How Matthew Tkachuk and Jayson Tatum can etch their high school's name in major league North American sports history

Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk and Boston Celtics small forward Jayson Tatum share a unique bond as both are vying for their first championship.

Although Tkachuk and Tatum play different sports, the two were friends in high school as they both attended Chaminade College Preparatory School, a Catholic school in the St. Louis suburbs.

Both were great athletes, but their classmates did not know that they would both go on to be two of the best at their sport:

“To be honest, personally, I did not,” said Graham Niemeyer, to The Athletic, who was in broadcast class with both Tkachuk and Tatum.

“They were just normal dudes,” added classmate Luke Radetic. “We knew they were good, but we didn’t realize how cool it would be looking back on it.”

The school is known for breeding athletes, as three-time NBA All-Star Bradley Beal, NBA champion David Lee, former NHL All-Star Ben Bishop, and Matthew's younger brother Brady all attended the high school.

If both Tatum and Tkachuk win the title this season, they would etch their names in the history books as champions, and do so from the same high school and the same class. They could also go down as the two greatest athletes to ever come out of Chaminade College Preparatory School.

“It was obviously pretty nuts,” said former classmate Will Gladson, a close friend of Tatum who went on to play basketball at Princeton. "Just watching it unfold has been incredible."

Former high school friends 'fired up' for Finals

Last year, friends of Tkachuk from high school got to see him play in the Stanley Cup Finals but the Florida Panthers lost to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Now as Florida and Boston are both playing for the championship, their high school friends are fired up to watch it and hopefully see two of their former classmates win titles.

“It gives me a reason to watch sports every night, I’ll tell you that,” Radetic said. “It’s very exciting. All our Chaminade buddies in our group chat, we’re all pretty fired up.”

According to DraftKings, Florida is currently -130 to win the Stanley Cup while Boston is -210 to win the series. So, if the oddsmakers are correct, both Tkachuk and Tatum will be champions in the near future.