Earl Cox
Earl Cox has carried Estill County’s banner around Kentucky, the region, the nation and the world. “I am proud to be an Estill County native,” Cox said. Cox’s Estill County roots run deep. He was born March 25, 1930, on Doe Creek on a bluff overlooking the Kentucky River. He parents, Mr. and Mrs. (Bessie Benton) Coleman Cox. His father was from the Blackburn-Thomas section of southwestern Estill County and his mother was a Doe Creek resident. When Earl was four his family moved to West Irvine, so that his mother could walk across the old toll bridge to get to work at Carhartt. His father was a teacher in one-room schools all over the county.
His family moved to Irvine a year later so that he could attend Irvine City Schools. At Irvine High, he came under the influence of Mr. Joe Ohr and Miss Leslie Jones an influence that changed his life. “They both encouraged me to write”, said Earl. “Mr. Ohr got my first paying job, as a correspondent for the Lexington Herald, Miss Jones let me be sports editor of the Irvine High paper. The Hovermales, Al and John, who owned The Estill Herald, and Bob Barker, who owned the Irvine Times, gave me the opportunity to write for them. No money, but great experience.
Earl credits a lot of people who helped and encourage him to attend college. “Bill and Gladys Wise gave me a ride to Eastern my freshman year.Then, when I ran completely our of money, Mamie West Scott, superintendent of Estill County Schools, gave me a job teaching in the one-room school at Garrett,” Earl said. “When the school year ended, Mrs. Scott asked me if I knew where Happy Top was. I did. She asked if I would teach there as long as I could stand it.” Earl walked across a rickety swinging bridge, got chased just about every morning by a bull, walked up one mountain, across another and there was Happy Top School. “Mrs. Scott told me that she didn’t know how many children were there, but that if I could teach them to count a little and read a little and write a little, it would be a plus to them,” Earl said. “I have never done anything that meant as much to me as working with those children, and I was sorry when the time came for me to enroll at UK in the summer of 1950.”
Once in Lexington, Earl had to have a job. “I went to The Lexington Herald and went directly to the General Manager’s office,” Earl said. The GM was Fred. B. Watches. He said that he didn’t have a job, but said, “Didn’t you say you are from Irvine. Did you ever know a nurse named Dorothy Morgan Gold?” She’s my cousin, I told him.” “Well, said Mr. Wachs, “I don’t have a job, but you have one. Dorothy nursed me back to health after I almost died during World War II.”
After two years in the Army during the Korean War, Earl returned to Lexington to finish work on his degree. But Earl Ruby, sports editor of The Courier-Journal called to offer him a job. “That had been my ambition, to work in sports for the C-J, so I accepted quickly,” said Cox. “Openings at the paper were rare in those days when it ranked among the nation’s top 10.” When Earl graduated from Irvine High in 1948, his class prophecy said that he would succeed Earl Ruby as sports editor of The Courier-Journal. He not only did that, but also was named sports editor of The Louisville Times.” Earl was a founder and president of The Associated Press Sports Editors, a national association from to “Bring The AP kicking and screaming into a position where it could meet the increasing demands of the exploding sports scene.”
Earl is a member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame (an honor that native Bill Neikirk shares) and the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame. Earl is one of just three people in both Hall of Fames, the other two are Earl Ruby and Cawood Ledford. “That’s pretty good company,” said Earl, who also is a member of the Dawahares/Kentucky High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame. He is the only person in all three.
“What I am most proud of is my family,” said earl. “I was smart enough to marry an Estill County girl, Carolyn Holliday, the daughter of O.S. and Lucille Holliday.” Carolyn and Earl have two daughters and a son. Their oldest daughter, Sarah is a physician. Their son Scott C., is a criminal defense attorney, and their other daughter Leslie Ellen Call, also is a lawyer. All three children live in Louisville and they have given Carolyn and Earl six grand children. “Yes, Leslie Ellen is named for Miss Jones,” said Earl. “She is a graduate of Harvard and attended graduate school at Cambridge University in England”.
Earl’s colleagues elected him Kentucky’s Sportswriter of the Year for the first three years of the contest, “and I retired undefeated when I went into administration at The Courier Journal.” Soon after he retired from the C-J, Earl was offered a job with a weekly paper in suburban Louisville. “A friend, John H. Harralson Jr., bought what is now the Voice-Tribune and he told me that he would syndicate my column around the state,” Earl said. “It’s now the state’s biggest weekly newspaper which means that I am now back where I started, writing for weekly papers and happily so.”
His family moved to Irvine a year later so that he could attend Irvine City Schools. At Irvine High, he came under the influence of Mr. Joe Ohr and Miss Leslie Jones an influence that changed his life. “They both encouraged me to write”, said Earl. “Mr. Ohr got my first paying job, as a correspondent for the Lexington Herald, Miss Jones let me be sports editor of the Irvine High paper. The Hovermales, Al and John, who owned The Estill Herald, and Bob Barker, who owned the Irvine Times, gave me the opportunity to write for them. No money, but great experience.
Earl credits a lot of people who helped and encourage him to attend college. “Bill and Gladys Wise gave me a ride to Eastern my freshman year.Then, when I ran completely our of money, Mamie West Scott, superintendent of Estill County Schools, gave me a job teaching in the one-room school at Garrett,” Earl said. “When the school year ended, Mrs. Scott asked me if I knew where Happy Top was. I did. She asked if I would teach there as long as I could stand it.” Earl walked across a rickety swinging bridge, got chased just about every morning by a bull, walked up one mountain, across another and there was Happy Top School. “Mrs. Scott told me that she didn’t know how many children were there, but that if I could teach them to count a little and read a little and write a little, it would be a plus to them,” Earl said. “I have never done anything that meant as much to me as working with those children, and I was sorry when the time came for me to enroll at UK in the summer of 1950.”
Once in Lexington, Earl had to have a job. “I went to The Lexington Herald and went directly to the General Manager’s office,” Earl said. The GM was Fred. B. Watches. He said that he didn’t have a job, but said, “Didn’t you say you are from Irvine. Did you ever know a nurse named Dorothy Morgan Gold?” She’s my cousin, I told him.” “Well, said Mr. Wachs, “I don’t have a job, but you have one. Dorothy nursed me back to health after I almost died during World War II.”
After two years in the Army during the Korean War, Earl returned to Lexington to finish work on his degree. But Earl Ruby, sports editor of The Courier-Journal called to offer him a job. “That had been my ambition, to work in sports for the C-J, so I accepted quickly,” said Cox. “Openings at the paper were rare in those days when it ranked among the nation’s top 10.” When Earl graduated from Irvine High in 1948, his class prophecy said that he would succeed Earl Ruby as sports editor of The Courier-Journal. He not only did that, but also was named sports editor of The Louisville Times.” Earl was a founder and president of The Associated Press Sports Editors, a national association from to “Bring The AP kicking and screaming into a position where it could meet the increasing demands of the exploding sports scene.”
Earl is a member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame (an honor that native Bill Neikirk shares) and the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame. Earl is one of just three people in both Hall of Fames, the other two are Earl Ruby and Cawood Ledford. “That’s pretty good company,” said Earl, who also is a member of the Dawahares/Kentucky High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame. He is the only person in all three.
“What I am most proud of is my family,” said earl. “I was smart enough to marry an Estill County girl, Carolyn Holliday, the daughter of O.S. and Lucille Holliday.” Carolyn and Earl have two daughters and a son. Their oldest daughter, Sarah is a physician. Their son Scott C., is a criminal defense attorney, and their other daughter Leslie Ellen Call, also is a lawyer. All three children live in Louisville and they have given Carolyn and Earl six grand children. “Yes, Leslie Ellen is named for Miss Jones,” said Earl. “She is a graduate of Harvard and attended graduate school at Cambridge University in England”.
Earl’s colleagues elected him Kentucky’s Sportswriter of the Year for the first three years of the contest, “and I retired undefeated when I went into administration at The Courier Journal.” Soon after he retired from the C-J, Earl was offered a job with a weekly paper in suburban Louisville. “A friend, John H. Harralson Jr., bought what is now the Voice-Tribune and he told me that he would syndicate my column around the state,” Earl said. “It’s now the state’s biggest weekly newspaper which means that I am now back where I started, writing for weekly papers and happily so.”