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Johnny Cox Black History Month feature graphic - Feb. 21, 2024

Black History Month: Sit Down with Johnny Cox

2/21/2024 11:15:00 AM

By: Hayden Mangan, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications
DURANGO, Colo. – Every Wednesday during February, Black History Month, Fort Lewis College athletics is sitting down with a member of our Skyhawks community to recognize, celebrate, and champion the contributions of our Black student-athletes, not only athletically, but on campus, academically, and in the Division II landscape.
 
Featured during week three of Black History Month is Johnny Cox, Head Coach of the Fort Lewis College football team. Born in Denver, Colo., Cox was a four-year member of the Skyhawks football team from 1990-93. At wide receiver, Cox was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 1993 while twice being named a regional finalist for the Halon Hill Trophy, an award given to the most outstanding football player in NCAA Division II. Having coached through the high school, NCAA DII, NCAA DI, and National Football League ranks, Cox has returned to his alma mater to now lead the program he once played for.
 
Get to know Johnny Cox:
 
 
Q: What does Black History Month mean to you?
Johnny Cox: I think it's a very important month and as a father I'm seeing the importance of it. There are parts of Black History that should be celebrated and there are parts of Black History that need to be learned in the new generation. I'm seeing it in my daughters now, they're in sixth and eighth grade and they're asking me questions about Wilma Rudolph and Harriet Tubman. Some of the past can get lost, either way, good or bad, and it's important to keep those triumphs and tragedies alive in our history so that we don't repeat those tragedies. And some of the triumphs can be celebrated and inspire people to do great things.
 
Q: Why is it important to center Black voices, especially in the athletics community?
Johnny Cox: For us to have a voice, I'd say a lot of athletic departments around the world have been a lot better, but the space is still not dominated by a minority administration. Moving forward we can still strive to get on the same page, communicate support, and continue to provide opportunities for Blacks in the athletics community.
 
Q: Can you think of a mentor or role model who inspired you to further your athletics and academic career?
Johnny Cox: This one is easy, my high school principal John Buckner. He always cared about everyone in the school, but he also held everyone accountable. He would make sure kids were going to class, and acting right, and he knew a lot of details about my life at the time. I believe he was one of the only black principals in the Cherry Creek School District at the time, so he was under a lot of scrutiny, and he did his job at a high level. I always felt like he cared, he was under a lot of pressure, but he did it in a humble way. I wanted to do stuff right for him, really to say that his investment in me was worth it.
 
Q: When did you know that you wanted to pursue college athletics? What did that process look like for you?
Johnny Cox: I wasn't vastly knowledgeable about the process of playing college sports. I was focused on high school, and I knew there were college opportunities, but I didn't know what that looked like. I just knew I had to keep my grades up and hope a college recruiter would come. I always had a burning desire to keep playing football, so that process probably looked like me really focusing on high school and keeping my grades up. Once those college opportunities came, I trained even harder to become the best I possibly could.
 
Q: Can you share the significance of being a Black student-athlete at Fort Lewis College?
Johnny Cox: Whether it's as a player or a coach, whenever you're going into a community like Durango, Colo., a community that doesn't have a large minority population, how you behave and how you act can be magnified. If you're doing great things in the community, things that exemplify being a role model, then those things can be very influential throughout the community. I feel that even though at Fort Lewis you don't feel any type of racial tension, a part of the population maybe hasn't grown up around a lot of the Black community, so you have to carry yourself a certain way because you're representing all of us.
 
Q: You were once a Black student-athlete at Fort Lewis College, you've since coached at various stops and are back once again at FLC, how have you seen the experience of Black student-athletes change over the years? 
Johnny Cox: There's more here now, and more to come. I get this question from Black families in recruiting pretty often, "well I don't want to send my kid to a small town,". What you really want to do is make sure that the small town you're sending them to is one that's accepting, and Durango has always been accepting. It's always been a great experience since I came here, there's no tension. Durango in general lacks tension and provides a great experience for the student-athlete.
 
Q: What advice do you have for Black athletes who are looking to follow your path?
Johnny Cox: Do it. If it's your dream, to play college football, to try to play professional football, and coach college football, you don't have a lot of time on this earth. Whatever your passion is, you need to dive into it. If you're able to find opportunities, then go for it. It's not an easy path, but it can be a really rewarding path and you can inspire others to follow their own path as well. You've got to make good choices in order to be successful on this path, but it will lead you to a healthy lifestyle and accomplishing your dreams.
 
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