MOULTRIE — Wenbo Chen’s tenure as a coach of the Moss Farms Diving program did not get off to the smoothest start.

In 1994, he was headed to Georgia from Canada, where he was coaching, but because he forgot about the change associated with Daylight Saving Time, he and his family missed their flight to Atlanta.

He was quickly able to get another flight, but because his English then was not what it is now, he missed an announcement that his plane to Albany was leaving early.

Chen said he happened to check with airlines officials and learned that the flight had already boarded and the gates were closed.

Fortunately, he and his family were allowed on the plane and he was able to fly to Albany, where Rick Moss picked him up and took him to Moultrie.

It was the start of a long and productive relationship.

Chen says he loved Moultrie once he got here and Moss Farms officials knew they had an outstanding young coach to help Jay Lerew with their growing diving program. He started with Moss Farms on April 30, 1994.

A year later, Lerew and Chen led the Diving Tigers to Moss Farms only National Junior championship when the Nationals were held at the Moose Moss Aquatics Center.

The program continued to attract outstanding divers from around the country and to continue producing champions.

And when Lerew left in 1996 to take over the Team Orlando Diving program, Chen became Moss Farms head coach, a job he held until 2001.

Chen moved on to lead the Purdue diving program to new heights and is now the coach of the National Diving Center in Indianapolis.

He will return to Moultrie on Thursday to join Lerew as part of the Colquitt County Sports Hall of Fame’s 2007 Class and will be inducted in that night’s banquet at the Colquitt County High cafeteria.

“I am so exited, so honored to be in the Hall of Fame,” he said this week.

Chen was born Aug. 15, 1961, in Zhan Jiang, Guang Dong, China. He was a member of the Chinese National Diving Team from 1973-1983 and was a National champion in 1977 and 1980.

He coached the Hunan Province Team from 1983-185 and was the head coach of China’s National Diving Team from 1985-1991. He trained a number of champion divers in China, including Chen Lin, who won the 1986 World Diving Championship on women’s platform, and Chen Xiaodan, who finished fifth on platform at the 1988 Olympic Games.