Henry Cox Obituary, Death – Henry Cox was born in the year 1945 in the state of Nebraska. He was only given one arm at birth, but he did not let that hold him back. Cox was a keen participant in a variety of sports, including golf, tennis, and basketball. He was the starting point guard for his collegiate team and later went on to become a coach.
Cox took a circuitous route to get to Texas, which included working as a staff member in the USTA office in Princeton, where he was one of the pioneers of what would later become Adaptive and Wheelchair tennis, and working in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he was the driving force behind the construction of a citywide tennis center.
Cox eventually settled in Texas. Even though he was not particularly tall, he was a giant in the struggle to get everybody and everyone the chance to get into the game of tennis, his favorite of the numerous sports at which he excelled. He was a giant in the fight to get everybody and everyone the chance to get into the game of tennis. Advertisement Cox arrived in Texas in the 1980s with the mindset that everything was possible, and he quickly got to work instructing, demonstrating, and inspiring others. Because he had prior experience in the field of counseling, he was better able to connect with both children and adults on any level that was required to provide assistance.
He used the sport of tennis as a tool to help those who otherwise might not have had the opportunity to advance in their careers. Schools, clubs, tennis facilities, parks, senior organizations and expos, and oh yeah, the Texas Tennis Association, as USTA Texas was known then, were his stages. He signed on to serve in whatever imaginable manner and on various committees: Junior Rec, Special Populations, Wheelchair, Adaptive, Multicultural, Sports Science, Adult Recreation – and he won honors for his service. He volunteered at local and state events — Special Olympics, Arthur Ashe Kids Day at the US Open, and even the Dwarfs Games.
He founded tennis associations in communities where they didn’t previously have any. He was like the Statue of Liberty of tennis – “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses longing to . . .” He was positive they desired to play tennis and they would be better for it. USTA Texas often awarded Cox for his efforts and, in 2019, they presented him with the ultimate: a namesake, the Henry C. Cox Adaptive Tennis Award. Cox was honored into the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame ten days ago in Waco. While he could not make the ceremony, his presence and impact were felt by the overwhelming number of supporters who came to celebrate him on that special evening.
