Sad End To An Era…..

There are some people who enter your life quietly, and there are others who show up like a burst of lightning ….loud, bright, impossible to ignore.   That was my friend Tom Legend Chatten.

Tom Chatten was never a quiet arrival. He didn’t just walk into a room; he announced himself. And if he didn’t, his imposing figure, Hulk Hogan headband, tattoos, sleeveless attire did it for him. “The Legend,” “Tom the Bomb,” “T”… he had a whole catalog of titles, all self-appointed, all delivered with that grin of his … a mix of mischief and confidence that made you laugh even if you didn’t want to.

But that was Tom. He lived life the way some people write fiction: larger than life, bold in every chapter, and always convinced the next moment could be the beginning of some new adventure.

I first knew Tom in high school. We played football together, ran track together, and I watched him dominate the basketball court as one of the stars of our high school. He moved with this natural athleticism … that combination of raw talent and absolute fearlessness. He made the game look easy, even when it wasn’t.

Outside of sports, we were just kids wilding around the city. Running, laughing, pushing boundaries, believing … in that teenage way … that nothing could ever touch us. We’d tear around Cambridge, like it was our personal playground, talking big about the future, about who we’d become, about all the things we thought we’d conquer. There was a freedom back then, a looseness in our bones. You don’t realize until much later that you only get that kind of youth once.

Tom lived those years fully. Maybe more fully than the rest of us. He had a presence … this way of lifting the energy of anyone standing near him. He was the kind of friend who would take an ordinary afternoon and turn it into a story you’d remember for decades.

After high school, life pulled us in different directions. Tom’s path then curved in ways he maybe didn’t expect. He became a construction worker, and in true Tom fashion, he didn’t just say he was doing construction … he’d say he was “building America,” delivering the line with that classic swagger that always made you smile. And to his credit, he believed it. He took pride in what he did, even when life and work was hard.

Tom spent years as the center of attention … sometimes by choice, sometimes because chaos seemed to find him. His world could be loud, messy, fueled by demons. But even through all of that, he never lost that spark … that force of personality that made people remember him, talk about him, shake their heads and laugh at the stories that only Tom could generate.

And the truth is, life wasn’t an easy layup for him. But there was something in him … a light, a stubborn resilience … that kept pushing forward, even when the road got rough. He didn’t always find peace in this world, and that’s a hard thing to say out loud. But I believe he looked and found joy where he could find it. In work. In friends. In moments that mattered.

When I learned about his passing this week … the reality that he passed … it hit me in a strange way. Not with the grief of someone I saw every day, but with the grief of someone who shaped an entire chapter of my life. Someone who lived at full volume during years when everything felt possible. Someone whose memory pulls me back into my own youth, into the laughter and the sweat of sports, into the streets we ran and the dreams we shared.

We only reunited every 5 years at our high school reunions into adulthood, but that doesn’t erase the bond of those early years. There are friends aligned with our youth who hold a permanent place in our story, whether we realize it or not. Tom was one of those for me.

And so, today, I want to honor the best of him:

The athlete.

The competitor.

The kid with the boundless confidence.

The friend who could make you feel alive just by being near him.

The man who kept trying, even when life pushed back.

The spirit that remained unmistakably his, through every twist and turn.

Tom, I hope you’ve found the peace that was hard to come by in this world. I hope you’re somewhere now where the weight is gone, where the laughter is real again, where the court is smooth, the sky is wide, and your legend … your own beloved legend … shines as bright as you always said it did.

Thank you, my friend, for the memories, the chaos, the courage of youth, and the years when life felt like an open road. I’ll carry those times with me. I’ll carry you with me.

Rest Easy Brother,

We remember you. And we’ll keep remembering.

Donnie Ferguson “Ferg the Berg the Cantabs Choice”

Additional Note on Tom’s Passing

I know many people have been asking about the details surrounding Tom’s passing. His brother Dan posted the following note:

I want to thank everyone who took time to remember T. Tommy will be remembered as a dear friend to many. His kindness touched all who knew him. At the family’s request, the circumstances of his passing will remain private. In accordance with his wishes, there will be no service. The family appreciates your understanding and support during this difficult time. Dan Chatten