FLORENCE, Ala. (May 23, 2024) – The 35th class of inductees for the University of North Alabama Athletic Hall of Fame has been selected and will be inducted on Saturday, October 12, as part of UNA's Homecoming celebration.

The North Alabama Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2024 includes a trio of former Lion baseball players, a men's golf All-American and individual standouts from UNA football and women's basketball teams. The list of former Lion baseball players includes Chad Boughner, Matt Hancock and Harry Shelton. They are joined by All-American golfer Jake Greer, the late Demarcus Blount, who scored more touchdowns than anyone in UNA football history, and point guard Starr Ferguson, who led the Lions' women's basketball team to a third-place national finish.

Following its creation in 1990, the UNA Athletic Hall of Fame has inducted at least four members each year. This year's induction brings the total number of inductees into the UNA Athletic Hall of Fame to 167.

This will be the first induction class to include three former Lion baseball players, and this year's induction will mean five UNA baseball alums will have been inducted into the last two classes.
 

DEMARCUS BLOUNT
(Football 2002-05)

The late Demarcus Blount set school and conference records for rushing touchdowns and he ranks as the fourth leading rusher in UNA history with 3,116 yards on 661 carries from 2002-05. A four-year starter, Blount was the Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Year after rushing for 705 yards and a school-record 20 touchdowns as a freshman in 2002. He tied his own TD mark with another 20 in 2003 to go with 866 rushing yards. 

He earned first team All-GSC and first-team All-Super Region 2 honors as a sophomore. He rushed for 706 yards in 2004 and was a second-team All-GSC pick. With 835 yards as a senior in 2005, he led the Lions in rushing for a fourth straight season. 

Blount had 12 career 100-yard rushing games, with a career-best 165 yards against Arkansas-Monticello in 2003.

His 57 career rushing touchdowns set UNA and GSC records and his 63 total touchdowns is the most in Lion football history. He helped lead UNA to a combined 33-16 record over his four-year career that included a 13-1 record, GSC Championship and NCAA Playoff Semifinal appearance in 2003, and an 11-3 record and NCAA Playoff semifinal run in 2005.  The Pensacola, Fla., native, Blount was named to the UNA Team of the Decade for 1999-08 and was a first-team selection on the GSC Team of the Decade for the 2000s.

Most of his post-collegiate career was spent as a coach, including a stint as offensive coordinator at his alma mater, Pine Forest High School. 

He passed away earlier this year.

Blount becomes the fifth former Lion of the Mark Hudspeth coaching era to be inducted, joining Evan Oglesby (2015), Blake Farris (2017), Lance Ancar (2020) and Will Hall (2022).  
 

CHAD BOUGHNER - '12, '14
(Baseball 2009, 11-13)

A Florence, Ala., native, Chad Boughner pitched for UNA baseball teams in 2009 and from 2011-13. He closed his career as the winningest pitcher in school history with 31 career wins. He is also tops in most innings pitched in a career (331.0), most career strikeouts (280) and most career starts (52). He holds UNA records for most strikeouts in a season (115), most innings pitched in a season (114.2) and most starts in a season (16), all set in 2012. That season he ranked second nationally in the NCAA Division II in strikeouts, seventh in starts and 12th in wins. 

He had a 31-13 career record on the mound and a 10-5 mark in 2012, when he helped lead the Lions to a 39-18 record and into a second straight NCAA Regional appearance. He also helped lead the Lions to an NCAA appearance in 2012 when the team went 37-14. 

In all, UNA had a 136-73-1 record in his four seasons on the team. He started 52 of the 56 career games that he pitched in and threw six complete-games. He struckout 280 career batters, while walking just 100. 

He earned second-team All-Gulf South Conference honors in 2011 and was a first-team selection in 2012. In 2012, he was also selected first-team Daktronics All-South Region and first-team NCBWA All-South Region. He was a  third-team All-American selection by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and a third-team All-America pick by Daktronics/D2CCA in 2012. 

Boughner earned four GSC Pitcher of the Week honors and was South Region Pitcher of the Week for February 28, 2012. He set a school record with 16 strikeouts in eight innings against Quincy in 2012. He also pitched 7.1 shutout innings to get the win in a 2-0 victory over No. 1 ranked West Florida in 2012. He then got his third Pitcher of the Week honor in a four-week period when he came within one strike of a perfect game at West Georgia. He retired the first 20 batters that he faced before allowing back-to-back singles in the bottom of the seventh inning. He then forced a pop-out to end the game in a 12-0 UNA win. He was a second-team selection on the GSC Team of the Decade.

Boughner graduated from UNA in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Geography, while also receiving certification in Geographic Information Systems. He later added a Masters of Business Administration degree from UNA in 2014. He initially worked as an instrument operator and field surveyor for White, Lynn, Collins and Associates from 2013-15, and was then a Zoning and Codes Inspector for the City of Florence from 2015-17. In June of 2017 he became a Building and Zoning Inspector for the City of Florence and held that position until March of 2022. He then moved into a position as Senior Construction Manager at NASA, before taking his current position as Project Manager for E Tech Group in Huntsville. 

STARR FERGUSON [JONES]
(Women's Basketball 1994-95)

A two-year starting guard for North Alabama women's basketball teams in 1993-94 and 1994-95, Starr Ferguson helped lead the Lions to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight as a junior, with UNA finishing third nationally. The Lions went 22-10 that season, claiming a Gulf South Conference East Division and NCAA Division II South Region titles. 

A native of Mt. Juliet, Tenn., Ferguson was named first-team All-Gulf South Conference, as well as 1994 GSC Newcomer of the Year. She added All-South Region Tournament honors in 1994 and finished 10th in the nation that season in free throw percentage at 83.5 (86-of-103). 

A first-team All-Gulf South Conference pick again in 1994-95, Ferguson led the team in three-point field goal percentage both seasons, going 39-of-125 as a junior (31.2 pct) and 33-of-125 as a senior (26.4). She also led the Lions in free throw percentage in 1994. 

In North Alabama's 45 years in the GSC, she is one of just 11 women's basketball players to earn first-team all-conference honors twice. 

In two seasons at UNA, she scored 615 career points in 54 games, making 198 field goals and 147 free throws. 

Ferguson coached girls basketball at Bradshaw High School in 1997-98 and volleyball and girls basketball at Coffee High School from 1998-00. After time as a stay-at-home mom from 2000-06, she returned to coaching girls basketball at Lebanon High School in Lebanon, Tenn., from 2006-08. In 2008 she started an 11-year career in pharmaceutical sales and has been working in medical device sales since 2019. She has two daughters and a son, who attends UNA. 


JAKE GREER - '12
(Men's Golf 2009-12)

Jake Greer is one of just 11 student-athletes in school history to earn All-American and Academic All-America honors with the Lions.

In 2009, the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) selected him as the winner of the Phil Mickelson Award as the NCAA Division II Freshman Golfer of the Year. He was a four-year member of the UNA men's golf team from 2009-12 and earned all-conference honors four times. He was second-team All-Gulf South Conference in 2009 and first-team All-GSC in 2010, 2011 and 2012. He was also an All-GSC Tournament honoree in 2010 and 2012, earned NCAA Division II All-South Region honors in 2009, 2011 and 2012, and was the South/Southeast Super Regional individual champion in 2009 with a 201 three-round total. 

A Birmingham, Ala., native, he became the third Lion in school history to claim the region individual championship. He was selected All-American in 2009 (second-team), 2011 and 2012 (honorable mention). Voted Academic All-GSC in 2011 and 2012, Academic All-District in 2012 and second-team Academic All-America® in 2012. He was also named Cleveland Golf/Srixon GCAA/NCAA Division II National All-America Scholar in 2011 and 2012. 

He helped lead UNA to four straight NCAA regional appearances and a 2009 regional crown. The Lions went on to tie for ninth in the nation that season. UNA won 23 team tournament championships in 51 tournaments played in his four seasons with the Lions. 

He was a second-team selection on the GSC Men's Golf Team of the Decade for 2011-20. He closed his career at UNA with a 73.04 stroke average and shot in the 60's in 17 of his 125 total rounds played. In his 48 tournament appearances at UNA, he won six events, had 15 Top Five finishes, 18 Top 10 finishes and 25 Top 15 finishes. His career low round was a 65 at Kiawah Island in the Fall of 2008. He had a 71.07 stroke average in the Fall of 2011 and 72.4 in the Spring of 2012. He took medalist honors at the 2009 NCAA Division II South/Southeast Super Regional, the 2010 Derrell Foreman Invitational, the 2010 Laker Invitational, the 2011 North Alabama Spring Classic, the 2011 Derrell Foreman Invitational and the 2011 TVA Community Federal Credit Union Invitational. 

After college, he pursued a professional career in golf for two years. His certifications include Class A member of the PGA of America, PGA Specialized Golf Operation Certified, SuperSpeed Level 1 Certified, SuperSpeed Level 2 Certified and ADM Certified. He is currently the Director Golf at Inverness Country Club in Birmingham, Ala. 

Greer and his wife Rebekah have a daughter, born in 2024. His father, Mike, also played golf at UNA from 1979-81. 

MATT HANCOCK - '06, '08
(Baseball 2002-05, Baseball Coach 2006-18)

Currently the Rehab Pitching Coordinator with the San Diego Padres, Matt Hancock was a four-year letterman for the Lions as a pitcher from 2002-2005, and then spent 13 seasons on the UNA baseball coaching staff. 

He is one of six 20-plus game winning pitchers in school history, and he coached three of the other five. 

He posted a 20-5 career record on the mound, going 6-0 as a freshman, 5-0 as a sophomore, 2-2 as a junior and 7-3 as a senior. His 20 wins rank fourth best in school history and he is one of just six 20-game winners in Lion baseball history. He ranks among UNA's all-time leaders in several categories. He is eighth in career innings pitched (207.1), fifth in career starts (29), and sixth in career appearances (58). The Lions had records of 37-16, 35-15, 34-20-1 and 39-19 in his four seasons as a player, winning GSC East Division crowns in 2002 and 2005. He received his B.S. degree in History from UNA and his Masters of Health and Physical Education from UNA as well in 2008. 

After completing his playing career, Hancock stayed at UNA and ascended into the coaching ranks. He spent the 2006 season as a student assistant coach, followed by two seasons as a graduate assistant coach for the program. In late 2008 Hancock was hired as a full-time assistant coach with a focus on pitching. He remained the pitching coach at North Alabama through the 2018 season. He coached five of UNA's nine all-time winningest pitchers in Chad Boughner (31-13), Trey Mitchell (23-10), Riley Sanderson (20-15) Brantley Claunch (18-13) and Tyler Joyner (18-7). 

During that time, he also spent two summers coaching the Alexandria Beetles of the Northwoods League. Hancock was an assistant coach for the Beetles in 2008 and was hired as the head coach for the 2011 season. 

After leaving UNA, Hancock worked as the pitching coach for the Troy University Trojans from 2019-2021.

The San Diego Padres hired Hancock in June 2021 to be the pitching coach for the Arizona Complex League (ACL) Padres. He stayed with the Padres after the season and works as the team's Rehabilitation Pitching Coordinator.

He and his wife Emily, a former UNA soccer standout, have a daughter and a son. 
 

HARRY SHELTON
(Baseball 1984-86)

A West Point, Miss., native, Harry Shelton was a three-year starter on UNA baseball teams from 1984-86 who was drafted and went on to play six seasons of minor league baseball before embarking on a 30-year career as a Major League Baseball scout.

As a player, his 10 triples in the 1986 season still stand as a school record and his 15 career triples ranks second best in school history. His 75 career stolen bases in 86 attempts ranks seventh in school history. His 58 games played in 1985 are tied for a school record. He was also an Iron Man at UNA, as his 162 consecutive games played from 1984-86 set a school record. 

He was 160 of 489 for his career for a .327 batting average with 135 runs scored and 125 runs batted in. He had 23 career doubles, 15 triples and 14 home runs for a .521 career slugging percentage. Shelton also walked 71 times and was hit-by-pitch twice for a career .414 on base percentage. He hit .364 as a sophomore and .345 as a junior.

He was voted first-team All-Gulf South Conference in 1986, was a GSC All-Division selection in 1985 and 1986 and was second-team ABCA All-South Region in 1985. He was selected GSC Player of the Week for April 8, 1986. He helped lead UNA to a 28-24-1 record in 1984, which was the school's first winning season in five years. That record included winning the first Gulf South Conference Baseball Championship in school history and the first-ever NCAA Division II Playoff appearance. The Lions followed with an incredible 46-11-1 record in 1985 that included a second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Shelton was a key figure in the 1985 UNA team setting an NCAA Division II record with 260 stolen bases in a season.  UNA went 34-16-1 in 1986, giving the Lions a combined 108-51-3 record during his three seasons in the program. 

While at UNA, he was a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. 

He was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 17th round of the 1986 MLB June Amateur Draft, becoming just the third Lion-ever at that time to be drafted. He spent four years in the Cubs' organization (1986-89). In 1990 he played for the Miami Miracle in the Florida State League and he played for Salinas in the California League in 1991. 

In 1992, he became a scout for the Baltimore Orioles and served in that role until 2004. He then spent 14 years with the Major League Scouting Bureau. The MLSB is a centralized scouting resource that operates under the auspices of the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball. MLSB efforts supplement the independent, proprietary amateur and professional scouting operations of the 30 Major League Baseball clubs. During his time with MLB Scouting he did a lot of international scouting and work to help promote baseball in Europe. 

In 2018, he moved to Katy, Texas and became a scout with the New York Mets. 

He is married to the former Andrea Smith and they have a son and a daughter. 

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