On Monday, June 11, Mr. Chambers, 83, of Newtown Square, an executive for a gymnasium flooring firm, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby Borough. He was known as Rube.
Born in Southwest Philadelphia, Mr. Chambers graduated from Germantown Academy in 1947 and from the early 1950 to the early 1960s was a sales representative for Philadelphia Electric Co.
But sports were not far from home.
"We grew up playing Wiffle ball in our backyard," son Timothy said. "He played baseball with us, basketball in the driveway, football with us on the beach down the Shore.
“Wherever we were, there was some type of competition, some type of game.
“He never let us win, so we always had to earn it."
Timothy Chambers became Ivy League football player of the 1984 season at the University of Pennsylvania; his brother Patrick was a basketball point guard in the graduating Class of 1994 at what is now Philadelphia University; and their brother Paul was a point guard at Penn in the Class of 1992.
Mr. Chambers had grown up near 65th Street and Woodland Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia, his son said, and while he worked for Peco, he managed a city recreational site near his home.
For 20 years until he retired in 1995 as vice president for national sales, Mr. Chambers worked in the Malvern office of Action Floor Systems Inc., a Wisconsin firm that his son said produces "floors for gyms and field houses as well as synthetic surfaces for running tracks."
Besides his sons, Mr. Chambers is survived by sons John, Gregory, James, Robert, Christopher, and Joseph, daughters Maureen Kincade, Lisa Ballard, and Megan Flanagan, a sister, and 28 grandchildren. His wife, Marian, known as "Honey," died in 2009.
A visitation was set from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 14, at St. Anastasia Roman Catholic Church, 3301 West Chester Pike, Newtown Square, and from 12:30 to 1:15 p.m. Friday, June 15, at the church before a 1:30 p.m. Funeral Mass there. Interment will be private.
Contact Walter F. Naedele at 215-854-5607 or wnaedele@phillynews.com.
