Hall of Fame
Chris Fears, a native of Ozark, Mo., lettered two years in baseball for the Lions and was a two-year starter in the outfield in 1999 and 2000. He helped lead UNA to a combined 81-28-1 record in his two seasons with the Lions, including the 1999 Gulf South Conference Championship, an NCAA South Region Championship and a berth in the Division II World Series. The Lions were ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation in 1999 and No. 8 in 2000.
He earned third-team American Baseball Coaches Association All-American honors as a senior when he hit .405 with 76 runs scored, 36 runs batted in and added 49 stolen bases. He ranked sixth in the NCAA Division II in stolen bases that season with 49 steals in 53 attempts for a 0.94 average per game. He ranked seventh nationally in runs scored with 1.46 per game. He earned All-GSC Tournament and All-South Region Tournament honors in 1999 and was first-team All-GSC and first-team All-South Region in 2000. He earned one GSC Player of the Week award on April 11, 2000.
In two seasons at UNA, Fears played in 107 games with 105 starts. He hit .339, going 141-for-416 at the plate, scoring 132 runs and driving in 58. He had 24 extra-base hits with 14 doubles, six triples and four home runs. He had a .430 slugging percentage and a .442 on-base percentage. He walked 73 times, was hit-by-pitch seven times and added six sacrfice bunts and four sacrifice flies. He had a .995 career fielding percentage with just one error in 210 chances. His 77 career steals (in 87 attempts) ranks tied for fifth in UNA history. His 76 runs scored in 2000 ranks third best at UNA and his 49 steals in 2000 is fourth. He tied school records with five runs scored in a game against Bellarmine in on Feb. 12, 2000 and against Lincoln Memorial on March 18, 2000. His five hits in that same game against Lincoln Memorial also tied the UNA record for hits in a game.
Fears spent three years in the minor leagues and finished his professional career with a .233 batting average and 35 stolen bases. He played in 2000 with the Kansas City Royals Rookie League affiliate Fory Myers Royals of the Gulf Coast League. In 2001 he played with the San Diego Padres Class A affiliate Fort Wayne (Ind.) Wizards. In 2002 he played for the Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox, an independent in the Western League.
Fears graduated from UNA with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree and added a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from UNA in New Venture Management. He served as a Wealth Management Director at Merrill Lynch and Vice President for Institutional Trust at Regions Financial Corporation before taking his current position os Senior Business Development Executive at Infosys BPO in Dallas. Since 2011 he has served as a board member of The Arc of Dallas. He currently resides in Frisco, Texas, and is married and has three children.
