Chatman led the San Jose State Spartans women's basketball program for 10 seasons from 1976 to 1986. She is the only coach in the history of the Spartans basketball team to compile a winning record; her ten-season overall win-loss record was 143-121, with a conference win-loss record of 60–54. For six consecutive seasons under Chatman, the Spartans had a winning record. They won 24 and 22 games in 1979 and 1980, respectively, and won the NorCal Conference championship both years. Chatman is the only women's basketball coach to lead the Spartans in post-season tournament play, coaching them to four consecutive AIAW tournament berths from 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1981. In recognition of the achievements of her Spartans teams, she was honored as the San Jose State University Women's Basketball Coach of the Century, and she was inducted into the SJSU Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.
Legal career
Chatman changed careers in 1986, retired from coaching, and attended the University of California, Hastings College of Law at the age of 38. After graduating from Hastings in 1989, she accepted a position as a deputy prosecutor in the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office, where she prosecuted gang violence, sexual assault and murder cases over ten years.
Judicial career
While Chatman was a prosecutor, she was recruited by Judge Eugene Hyman to accept a position as a judge. Chatman eventually became Gov. Gray Davis' first superior court appointment in Santa Clara County in 2000. During here tenure as judge, she has supervised the Superior Court's three dedicated domestic violence courts where she helped to develop many changes, including a specialized court for mentally ill domestic violence defendants and a special project for defendants with children. She has presided over numerous sexual assault and murder trials and is currently assigned to the Family Law Division. Chatman has served on the national faculty for the National Judicial Institute on Domestic Violence and National Institute on Fatherhood, Visitation and Domestic Violence. She has made frequent presentations and appearances at schools and community groups, and was the inspiration for the 2005 founding Building Peaceful Families, a nonprofit entity whose mission is to foster the health and safety of children through better parenting. Chatman presided over the trial of Robert Roy Farmer, who pled guilty to killing 21 cats and sexually abusing a dead cat. The high-profile trial went from 2015 to 2017; Chatman sentenced Farmer to 16 years in jail.
Awards and honors
She has been the recipient of numerous community service awards, including the Santa Clara County Bar Association's Unsung Hero Award; the NAACP Social Justice Award; the Commission on the Status of Women - Woman of Vision Award; the California Judges Association – Alba Witkins Humanitarian Award for outstanding service to the community; 10 Most Influential African Americans in the Bay Area; and California Probation Officers Chief's Association Judicial Officer of the Year.
