Kent Chetlain was 90
Kent Chetlain, a former Manatee County Commissioner, journalist and baseball enthusiast who befriended some of the game’s greats, died Monday morning of natural causes. He was 90.
Kent Chetlain III said his father passed away in his sleep at a Lakewood Ranch facility for patients battling dementia. His short-term memory had been fading for the past few years, but much of his long-term memory remained colorful and intact. And there was a lot to remember.
Always an engaging storyteller, Chetlain grew up in Winnetka, Illinois, and attended New Trier Township High School. Among his classmates was Rock Hudson, who was in Chetlain’s study hall. Charlton Heston graduated just ahead of Chetlain while Ann-Margret was a few years behind him. In a Herald-Tribune profile two years ago, Chetlain remembered how Margret's father once fell off a ladder in their hometown.
Chetlain went to the University of Miami and then came to Bradenton in the late 1950s. He worked for several newspapers in the area during his life and was with the Islander newspaper in 1980 when he heard the Skyway Bridge had collapsed. He was among the first on the scene, arriving by speedboat, and he could still recall the details of what he saw, even late in his life.
Chetlain served three terms as a county commissioner from 1982-94 and was a former chairman. He was also chairman of the West Coast Inland Navigation District and served on the Manatee County Tourist Development Council and the Manatee County Port Authority.
“He was a great advocate for Manatee County, a sincere representative,’’ said former commissioner Joe McClash, who served with Chetlain. “He was interested in keeping Manatee County a great place to live.’’
Aside from Manatee County and his family, Chetlain was passionate about two things: trains and baseball.
“He was interested in a lot of things, but baseball was his favorite,’’ Kent Chetlain III said.
Chetlain used to have a clock in his Bradenton apartment where a train whistle would sound each hour and his bedroom wall was full of amazing baseball pictures, usually with Chetlain in them.
As sports editor of the Bradenton Herald, Chetlain covered many of the game’s greats during spring training. Among Chetlain’s prized possessions was a photo of two men taken at McKechnie Field in 1968. One of the men wore a white shirt and was holding a notebook and a pencil. That man was Chetlain. He was interviewing the man next to him who was holding a cup of coffee.
That man was Joe DiMaggio.
Chetlain was friends with a substantial number of Hall of Fame players who had retired in Manatee County, including Edd Rousch.
In 1988, Chetlain and Rousch went to a game at McKechnie Field, and Rousch died in Chetlain’s arms in the media dining room.
It wasn’t just the Hall of Famers who were important to Chetlain. As recently as two years ago he could still recite the starting lineup of one of the teams of his youth — the 1938 Chicago White Sox.
His son said that Chetlain even appeared in autographed photos with football legends Johnny Unitas and Red Grange and added that the family is sorting through his possessions and discovering personal belongings that exemplified a man who saw a great deal in his life.
Chetlain is survived by sons Kent Chetlain III of Sarasota and Paul Chetlain of Bradenton and daughters Anna Chetlain of St. Petersburg and Dr. Mary Lou Zoback of Stanford, California, and five grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Joanne, in 2007.
A service will be held at noon on Dec. 16 at the Old Meeting House at the Manatee Historical Village in Bradenton. The address is 1404 Manatee Ave. E.