On a brisk September afternoon, the Howard track and field team can be seen running up and down the grassy hills behind Greene Stadium, preparing for the upcoming winter season. One of the jumpers, however, stands out among the rest of his running teammates.
This teammate is senior triple jumper Chase Drewery, who is frantically preparing for an audition, going over his lines on a flashcard as he runs through technique drills.
“Practice was in the middle of my audition,” Drewery said. “I had to know these lines, so if I’m going to lose this time, I might as well know the lines when I come back so I can run straight through it.”
Drewery was auditioning for a part in “Law & Order,” and while he ultimately did not get cast for the role that day at practice, the experience encapsulates the dedication and determination that has led him to break school records as a triple jumper and break into Hollywood as an actor.
Going into his senior season, Drewery is set to try and repeat the performances that have made him an indoor and outdoor conference champion while juggling school and a budding acting career, determined to stick the landing on all three.
Drewery’s love for both track and acting started from an early age. He began running track at age six, and by age nine, he was winning meets and breaking national records. Frequent injuries kept him off the track and led him to discover his love for acting.
“At a certain point, I started having knee problems, so in the off time, when I wouldn’t be running track, is when I found the love for the creative stuff,” he said. “One day, I was looking at the TV and said, ‘Mom, I want to do that,’ and from there, I started drama club, and that spiraled into making my own videos and from there, I was able to get some actual roles.”
Making and posting videos online landed Drewery his first opportunity in the entertainment business, working with social media influencer King Vader on the Netflix mini-series “Netflix Dreams,” an opportunity that would become one of his biggest inspirations.
“I went to one of his video shoots, and I think that first experience was life-changing for me,” Drewery said. “Seeing that if he can record on an iPhone, post it on Instagram and get hundreds of thousands of views, ‘why can’t I do the same thing?’”
The experience working with Netflix would serve as a building block for Drewery, who would work on two movies—“Collide” and “A Family Matters Christmas”—before stepping foot on Howard’s campus as a triple jumper.
Drewery immediately made an impact as a freshman, winning Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year, placing first in the triple jump at the indoor championships and breaking the university record for the indoor triple jump in the same season with a personal best of 15.39 m.
“I felt like Chase could come in and change the program when it comes to our exploits in the jumps, which he’s done,” said David Oliver, the director of track and field at Howard. “He’s got several medals and has been pretty much everything I thought he could be as a student-athlete here at Howard.”
After a challenging sophomore indoor season, Drewery returned to form in the outdoor season, winning the MEAC Championship and recording the second-longest outdoor triple jump in Howard’s history at 15.43 m.
“Sophomore year just felt like stuff slowed down for me. It felt like I was kind of in a rut,” Drewery said. “That served as motivation to take me through the rest of sophomore year and come back and win that outdoor championship.”
“He’s met and exceeded those expectations,” Oliver said when asked about the MEAC champion’s success during the outdoor season. “He’s shown that this is a place where you can come, perform well as a jumper and make it extremely far.”
Drewery’s success on the track preceded more success; shortly after winning the outdoor championships, he was cast in “Power Book II: Ghost,” his biggest role as an actor so far.
“I just took it like any other audition,” Drewery said. “A couple of days later, they were like, ‘Yo, we need you in New York tomorrow.’ My coach joked, saying, ‘I need 50 Cent to buy me a jet for the inconvenience.’”
Drewery said the chance to work and learn from established actors like Michael Ealy and Lovell Adams-Gray was a valuable experience in his career.
“It was a super, super cool experience. I felt like I learned a lot just being in that world. After that, I feel like everything that follows is going to be even better,” he said.
Drewery said one special interaction with Michael Ealy stood out from his time on set.
“He came over and gave me a fist bump and said, ‘I respect what you’re doing. This is what you have to do to grind it out and make it to the top. So I respect that.’ That really hit home for me,” he said.
Drewery is often asked one question: How does he balance acting, track and his responsibilities as a student? His answer was by maximizing his time as much as possible.
“It’s just about maximizing that time, because what else are you doing sitting there, being tired? You could use that time to do something else,” he said.
“He’s been amazing at doing so,” said Drewery’s vertical jumping coach, Richard Perry, when asked how his jumper will balance all of his responsibilities. “He’s set the bar high and given a good roadmap for other athletes to follow for their professional careers.”
Drewery will, once again, have to balance his career on the track with his acting career.
This year, he’s going to be a series regular in a sitcom set to air soon, and he also has a personal project in the works, all while planning to bring even more championships to Howard’s track and field team and break records in the process.
Drewery plans to make this happen with the same mindset he’s had since he set foot on Howard’s campus four years ago.
“I’m also on a new level of grind. I feel like how I started off doing videos, watching the grind my way, up to a certain point,” he said. “I feel like I’m at that new level of grind, and I’m in the acting world, so I have to grind my way up and try to get to where I want to be.”
When it comes to track, his goals remain the same.
“I feel like it’s going to be a great track season for me,” he said. “I feel strong, and even my coaches say they’ve never seen me work this hard. It’s my senior year, so I feel like I have to bring it home.”
Copy edited by Jalyn Lovelady
