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

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

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at Furman.

Early life

Fox was born on October 3, 1963, in

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( ) is a city in and is the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Lafayette ...

. His father was in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

and was stationed at

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

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City is the county seat of Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. It is located on the eastern slope of the Black Hills in western South Dakota and was named after Rapid Creek (South Dakota), Rapid Creek, where the settlement deve ...

, 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 university in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1826 and named after Baptist pastor Richard Furman, the Liberal arts college, liberal arts university is the oldest private institution of higher l ...

, 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 List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

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, 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 The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played ...

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 M ...

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 (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

. 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 U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

–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 also works for

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

's Stillman School of Business in their Department of Management.Seton Hall University School of Business Academic Advisors
/ref>

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

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