Overcoming The Odds: Shari Chase’s Worldwide Travels And Maryland Pride
A true emblem of resilience, one Maryland alum has spread her joy and perseverance worldwide.
By Brady Ruth, Staff Writer
5/15/2026
Shari Chase radiates joy.
The perseverance and positivity she carries with her have shaped a lifetime full of impacting others and bringing people together. Defined by so much more than a successful track and field career at the University of Maryland, Chase is a pillar of what it means to fight like a Terp.
“When I say I'm going to do something, I will do it,” Chase said. “I'm not going to allow my hurdles to get in the way. I will find some way to make it happen.”
Her path to College Park started with her immigrant grandfather, who escaped Poland to explore a life in the United States. He didn’t know a word of English, but he was determined to set his family up for a life of success.
Chase’s father — a military man — instilled a toughness in Chase that she’s carried through unimaginable life experiences, the highest peaks, and the lowest valleys.
“I was taught that it’s not a failure not to succeed, but it’s a failure not to try my best,” Chase said.
Her first experience with track wasn’t a positive one. She asked her coach a simple question about how to breathe better while running, and was ridiculed and sent home. The same perseverance her grandfather had flowed through her father, who asked her what she planned to do about it.
She returned to practice the next day, where the coach offered her a challenge: beat the fastest boy on the team and earn a roster spot. Lose the race, and she had to walk away and never return.
She beat him.
It started an impressive high school career that rarely featured losses. Fueled by a family that pushed her to be her best, she was never satisfied by results. College offers started rolling in. Cornell. UCLA. West Point. Then came Maryland.
The moment she stepped onto campus, she felt it immediately.
“I’m happy, but I’m at peace,” Chase remembered thinking. “There’s something drawing me here. This is where I want to go to college.”
Nothing's impossible. Things are just difficult, but they're not impossible. You could find a way. You could tell me that I’ll never break a record, I'll never get this, or I'll never be able to do that, but it’s not never. It's maybe unlikely, but as long as I have more than a zero-percent chance, I think anything’s possible.Shari Chase
Maryland became more than a destination. It became the center of the life she would build.
A competitor from birth, she also grew up under the spotlight of the Miss America pageant. When asked about what she wanted to be when she grew up, she unfolded her true dreams of becoming a TV show host.
“I said I want to make everybody get along,” Chase said. “I felt like I could make this world a better place. I remember my dad and mom telling me, ‘this world will never all like each other’. I told them they could. I'm going to find people. I'm going to teach people a way to get along with each other.”
I was taught that it’s not a failure not to succeed, but it’s a failure not to try my best.Shari Chase
She traveled the world, sharing her positivity, stories of her resilience, and learning that people are more similar than they are different. Everyone just wants to live with the same joy she’s carried with her through all her ups and downs.
“I'm just honored to be a teacher,” Chase said. “I'm honored that I got these opportunities, and I loved traveling the world. I do believe that if people would just put their silly differences to the side and stop being angry and putting meticulous energy into stupid things, they could all just go along and have a happy life.”
Her path to meeting her husband was something out of a fairytale. While in college, she’d lost her bag of equipment, precious medals, and accolades. In a panic, she walked over to a Testudo statue, rubbed its nose, and asked for help.
“I turned around and this gorgeous guy walked over and said, ‘Can I help you?’,” Chase said. “He said, ‘I’ll go check all the men’s bathrooms and all the garbage cans on campus. Maybe somebody accidentally took it and dumped it.’”
She was starstruck. They eventually found her bag, and their paths crossed again just a few weeks later. They became fast friends, started dating, and he proposed to her a few years later.
They were told they wouldn’t be able to have their own children. Once again, Chase knew better. They explored different options, and the opportunity of a new experimental procedure sent them to Belgium. They were able to have two sons, once again overcoming the odds.
“Nothing's impossible,” Chase said. “Things are just difficult, but they're not impossible. You could find a way. You could tell me that I’ll never break a record, I'll never get this, or I'll never be able to do that, but it’s not never. It's maybe unlikely, but as long as I have more than a zero-percent chance, I think anything’s possible.”
She’s battled through every traumatic event imaginable. Personal loss and tragedy seemed to follow her across the globe, creating new obstacles to overcome.
At one point, an arsenic poisoning hit her entire family. One of her sons suffered permanent damage, while Chase was put into hospice care and told she had two weeks to live. Of course, she knew better.
“Every day, they told me my organs were failing and that I was going to die,” Chase said. “Every day I told them, ‘that’s okay, maybe they’ll be better tomorrow. I have two children that I worked for ten years to have, and I need to be there for their lives.”
She overcame impossible odds again, leaned on the trust that only she seemed to have in herself, and won.
Chase carries pieces of every family member no longer with her everywhere she goes. From jewelry to pictures to clothing items, the people who mean the most to her.
“I remind myself every time I try to go into my pity party that it doesn't do anything,” Chase said. “You can have a couple of seconds of a pity party, but at the end of the day, that's not going to help anybody. I can be sad for a couple of minutes, but I have to tough it out.”
To find someone who embodies what it means to fight like a Terp, look no further than Chase. Fueled by the resilience passed down through generations of her family, she has spent her life refusing to give up — whether on the track, through personal hardships or while chasing opportunities around the world. As Maryland celebrates Fearless Women Week, Chase’s story reflects the same mindset she has carried for decades: give everything you have, keep moving forward, and never lose belief in yourself.
