Gerald Floyd Cox

Gerald Floyd Cox, longtime basketball coach at College of Coastal Georgia, passed away peacefully in his sleep on July 12. God mercifully took him from his long battle with Alzheimer’s disease into eternal life. He was born in Randolph County, NC, Feb. 19, 1940.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Floyd and Ruth Cox.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Polly; his son, Glenn Cox (Claudia) of McCormick, South Carolina; his daughter Brandi Bratek (Wojtek), Dothan, Alabama; two grandchildren, Elizabeth and Timothy Cox, McCormick, South Carolina; two brothers, David Cox (Ann) Elizabethtown, North Carolina; Jonathan Cox (Mariluce), Chicago, Illinois; two sister, Rebecca Spivey (Ken) Asheboro, NC; and Robin Williams (Tony) Randleman, NC; several nieces and nephews; and his cat, Fidge.

Gerald graduated from Ramseur High School in 1957. He was senior class president and an outstanding basketball player and baseball pitcher. He attended Presbyterian Junior College on a baseball scholarship where he graduated in 1959. He returned home and worked at Ramseur Interlock Mill on the third shift for two years to make money to return to college.

In the fall of 1962 he attended Appalachian State Teachers College where he met his future wife Polly at an outdoor pickup basketball game. He finished his undergraduate education in Nov., 1964, with a BS degree in health and physical education.

In January of 1965 he started teaching and coaching basketball at Coulwood Junior High School in Charlotte, NC. He and Polly married in June of 1966, and in the summer of 1967 they started graduate school together at Appalachian State University.

In the summer of 1968 he received his masters degree in health and physical education.

In the fall of that year he took a job a Truett McConnell Junior College as a physical education instructor and assistant men’s basketball coach. In 1970 he became head coach a Truett McConnell and held that position for 8 years. He had 5 winning seasons and was named Junior College Coach of the Year three times. His 1972-73 team finished 12th in the nation and he was honored as the Naismith Junior College Coach of the year. He and the team attended the Naismith Awards Banquet where they met Bill Walton and John Wooden (UCLA player and coach of the year). In 1979 he moved to Piedmont High School in Monroe, NC, where he enjoyed coaching basketball but did not enjoy teaching history.

In spring of 1982, Brunswick Junior College hired him to revive their men’s basketball program. He and his family moved to Brunswick, Ga., in July of 1982. From 1982 through 2011, Cox guided the Mariners to seven Georgia College Athletic Association Conference Championships when Coastal Georgia was still competing as a junior college, and two of those teams (1986, 2020) advanced to the Sweet 16 round of the NJCAA National Championship Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas. He won numerous coach of the year awards and served as the state director for junior college basketball in Georgia.

In 1991, the Mariners posted the program’s best record of 27-7 en route to the conference championship and a national tournament bid.

He went to New Zealand in May 2007 and 2008 and helped coach a professional basketball team. While there, he traveled extensively.

Gerald retired in the spring of 2014 after 32 years of serving as head basketball coach, athletic director, and physical education instructor.

After his retirement, he and Polly enjoyed Alaskan and Viking River cruises.

In June, 2019, it was announced that Gerald would be inducted in the 2020 Class of the Glynn County Sports Hall of Fame. The banquet was postponed due to Covid-19 so he will receive this award posthumously. In January 11, 2020, the College of Coastal Georgia named the court in the Howard Coffin Gymnasium the Coach Gerald Cox Court. In February, 2020, he was inducted in to the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association Hall of Fame.

Gerald was a humble man, and anytime he received an award, he would make it about the team, not about himself. He would say, “I am here because of my players.” There was a group of patrons in the community that came to games, watched games and supported him. Many of them stayed with him until he retired. He got support from college personnel and that was very important. The fact that his name is on the court is important to the family, as his two children grew up on that court, but also to his extended family comprised of all the student athletes that he mentored.

He will be cremated and his family will spread his ashes in his favorite trout stream in White County, Georgia, just as he wished. There will be a memorial service at a time when friends and family can be safe from the virus.

Edo Miller Funeral Home in charge.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be made to College of Coastal Georgia Foundation, mailed to: College of Coastal Georgia Foundation, One College Dr, Brunswick, GA 31520; or you may give online at: www.ccga.edu/donate and select Athletics - General Fund from the drop-down list.