Jim Cox, who made an impact in South Florida’s college and professional sports, dies at 69

Armed with a master’s degree, a love for people and a passion for sports, Jim Cox could have traveled across the country with dreams of becoming an athletic director at an NCAA powerhouse.

But he didn’t.

Instead, he stayed in Miami with his wife, Jan, and their three daughters and seven grandchildren.

“He wanted to be where he could make the biggest impact on people,” said Jan, his wife of 45 years. “He wanted to stay in Miami with his family.”

Cox, the former athletic director at Miami Dade College and an almost constant presence as a leading statistician at Miami Heat, Miami Dolphins and Miami Hurricanes games, died Sunday morning after suffering a massive heart attack the previous day.

He was 69.

“Within hours of his passing, there were already a couple of dozen people posting on Facebook, saying that Jim was the reason they started working in sports,” said Dennis Jezek Jr., Barry University’s director of athletic communications. “There was definitely a ‘Jim Cox tree,’ and it was pretty tall, and it had a lot of branches.

“He was a huge influence on me — a big mentor.”

After leaving MDC, Cox became an associate athletic director for facilities at Barry, where Jezek and others were amazed by his versatility.

For starters, Cox had skills as a journalist, serving as a Miami News copy editor from 1972 to 1974. Decades later, he covered high school football for the Miami Herald from 2010 to 2014.

At Barry, he ran the scoreboard, he grabbed the microphone and did the P.A., he did the scorebook, and he did some radio broadcasting.

“Jim could fill in anywhere,” Jezek said. “That’s because he was good at everything.”

If he struggled at anything, it was getting Jan to marry him.

That took some doing.

Jim and Jan were high school sweethearts at Carol City High. Jim wanted to marry her, but Jan was content living with her grandmother at the time.

“She would iron my clothes,” Jan said. “When I got home, my food was on the table.

“But, one day, I just realized that Jim was the one. I called him and told him I wanted to get married.”

They were happily wed for 45 years, and they raised Jennifer Michelle; Jonelle Melissa; and Juliann Megan.

Cox, a native of Miami, was essentially a sports fan from birth, attending the Dolphins’ first ever game in 1966. Cox also played football, basketball, baseball and golf at Carol City.

But after one year at Western Carolina University, Cox came back to Miami, earning his associate’s degree from MDC. He then got his bachelors and masters degrees from St. Thomas University.

In fact, Cox was part of the first graduating class of STU’s well-regarded sports-administration program.

Cox became MDC’s sports information director in 1977. However, he kept moving up at MDC, eventually serving as athletic director from 1997 to 2010, leading the Sharks during that span to five national championships, 15 state titles and 30 conference crowns.

He served at Barry from 2011 to 2021 before retiring, concluding a 44-year career in sports administration.

But even after “retirement”, Cox still found a way to work countless local sporting events, including Formula One races, the Orange Bowl Classic and the College Football Playoffs, among others.

Cox worked for the Heat since its first game in November of 1988. He was proud to be the Heat’s chief statistician, but he also found time for his family.

“He would go from working a Heat game one night to taking his grandson to a monster truck show the following day,” said Jamie Carrig, who was hired by Cox at MDC and now works as Barry’s senior associate athletic director.

“Jim was an amazing person. If you needed help moving, he was there. He was always giving of his time to help people — a father figure.

“He inspired hundreds of people to work in the sports industry, which is why so many people are devastated by the news.”

Barry men’s basketball coach Butch Estes was another person impacted by Cox, who hired him at MDC in 2003.

“Jim was one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet,” Estes said. “He was a legend in South Florida athletics.”