Comet Couple Recalls Campus Beginning

Former student-athletes Krista (Holder) Brown BS’13 and Chase Brown BS’12 first connected at a gathering on campus in December 2011, a chance meeting that led to a lifetime commitment.

“There was an ugly sweater party a few of the baseball guys were putting on, and my roommates wanted to go and buy some funny sweaters from the thrift store,” said Chase, an outfielder on the team. “I found one that was two sizes too small and looked pretty funny.”

Krista, an infielder on the softball team, also attended but said she had no idea being there would change her life.

“As I mingled through the party, my attention was drawn to a small gathering around a campfire,” Krista said. “Amidst the crowd, Chase stood out effortlessly, not vying for attention or engaging in idle chatter with everyone, but simply enjoying a conversation by the fire. Gathering my courage, I approached him with a boldness I had never known before, introducing myself.”

The pair immediately struck up a conversation and discovered many common interests.

“With my two-sizes-too-small sweater on, we started talking to each other and asking multiple questions just to get to know each other more,” Chase said. “We had a lot in common like growing up playing sports, and we both wore the number 20 in our respective sports at UT Dallas.”

“It felt as though fate had intervened, sealing our connection,” Krista said. “And if that wasn’t serendipitous enough, my best friend, who also happened to be on the baseball team, whispered to me, ‘Krista, that’s the guy I told you you’re going to marry.’”

Months before the friend had told Krista that he thought Chase was going to be her future husband.

“It felt like the stars had aligned, and the timing was finally right for our paths to intersect,” Krista said. “It was as if a divine hand had kept us apart until the exact moment when our lives and hearts were perfectly attuned to each other.”

After graduating from UT Dallas – Krista in 2013 and Chase in 2012 – the couple married in 2014. They now live in Lufkin, Texas, where Chase works in medical devise sales and is a territory manager in East Texas and Krista is the associate vice president of student services at Angelina College. The couple have two boys, Holder Harrison, 5, and Parker Malone, 7.

“We treasure the fact that our journey began at UT Dallas,” Krista said.