Buffs A Longtime, True Family Affair For Chiaverinis
August 28, 2017 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — It's been nearly two decades in the making, a circle that began in Boulder, has traveled literally thousands of miles, and has seen more apartments, houses, football fields, games, practices and nights with dad on the road than she cares to remember.
But Friday night, Shannon Chiaverini will see that circle completed when she attends her first Colorado-Colorado State football game since 1998.
The last time Shannon attended a CU-CSU game, she watched her husband play while she was pregnant with her son.
This time she will watch her husband coach and her son wear the same uniform his father once wore, when the Buffs and Rams square off at Sports Authority Field.
Her husband and son will be aiming for a win. Shannon Chiaverini's goal will be much simpler when Darrin and Curtis Chiaverini run onto the field behind Ralphie.
"I'm going to try not to cry," she said with a laugh over the weekend. "It's almost like a wave of deja vu. Sometimes I will see Curtis in his CU uniform up at practice and it's like watching Darrin again. I was the girlfriend and wife for so long, watching Darrin — and now watching my son is a different emotion. I'm proud, I'm overwhelmed … it's hard to describe."
Shannon Chiaverini missed last year's Rocky Mountain Showdown — her husband's first since he returned to CU as an assistant coach — because she was watching Curtis play for Valor Christian in his final high school season.
But now, Curtis is a walk-on receiver for the Buffs, where he is coached by his father (who, by the way, had a 4-0 record against the Rams as a player and is now 1-0 vs. CU's in-state rival as a coach) and they will both be on the field at Sports Authority for Friday night's 6 p.m. game.
Curtis was born the spring after his father finished his CU career. While he obviously can't remember the moment, his first exposure to his dad "at work" came when Darrin worked out for NFL scouts at CU's annual spring pro timing day.
That memory for Shannon came flooding back last week when she attended the annual Boulder Chamber Kickoff luncheon in Balch Fieldhouse.
"I remember going up in the upper level (in Balch) and having a month-old baby in a stroller and watching Darrin run his pro timing day from up in those seats," Shannon said. "Then, 18 years later, we're back there for the luncheon and Curtis is sitting in the back with the players and Darrin is up front at one of the tables.
"I just keep getting reminded how much history we have here."
The Chiaverinis are beginning their second fall in Boulder. Darrin was hired to join Mike MacIntyre's staff in January, 2016, after a successful stint at Texas Tech.
"We knew it was the right move," Shannon said. "When they called, we just knew it was right. There was something about it like it was coming home. When you have a child born in a place, you always have that connection to that place. It was something that was just meant to be."
Curtis was born at Boulder Community Hospital. The family lived in CU's married student housing, which is adjacent to CU's practice fields. Shannon remembers sitting on the balcony — pregnant with Curtis — and watching Darrin practice.
"We were right next to the practice field, in that little one-bedroom apartment," she said. "We had our bed and the crib right next to us. We were so young we didn't know any better — life was great. We were ready to take on everything. It was a fun experience. I always tell Curtis that he was born a Buff and now he's a Buff for life."
Shannon stressed that she and Darrin never pressured Curtis to follow in his father's footsteps. Instead, they urged him to create his own path. But …
"This is where he wanted to play," she said. "It's what he wanted to do. He had heard so much about Colorado, how much a part of our life it was — and when it came time to make a decision, this is what he wanted to do. He wanted to play at Colorado and play for his dad."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
