Stars of Yesterday - Gene Cox

By Jim Joanos

Recently the Big Bend area of North Florida lost a very popular sports figure when Gene Cox, the former Florida State University football player and legendary high school football coach, suddenly died. The seventy-four year old Cox had been retired from coaching since 1996 but had continued to be active in community, church and sports circles, giving talks and directing activities. The large crowds at the family visitation and funeral documented the effect that Cox had on so many people.

Gene Cox

When Cox retired in 1996 he had won more games than any other high school football coach in the history of the State of Florida. As a head football coach at four different schools over a period of 38 years he had won 313 games. His teams won two state championships and finished second two times. The victories also included fifteen district and eight regional championships. In all he had ten undefeated regular seasons. He was named the Florida High School Coach of the year six times.

Cox will always be known as one of the truly great high school football coaches. In 1988 he was inducted into the State of Florida Sports Hall of Fame. He is also listed among the members of the Florida Athletics Coaches Hall of Fame and the Florida High School Athletics Association Hall of Fame (formerly known as the Florida High School Activities Hall of Fame). In 1998, the Leon County high school football stadium was named for him.

Cox was born and raised in Lake City. At Lake City's Columbia County High School, he starred in three sports, football, basketball, and track. His last high school football season as a player (1951), he led Columbia High to a perfect 10-0 record and the Championship of the Northeast Florida Conference. Cox was selected to the All Southern All Star team as a halfback. He was also selected as a member of the North team and played in the Florida North-South All Star game following his senior year.

After his senior year in high school Cox signed a scholarship to play at Vanderbilt. However, in preseason practice in Nashville, he injured his knee and had to undergo prolonged rehabilitation. As a result, he decided to transfer to South Georgia Junior College where five of his former Columbia High School teammates had gone. At SGJC, he played two years and did well enough to gain the attention of the Florida State coaches and was offered a scholarship.

Cox played at FSU, for two seasons,1954 and 1955. At FSU, Cox was an excellent ball carrier. He started some games for FSU during the 1955 season although he was limited by size on defense at a time when college football required players to play both offense and defense.

Cox's first job out of college was as an assistant coach at Jefferson County High in Monticello in 1956. In 1958, he became the head coach at that school. At Jefferson, Cox served as head coach for three years and racked up twenty-four wins and only seven losses.

Cox's next job as a head coach was at Suwanee High in Live Oak where he spent two years and picked up seventeen wins against only four losses. His 1962 team went 11-0 and became the first team in the Live Oak school's history to go undefeated and untied.

In 1963, Cox became the head football coach at Leon High School in Tallahassee and would continue in that capacity for 28 years. His Leon teams won the two state championships and placed second twice. His overall record at Leon was 238-67-4. While at Leon, he produced at least twelve high school All Americans. His players were recruited by numerous major college programs throughout the South including Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, and Georgia Tech. He even coached a kicker that later kicked for Michigan. Sixteen of his quarterbacks in a row went on to play in college.

However, it was to Florida State that Leon High football under Cox's leadership served as a factory producing football players. At least twenty-five Cox coached players from Leon went on to FSU to play. The vast majority of them not only played at FSU but were starters there. A large number were stars.

In 1991 after having spent thirty-five years as a high school coach and teacher, Cox retired from state employment. For five years, he continued coaching at a private school, Aucilla Christian, near Monticello. At Aucilla, his teams won another 32 games giving him the total of 313 wins.

Cox's coaching method was to each year adopt a system of offense and defense that took advantage of the talents and strengths of that year's players. Consequently, during the early years of his coaching he employed such vastly different offensive schemes as the Wing T, the Run and Shoot, the Wishbone, as well as the pro style drop back passing method. In later years, he combined the various methods into what he called the "Multiple Offense" which employed all four of the earlier schemes, depending upon his team's talent as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the teams he faced. He was also a believer in having his very best athletes on the field. If an injury occurred, he would decide who was the best player not currently a starter and figure a way to get that man into the lineup. Although there was free substitution, most of his players were expected to and did play both ways, on offense and defense. Many of the assistant coaches who worked with Cox during his career became head coaches themselves. At least four of them went on to win state championships in their own right.

From 1986 until his recent death, Cox had been quite active in his retirement. He and his wife often took very interesting trips across America and even overseas. They enjoyed spending time with their adult children and the grandchildren. Cox also stayed close to football. He headed up the Leon High School Football Hall of Fame banquet each year. He also participated in booster and old timers events at Leon High. In 2003, after four years of research and writing, he completed an excellent book on the history of Leon High School football. In the book, he traced the complete history of Leon football from 1916 when it began through the year 2001. The book is full of interesting photos and stories. It has been quite popular among alumni of Leon High School. He also regularly attended FSU Varsity Club activities.

Cox was a deeply religious person. While at Leon, he began the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at the school. For many years, he traveled and spoke at numerous FCA events.

For as long as people get together and talk about the history of high school football in this area Cox will be mentioned. The hundreds of players, coaches and others whose lives were influenced by him will always remember him. Gene Cox will be missed.