Charles Eldon "Chas" Fox III (born October 3, 1963) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver who played one season with the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) in 1986, though he also spent time with the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Furman.

Early life

Fox was born on October 3, 1963, in

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University, whi ...

. His father was in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

and was stationed at

Ellsworth Air Force Base Ellsworth Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base located about northeast of Rapid City, South Dakota, just north of the town of Box Elder, South Dakota, Box Elder. The host unit at Ellsworth is the 28th Bomb Wing (28 BW). Assi ...

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...

, where Fox attended Stevens High School. He played football and ran track while at Stevens.

College career

Fox attended

Furman University Furman University is a private liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina. Founded in 1826 and named for the clergyman Richard Furman, Furman University is the oldest private institution of higher learning in South Carolina. It became ...

, where he played for the

Furman Paladins The Furman Paladins are the varsity athletic teams representing Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, in intercollegiate athletics. Furman competes in NCAA Division I athletics and is one of the smallest NCAA Division I schools in the ...

football team from 1981 to 1985. He set a

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

record for career touchdowns with 28, and numerous Furman records including touchdown receptions, receptions, receiving yards, and yards per game. In 1983, during a game against

East Tennessee State East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is a Public university, public research university in Johnson City, Tennessee. Although it is part of the State University and Community College System of Tennessee, the university is governed by an instit ...

, Fox set the record for the longest pass in Furman history, a 92-yard touchdown pass he caught from quarterback David Charpia. The record still stands as of 2020. In 1984, Fox led the Southern Conference in punt returns. He earned all-South Carolina honors and all-Southern Conference honors in 1984 and 1985. Fox suffered a knee injury after starting nine games of the Paladins' 1985 season and was sidelined for the remainder of his college football career. In addition to playing football, Fox also participated on the Furman track team, setting a school record in the sprint medley relay. In 1985, he was selected the most valuable player of the track team. Fox was inducted into the Furman Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994.

College football statistics

Professional football career

New Jersey Generals

Fox was selected in the sixth round of the

1985 USFL Draft The 1985 USFL Draft was the third Collegiate Draft of the United States Football League (USFL). It took place on January 3, 1985, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American mu ...

by the

New Jersey Generals The New Jersey Generals were a franchise of the United States Football League (USFL) established in 1982 to begin play in the spring and summer of 1983. The team played three seasons from 1983 to 1985, winning 31 regular season games and losing ...

. However, he did not sign with the team and continued playing at Furman that year.

Kansas City Chiefs

Fox was selected by the

in the fourth round of the

1986 NFL Draft The 1986 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 29–30, 1986, at the Marriott Marq ...

with the 90th pick overall. On June 3, 1986, Fox signed a one-year contract with the Chiefs. However, the Chiefs released him before he played any regular season games with the team.

St. Louis Cardinals

On September 23, 1986, Fox was signed by the Chiefs' cross-state rival, the

, with which he played one season. In his season with the Cardinals, Fox played in four games, starting three. He recorded five receptions for 59 yards in total, and scored his only NFL touchdown early in the fourth quarter of an October 12 game against the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

. He was also used on kick returns, returning the ball for 161 yards in total. The Cardinals waived his contract on October 20.

After football

Fox is the CEO of Micro-Mark, a

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

-based company that sells power tools, hand tools, and supplies. He also wrote a book titled ''You Can't Be Too Fast'', about improving speed as an athlete. He is also a professor for

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan un ...

's Stillman School of Business in their Department of Management. He is an academi
advisor

Personal life

Fox is married to former

Miss South Carolina The Miss South Carolina competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of South Carolina in the Miss America pageant. The pageant was first held in Myrtle Beach and moved to Greenville starting in 1958 and remained in ...

Anna Graham Fox, with whom he has two children.

References

Fox, Chas Fox, Chas Fox, Chas Fox, Chas Kansas City Chiefs players Fox, Chas {{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Chas People from Lafayette, Indiana Players of American football from Indiana