Christopher Charles Rix (born May 1, 1981) 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 wi ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. Rix is also widely known as a coach and sportscaster.

Early life

Chris Rix was born and raised in upstate New York. He is of Filipino, German, and Irish descent. Rix was primarily raised by his father Christopher Carroll Rix, after his mother died from cancer in 1989 when Rix was 7 years old. After his mother's death, Rix and his father moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, WA and lived there from 1989–1995. Prior to entering high school, Rix and his father moved to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

to be closer to his family. Chris Rix attended both

Bishop Amat Memorial High School Bishop Amat Memorial High School is a co-ed Catholic high school serving the San Gabriel Valley in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and was founded in 1957. The campus is located in La Puente, California, approximately east of dow ...

and

Santa Margarita Catholic High School Santa Margarita Catholic High School (SMCHS) is a coeducational college preparatory Roman Catholic high school located in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, United States. SMCHS is owned and operated by the Diocese of Orange, and was opened in ...

, graduating in 2000.

College career

Chris Rix is the first and only four year starter at quarterback (2001–2004) in the school's history, having played under

Bobby Bowden Robert Cleckler Bowden (; November 8, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was an American college football coach. Bowden coached the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University (FSU) from 1976 to 2009 and is considered one of the greatest college ...

. Chris Rix went 0-5 against Florida State University's rival, the University of Miami Hurricanes. Despite a severe ankle injury suffered early during his senior season, Rix ranks second in every major passing category at FSU. During Rix's career at Florida State, the Seminoles claimed three Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) titles and appeared in four straight

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

s.Chris Rix Profile
, seminoles.cstv.com, accessed January 13, 2007. Rix had his most successful season in 2003 when he passed for 3,107 yards and 23

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

s. He ranks second in school history in passes attempted, completed, and touchdowns thrown. Rix missed the 2003 Sugar Bowl after he overslept and missed an exam while sleeping in his car in a handicap parking spot, subsequently causing him to be disciplined by sitting him for that year's final game. Rix was named the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) freshman of the year, and he is the first, and only, four-year starter in Florida State history. His loyalty to Coach Bobby Bowden was the key factor in his decision to forego entering the NFL draft after his Junior year.

Broadcasting career

Rix went undrafted in the

2005 NFL Draft The 2005 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 23–24, 2005. The league also he ...

. He was invited to the San Diego Chargers' rookie camp on a tryout basis. Within the same year he began a career in sports broadcasting, first as a

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

analyst for

Fox Sports Net Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Mar ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. In 2005, he worked as a college football analyst for Fox Sports Radio. Then in 2006 he signed with

CSTV CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known as ...

, a division of

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

, to work as a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main ( play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and ...

and analyst in their coverage of college football games. Rix was the sideline reporter for

FOX Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

for the 2006

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium i ...

between

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

and

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

as well as a FOX NFL game between the San Diego Chargers and the Arizona Cardinals. In 2007, Chris Rix served as a college football studio analyst for ABC in Los Angeles. Rix currently is a college football and NFL analyst for Fox Sports Radio. He is also a regular contributor on the Chris Myers and Steve Hartman Show, along with hosting Fox Gametime segments as a part of the Clear Channel Radio Affiliate. After his playing career Rix founded the Champion Training Academy, and The Champion Organization. The venture focuses on developing and mentoring young athletes.About Chris
aimforgreatness.com, accessed August 31, 2010. In the spring of 2008, Bishop Amat High School named Rix as the school's varsity

quarterbacks coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Common ...

. Following one successful season, Rix resigned as a full-time coach to focus on family, sportscasting, and ministry. Chris Rix served as the Master of Ceremonies for the BCS National Championship Breakfast on January 5, 2010 which featured the Texas Longhorns and the Alabama Crimson Tide. The event was hosted by the

Fellowship of Christian Athletes The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) is an international non-profit Christian sports ministry founded in 1954 and based in Kansas City, Missouri. It has staff offices located throughout the United States and abroad. History FCA was foun ...

in which Rix is also currently on staff as a Director of Ministries in Southern California.

Ministry

In 2010, the

sports ministry hired Chris Rix, where he serves on staff as the Director of Ministries for the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles, CA.

Personal

Rix currently resides in Diamond Bar, CA, a suburb of

, with his wife Anita, and their three children. He runs the Champion Training Academy. He also runs P.E. at Western Christian P.S.P

References

External links

Chris Rix Academy

ESPN Player Page

Florida State's Biography page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rix, Chris 1981 births Living people People from San Luis Obispo County, California American football quarterbacks Florida State Seminoles football players American sportspeople of Filipino descent American people of German descent American people of Irish descent College football announcers National Football League announcers High school football announcers in the United States Leaders of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes