Chris Hammons

Christopher Hammons (born April 1, 1978), is an American lawyer best known for competing on the reality competition shows Survivor and The Amazing Race. In his college days, he played football for the University of Oklahoma.

Hammons was born April 1, 1978, and grew up in Sulphur, Oklahoma. He and his family later moved to Wilburton, where they lived in a trailer without running water. In 1995, his father Billy Lowell Hammons was arrested in Arkansas on drug possession charges and, after pleading no contest, was subsequently sentenced to serve up to 40 years in prison. Chris Hammons would move back to Sulphur, where he played football and basketball at Sulphur High School.

In 1996, Hammons earned a scholarship to play football at East Central University (ECU) in Ada, Oklahoma. After only one year at ECU, he left the program and joined the football team at the University of Oklahoma (OU), as a walk-on. He was redshirted his first year at OU, but the following year, he finally saw some playing time with the Sooners, playing both tight end and special teams. After the 1998 season, OU head coach John Blake was fired, and was replaced by Bob Stoops, who awarded Hammons a full scholarship after becoming impressed by the redshirt walk-on's leadership abilities.

In 1999, Hammons scored his only touchdown with OU, off a pass from Josh Heupel in a game against Baylor. The Sooners went on to win that game, 41–10. Hammons also led his team in receptions that day, and after the game, he was awarded the game ball for his efforts.

In his senior year, injuries limited his playing time, and he was relegated to playing special teams only, though he would be named one of the Sooners' team captains for the 2000 season. That year, Oklahoma finished the regular season undefeated, won the Big 12 title, and was invited to play Florida State in the Orange Bowl on January 3, 2001, for the national championship. At the start of the game, Hammons and the other team captains met at midfield for the opening coin toss. With the television cameras pointed right at him, he gave a shout-out to his incarcerated father by screaming, "What's up, Dad?" Oklahoma would go on to win the Orange Bowl to claim the national championship for OU.

Hammons graduated Oklahoma in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, and would later attend law school and earn his Juris Doctor. His first job as a lawyer was with the firm of Foshee & Yaffe in Oklahoma City. His first case as an attorney had him defending a client who had been charged with a double felony. The trial resulted in an acquittal.

In 2005, Hammons was at the law office one day when he met a young physical therapy student named Jennifer Prochaska. The two of them would soon marry, and together they would have two sons, Costner and Jacks. Hammons' father-in-law Gary was also an attorney at F&Y at the time that Hammons and his future wife met.

Hammons' father, Billy Lowell, was released from prison after serving more than 11 years of his sentence. Billy Lowell Hammons died in 2014, at the age of 60.