Rhodes Athletic Hall of Fame
When Paul Cox graduated from Southwestern he was faced with a career decision that would affect the rest of his life. Paul was offered two jobs, one as a pilot for Southern Airlines and the other as an assistant football coach and teacher at Bishop Byrne High School in Memphis. Paul chose to forego the friendly skies and embarked on a teaching and coaching career that would impact literally thousands of lives.
Paul was a standout baseball and football player for Southwestern, where he started in both sports for the Lynx. He was named Most Valuable Player on the 1964 baseball team and served as team captain in 1965.
Paul Cox ranks as one of Shelby County’s all-time great high school football coaches. He served as the head football coach at Bishop Byrne for three years, then as head football coach at Collierville High School for 34 years. When Paul retired he was the second-winningest active coach in Shelby County and the sixth-winningest active coach in the state of Tennessee, with 280 wins. He took 14 Collierville teams to the TSSAA state playoffs, and served as the head coach for the Tennessee team in the 1997 Tennessee/Kentucky All-Star game. Paul was also a successful baseball coach, winning numerous Coach of the Year Awards in baseball and football.
Paul loved young people and young people naturally gravitated to Coach Cox. For the lessons he taught countless students and athletes, and for the example he set for coaches and teachers, we are honored to induct PAUL LAWRENCE COX Â posthumously into the Rhodes Athletic Hall of Fame this 29th day of October, 2010.
