Big South Inducts 2026 Hall of Fame Class
HILTON HEAD, S.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – The Big South Conference inducted two former student-athletes and one former head coach into its Hall of Fame Thursday night, May 28, during a ceremony as part of the league’s annual Spring Meeting Awards and Hall of Fame Dinner at the Westin Resort & Spa in Hilton Head, S.C. The inductions increase the Big South’s Hall of Fame membership to 87 former student-athletes, coaches, administrators and contributors.
The 21st Big South Hall of Fame class consists of
Chris Archer (High Point men’s soccer and men’s tennis),
Gary Gilmore (Coastal Carolina baseball coach), and
Natalie Pearson (UNC Asheville Women’s Track & Field).
CHRIS ARCHER, High Point, Men’s Soccer & Men’s Tennis, 2003-07
Archer excelled as a two-sport athlete, earning Big South All-Conference honors in men’s soccer and men’s tennis during his time at HPU. In men’s soccer, he was a two-time All-Big South First-Team selection (2004, 2006), was named NCCSIA All-State (North Carolina) in 2004, and was a Big South All-Tournament team honoree in 2006. Archer started 73 of 79 career matches and played 5,937 minutes on the pitch. He tallied 80 career points and 33 career goals, and set HPU Division I era single-season records for points (33) and goals (15) in 2004. Archer helped High Point reach the 2006 Big South championship match, the program’s first as Big South members. He garnered three Big South Player of the Week plaudits in 2006 and five total in his soccer career. In tennis, Archer was a three-time All-Conference honoree in both Singles (2003, 2004, 2005) and Doubles (2004, 2005, 2006) -- becoming just the seventh player in Big South history at the time to be voted a three-time All-Conference player in both Singles and Doubles. The 2003 Big South Men’s Tennis Co-Freshman of the Year, Archer was voted to the Big South’s 2000-09 All-Decade Team for Doubles. He helped guide HPU to its only Big South men's tennis championship in 2003, as well as two appearances in the title match (2003, 2004). The Panthers went 19-8 in Big South matches ( =70.4 percent) and 51-23 overall ( =68.9) with Archer in the lineup. Academically, Archer was a CoSIDA Men’s Soccer Academic All-America Second-Team honoree in 2006, a two-time NSCAA Scholar All-Region member (2004, 2006), and a three-time ITA Tennis Scholar-Athlete (2004, 2005, 2006). Archer was inducted into High Point’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022.
GARY GILMORE, Coastal Carolina, Baseball Head Coach, 1996-2016
Gilmore led Coastal Carolina to the Big South’s first-ever team National Championship with the Chanticleers’ 2016 College World Series title. He coached 21 years in the Big South from 1996-2016, earning Coach of the Year honors nine times (1999, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2016) while guiding CCU to 10 regular-season crowns, 11 conference championships, 14 NCAA berths and three NCAA Super Regional appearances -- all Big South records. He finished his time in the Big South with an 847-438 overall record ( =65.9 winning percentage), 331-124 Big South mark ( =71.2 percent) and 63-20 conference tournament record ( =75.9 percent) -- in addition to 29 NCAA Tournament victories. Gilmore was named the 2016 National Coach of the Year by the ABCA, NCBWA, Collegiate Baseball, D1baseball, HERO Sports, and Perfect Game/Rawlings, and was a two-time ABCA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year (2005 and 2016). Gilmore had 13 40-win seasons, five of which were 50-win campaigns -- including a Big South single-season record 55 victories in 2010 and 2016. During his time in the Big South, he had 62 players selected in the MLB Draft, including a league-record seven in 2007 and 2010, coached 11 National Player of the Year Finalists or Semifinalists -- including 2016 Gregg Olson Award winner Andrew Beckwith, and developed 10 Big South Player of the Year honorees as well as six Big South Pitcher of the Year recipients. Gilmore coached a Big South-record eight First-Team All-Conference selections in 2010, and a conference-record 11 First- and Second-Team All-Big South picks in 2008. Gilmore is now a member of seven Halls of Fame, including the American Baseball Coaches Association (2022), the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame (May 2025) and the Coastal Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame (September 2025).
NATALIE PEARSON, UNC Asheville, Women’s Track & Field, 2006-11
Pearson was a two-time Big South Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year honoree, winning the top honor in 2010 and 2011, in addition to earning 11 All-Conference medals in Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field during her career. She was a four-time Big South individual champion, as she won the 2007 Indoor 60m, along with the Outdoor 100m (2011) and Outdoor 200m (2010, 2011). Pearson was voted the 2007 Big South Women’s Indoor Track & Field Freshman of the Year as well as the 2011 Big South Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Most Outstanding Track Performer. A member of the Big South’s 2010-19 Women’s Outdoor Track & Field All-Decade Team, she set school records in the 55m, 60m, 100m and 200m events during her time at UNC Asheville, and became program's first-ever two-time national qualifier in both 2010 and 2011. At the 2011 National Meet, she finished 24th overall with a time of 23.99 in the 200m to earn Honorable Mention All-America Honors. Pearson also competed in the United Kingdom Olympic Trials in 2008 and 2012, and would later compete for the United States bobsled team in the winter of 2014-15, winning a silver medal in Lake Placid, N.Y. She was inducted into UNC Asheville’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022.