Basketball star is believed drowned in Lake St. Clair

Justin Chapman was all-state at Rogers High School.

MT. CLEMENS, Mich. - The search continued yesterday for the body of a 23-year-old Toledo basketball standout who apparently drowned Friday in Lake St. Clair near here, authorities said.

Justin Chapman, a Rogers High School graduate who played for Wayne State University, dove off a boat for a swim with several friends about a mile offshore from the Metro Beach Metropark between 2 and 3 p.m. and never surfaced, McComb County Sheriff Mark Hackel said.

Mr. Chapman's friends returned to the boat and used a cell phone to call 911, at which time the sheriff's department and the U.S. Coast Guard started the search.

A team of eight divers, at least six boats, and a helicopter searched until dark Friday and then from early morning until dark yesterday, but were unsuccessful, Sheriff Hackel said.

Mr. Chapman was all-city and all-state his senior season as a member of the Rogers basketball team. He was the team's captain his junior and senior seasons, according to the Wayne State athletic department Web site.

He also was an all-city football player at Rogers, playing wide receiver and free safety, according to the Web site.

Mr. Chapman came to Wayne State after two years at Alpena Community College in the fall of 2001, and quickly became Wayne State's most productive player.

The 6-foot, 2-inch forward was ranked in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in both scoring and rebounding.

Mr. Chapman, who was majoring in physical education, would have been a senior this fall at Wayne State.

He planned to become a teacher, family members told a Detroit television station, according to the Associated Press.

Mr. Chapman was visiting a friend who lives near the metropark, the sheriff said.