University of Missouri Athletics

The first superstar shortstop in Mizzou baseball history, Cox earned first-team all-America honors as a sophomore in 1960 after hitting .407 (the highest ever at the time by an all-America shortstop) and driving in a then-school record 36 runs. He was the first sophomore in school history to earn first-team all-America honors and was featured on the cover of the 1961 Official NCAA Baseball Guide. Cox was all-Big Eight and all-District V in 1960. He also lettered on the Missouri basketball team in 1960. He was a part-time starter and one of the Big Eight’s best defenders. He was instrumental in holding Nebraska star Hershel Turner below his scoring average in one game which helped lead to a Tiger victory. Cox, a Columbia, Missouri product, was offered a scholarship to play quarterback at Mizzou by coaches Frank Broyles and Dan Devine but declined the offer to focus on baseball. He later signed with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1962 and played for nine years in the Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates organizations.