Jess Lanier football coaching legend, Hall of Famer Carrol Cox dies

AHSAA Hall of Famer Carrol Cox, who spent 21 years as head football coach at Jess Lanier, has died.

Cox won 162 games at Jess Lanier, including the 1990 Class 6A state championship. That team included ASWA Super 12 members Dewayne Harris and JaJa Dawson among others.

“Coach Carrol Cox was a major positive influence on the lives of so many, especially in Bessemer where he served as head football coach at Jess Lanier High School for so many years,” AHSAA Executive Director Steve Savarese said. “He was a leader that led by example. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family, friends and extended family of so many high school student-athletes who played on his teams.”

Cox’s funeral service will be held Saturday at noon at North Highlands Baptist Church located at 4851 15th Street Road in Hueytown.

A Louisiana native, Cox moved to Birmingham and attended Samford University, helping the Bulldogs to the 1971 national title. He went to work at Jess Lanier in 1973 and remained there for 27 years.

His head coaching career at the school lasted from 1979-1999. In addition to winning the state title in 1990, his team also played for the 1986 championship and reached the semifinals two other times. The Purple Tigers made the playoffs in 14 of his 21 years as head coach and won 10 or more games six times. He had only two losing seasons at the school.

Cox retired at Jess Lanier after the 1999 season. He then moved to Campbell High School in Smyrna (Ga.) where he remained until he retired for good.

He was selected to be inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame last winter in the Class of 2021. The induction ceremonies were set for last March but postponed due to the COVID 19 pandemic. He will be inducted posthumously this coming March.

“Coach Cox built the program under extremely difficult circumstances in a school system that was economically and culturally deprived and could not afford many of the amenities that other programs had,” former Bessemer school superintendent Larry O. Wilson said. “Coach Cox worked extremely well with the many educationally deprived students that made up a good percentage of the Jess Lanier student body and encouraged them to achieve at a higher level. His impact and influence on the lives of many young men in the field of athletics and the state of Alabama is deserving of his nomination and election to the Hall of Fame.”

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