“I was just born fast. That was God-given. I didn’t have to do any special training. I just won everything for most of my life.”

There are those who work countless hours to achieve top physical form in hopes of competing at a high level. Then, there are the select few who, for whatever reason, are nature’s gift to the athletic stratosphere. Harlow “Chip” Ide Jr. was the latter.

A native of Massachusetts who currently resides in Bath, Ide was once the East’s best small college halfback and on June 6, he was inducted into the Williston Northampton School Athletic Hall of Fame for his lifetime athletic achievements across three sports — football, swimming and track.

“I was humbled by that,” Ide said. “All of that athletic experience just washed over me when I was that age. I wasn’t impressed by anything. They were just God’s gifts.”

A natural competitor with blazing speed, Ide was a high school All-American in the 50-yard freestyle for Williston Academy, swimming for a team that local newspapers referred to as the “Bay State Powerhouse” in the mid-1950s. With the help of Ide, the prep school’s medley relay, 200-free relay and 400-free relay teams set national records.

In 1955 at the National AAU Swimming Championships, held at Yale University, Williston Academy’s nationally ranked swim team finished fourth in the country, an accomplishment Ide considers one of the most memorable of his high school years. The team would later be featured in an up-and-coming sports periodical in its first year of operation, Sports Illustrated.

But in the ‘50s, football was on the rise and it was Ide in the center of it all. The young halfback was known as one of the country’s top high school running backs, but he decided to stay local and attend Williams College in Williamston. There, he would only build upon his already elite athletic resume, eventually earning All-America honors.

Under the tutelage of head coach Len Watters, Ide transformed the landscape of Ephs football program, which won 18 of 24 games from 1956 to ’58, including a 6-0-1 record in ’57. It was the team’s first unbeaten season since 1917.

His senior year at Williams, Ide averaged 8.1 yards per carry and was featured in a Time Magazine spread alongside the nation’s top college running backs, most whom attended larger schools and known football powerhouses. Ide was given an opportunity to play in the 1959 All-America Bowl, becoming the first player in program history to suit up for a college all-star game.

“We had about 22 high school captains there on our little team,” Ide said. “The next year we went to scrimmage Harvard and beat the daylights out of them. I didn’t play much after the first half.”

Married with a child by the time he was a senior, Ide turned down multiple offers to play in the NFL, including one from the Green Bay Packers and their first-year head coach, Vince Lombardi. In nine years under Lombardi, the Packers went 89-29-4, won five NFL Championships and were victorious in Super Bowls I and II.

“I don’t remember ever seriously considering (the offer),” Ide said.

At the award ceremony earlier this month, Ide accepted the award for the 1953 swim team, as well as his own.

After years spent as a publisher and a business advisor, Ide moved to Pamlico Properties in Washington in 2000. He relocated to Bath in 2005.