By the time he graduates in May, Bethesda Academy senior Arlando Chaney Jr., better known as “Heavy,” will have completed his studies, been part of two state championship teams in football and one in track and field, and fed countless people food that he cooked as the driving force of “Heavy’s BBQ.”
That’s heavy.
Arlando “Heavy” Chaney Jr., a senior at Bethesda Academy in Savannah, Ga., is known around campus as “Mr. Bethesda.” Chaney helped lead the Blazers to multiple state championships while also running his food business, Heavy’s BBQ. Photo: Instagram/@jt3_951
“He's not only a good football player, but he’s a great kid,” said Antwain Turner, Bethesda Academy’s football coach, athletic director, and chaplain, among many duties.
“He’s a tremendous kid with a tremendous personality,” Turner continued. “He’s a kid that you love to be around. He’s concerned and cares about others. To be as ferocious on the field, he is as kind-hearted off the field and just loves to help people, loves to see people smile.”
Like when they dig into his platters of food, such as barbecue pork ribs, beef, turkey, and chicken (drumsticks and wings), as well as seafood and side dishes such as red rice, baked beans, potato salad, green beans, corn, and macaroni and cheese. His favorites to cook are his seafood and soul food dishes.
As for favorites to serve others, Chaney said, “I would say soul food because it’s a whole lot of love in there.”
Last Christmas, he advertised a menu featuring collard green egg rolls, BLT sliders, deviled eggs, mac and cheese, meatballs, and smokey nachos.
“I believe that’s also an opportunity to see people smile for his cooking as well,” Turner said. “He does a tremendous job. To be able to have a skillset and utilize your skillset and be able to monetize it but also help people, I think that’s Heavy.”
Yes, everyone calls him Heavy” or “Lando,” said the 18-year-old, helping avoid possible confusion with Orlando, the city in Florida. His aunt, Shond Chaney Willis, gave him the nickname when he was born because he “was a big baby,” said Arlando, who doesn’t recall his birth size.
Chaney knows his height and weight now, 6-foot-1½ and 365 pounds, actually down 10 pounds since last fall, when he played offensive guard and defensive tackle. The Blazers went undefeated, making their third straight state championship game and coming home with the 2025 South Carolina Independent School Association Class 2A title to add to the small all-boys private school’s first football crown in 2023.
He was voted a SCISA all-state defensive lineman as a junior and offensive lineman as a senior.
Chaney said he has been playing football since he was age 3, as the quarterback. By the time he was 8, his body (and probably his coaches) told him it was time to move to the trenches as a lineman.
The Savannah native has attended Bethesda since ninth grade and played on the football team for four years. Chaney also competed in spring 2025 on the track and field team, when the junior threw shot put and finished sixth at state as the Blazers captured the SCISA Division II championship.
Representing his school
Chaney is an official school ambassador, giving campus tours to prospective students and their families among his duties as a student leader.
“I really like how I can help others in any type of way,” Chaney said.
He’s also been on the Blazers’ “Grit Team,” like a player council which sets examples for the other student-athletes on “who you can depend on, who works hard over the summer and shows accountability, unity, discipline, integrity and toughness,” he said.
Chaney started “Heavy’s BBQ” as a freshman, initially to raise funds to help pay for costs associated with being on the football team. At 15, he didn’t want his mom, Kimberly Samuels, “paying out of pocket” if he could cover costs.
He started cooking dishes in the kitchen at home and selling them at school.
“My momma gave me the idea of starting a business,” Chaney recalled. “I always wanted to work and I wasn’t able to work during football (season). She was like, start up a food business because I love to cook.”
His passion for cooking started early. His father, Arlando Chaney, taught him how to cook hamburgers on a small grill, then moved up to bigger grills and “how to take my time with everything.”
His mother cooks as well and taught him a lot. But Heavy knows when to stay in his lane.
“I let her have the baking part,” he said. “I can’t do that.”
He heads a family operation, with help from his sister Jada, 17, a junior at Windsor Forest High School; older brother Michael Brown, 28; grandmother Lisa Roberts; aunt Shond, and uncle John Willis.
They use his uncle’s property near Keller’s Flea Market on some Saturdays, with Heavy’s social media pages (Facebook, Instagram) announcing the dates, times, and menu items. Potential customers can also text him at 912-891-6206.
He really loves to cook
During football season, Heavy’s BBQ might operate on a Saturday, preparing the food fresh, and then he will rest on Sunday. The logistics for one particular game tested his dedication.
The Blazers played in South Carolina and didn’t get back to Savannah until 3 a.m. He went home to clean up and took a 30-minute nap, then his mother woke him up. It was time to cook.
“My momma always keeps me on track on my time and what I do,” Chaney said. “She makes sure I always I get out the door at the right time. I had to get out the door before like 6 o’clock.”
Crisis averted, people got fed, and Heavy went home to bed by 7 p.m. that Saturday and slept in, way in, on Sunday.
Heavy’s BBQ also fed the football team and catered a lunch during Bethesda Academy’s Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week last spring. Turner, who also has ordered food for his family, estimated that “Chef Heavy” fed about 25 people and gave him a rave review, calling the spread of food “awesome” and “very, very good, very tasty.”
Chaney creates his own dishes, with only some in his household knowing his secret recipes for barbecue sauces.
“Everything I make has got its own recipe to it, like my seasoning, I make it myself,” Chaney said. “My sauce, I make it myself. My blend, I make it myself.”
As for the creative process, he said, “I just taste it as I go. If I like it, I like it. Then I see if my customers like it. If they like it, then I’m going to keep it the same.”
Chaney said that after graduation, he will be working at the Georgia Ports Authority in Savannah, where he would like to be a crane operator and a mechanic.
He also pledges to keep Heavy’s BBQ cooking.
Turner was asked about satisfying those appetites at Bethesda in the future.
“He’ll always be there,” Turner said. “Once a Blazer, always a Blazer. We know who to call.”
Photos courtesy of Instagram/@jt3_951
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