Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association Commissioner David Elder and South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey presented College of Coastal Georgia former basketball head coach and Director of Athletics Gerald Cox with a plaque signifying his induction into the newly created GCAA Hall of Fame.
Cox and former South Georgia State’s men’s baseball head coach Scott Simms were selected as the inaugural inductees of the GCAA newly created Hall of Fame. Simms will be inducted later this spring. The inaugural class and future classes are divided into three categories: Student-Athletes, Coaches, and Administrators.
This is the 40th anniversary of athletic participation in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association and Coach Gerald Cox had an exceptionally distinguished career as a basketball coach and athletic administrator in a career that spanned six decades.
Over that time, he earned 632 wins as a men’s basketball head coach. Those wins occurred over 42 years as head coach; 10 years at Truett-McConnell College and 32 years at Brunswick Junior College/College of Coastal Georgia. Coach Cox coached numerous NJCAA All-Americans and players who would eventually move on to play at four year colleges including one NBA first round pick.
South Georgia Technical College Athletic Director and Lady Jets head coach James Frey worked with Cox at the College of Coastal Georgia prior to joining South Georgia Technical College eight years ago. “Coach Cox is more than a coach. He is my mentor and he has shaped the lives of countless young men that he has come in contact with. I am honored that I can be here with Commissioner Elder to help make this very well deserved presentation,” said Coach Frey.
Coach Cox was able to remain at the game and watch his former assistant capture his fourth consecutive NJCAA Region XVII tournament title. Coach Cox was also instrumental in helping South Georgia Technical College reinstate its men’s basketball program in 2001 and then the women’s program in 2004. South Georgia Tech fielded a men’s basketball team from the late 1950’s until the early 1970’s. Herbert Norris was South Georgia Tech’s first basketball coach.