother, Margaret, had died from colon cancer the Tuesday prior to the Relays. On the Saturday of the competition, Big Chuck Locke entered the ring with all of the strength and composure he could muster; throwing what was then was a collegiate PR of 63’ 3”, good enough for a 3rd place finish and a smile on the face of his father, Art.
Also in 1982, Chuck made the finals at the USA championships and was one of 8 shot putters selected to represent the USA at the Olympics Sports Festival.
Chuck graduated with honors and a degree in Business Administration from Tennessee in 1982. He won the Pritchett Award, given to the most dedicated track and field team member and was also awarded for having the highest GPA on the team.
Chuck Locke is currently the Sr. Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for PathGroup, a national healthcare company based in Nashville. He has stayed close to our sport by officiating at area meets and volunteering as the throws coach at his son’s high school. He has coached 3 Tennessee state champions in the shot put and numerous other state place winners.
Chuck and Kim, his wife of 31 years have 2 sons.