X B Cox, Jr.
2005 Golden Ex of the Year
X B Cox, Jr. was born in San Angelo, Texas, on February 12, 1915, the second son, to X B (M) Cox and Myrtle Teague Cox, who lived in Mertzon, Texas.
His early years were spent in Mertzon, Texas, and on the H. M. Noelke ranch, west of Mertzon, where his father was
ranch foreman. X B was riding horseback and helping with the ranch work by the age of five. His mother, who had graduated from Sam Houston College in 1907, taught him at home until the family moved to San Angelo in 1923.
Cox attended South Ward School in San Angelo, which is now Fort Concho School, and the building was on what is now the Fort Concho parade ground , where he started school in the third grade.
In 1924, Cox and his family bought the farm at Ben Ficklin, now bordered by Foster Road, Cox Road, and Loop 306, which was his home until he left San Angelo in 1933 to attend Texas A&M College.
Cox attended San Angelo High School, played basketball, and played the clarinet in the band from 1930 to 1932.
In 1932, the first year of Massie Scholarships, Cox was awarded a Massie Memorial Scholarship, in the amount of fifty dollars, to attend San Angelo Junior College and enough to pay for tuition, fees and books for that year. Years later, Cox was appointed to the Board of the Massie Foundation and served on the Board for over 32 years.
In 1933, Cox left San Angelo to attend Texas A&M College as an Animal Husbandry major and active in the Corps of Cadets. He was in B Co. Inf. and his senior year was Company Commander, serving in the honor guard when President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Texas A&M. Cox was commissioned a Second Lt. upon graduation in June of 1937.
Cox worked as a County Agricultural Agent for the Extension Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, in Coke, Dawson, and Scurry counties until he was called to active duty by the U. S. Army in June of 1941. He entered service at Fort Sam Houston as a First Lieutenant.
In August of 1942, he was assigned to the newly formed 101st Airborne Division, 81st Airborne Antiaircraft Battalion, serving with that Unit throughout World War II. He was promoted to Battalion Commander on March 25, 1944, at the age of twenty-nine and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in July of 1944.
Cox participated in the D-Day landings in Normandy, went by glider into Operation Market Garden to liberate the Netherlands, was surrounded with his Division in Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge and ended the war at The Eagle's Nest at Berchestgaden, Bavaria.
He returned to the United States from Europe in November of 1945 and he was discharged, in March 1946, from active duty status to reserve status. While in the Army Reserves, following the War, Cox completed courses for the Industrial College of the United States Army, the Atomic Weapons and Guided Missiles United States Army Air Defense School, Ft. Bliss, Tx. and served seven tours of duty in the War Plans and Strategy Department for the United States Army in the Pentagon. Cox retired from the Unites States Army Reserves in 1967, having been promoted to Colonel in 1956.
On November 4, 1948 Cox married Melba Ruth White, in Bryan, Texas. Following their marriage they moved to San Angelo and made their home.
Cox was employed again by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in the Wool Division, and worked over an area that reached from Wyoming to Boston and anyplace in between where the government was trying to abandon the wool business. The US government bought all the wool during the war to be used for military purposes and no longer need for the wool.
In April of 1949, Cox left the U.S. Department of Agriculture to become a rancher full time. In 1947, bought a ranch north of Rankin, in Upton County, which has been his primary occupation since that time.
Cox was active in the Former Students Association at Texas A & M University and served on the Board for Directors. As a result of this experience, Mrs. Virginia Scott secretary to Dr. Raymond Caveness, President of the newly expanded San Angelo Junior College, invited Cox to work with her and others in forming an Ex-Students Association for what is now Angelo State University. Cox accepted the honor and has been active since that time in the ASU Alumni Association.
At the death of his parents, Cox was instrumental in establishing the Mr. and Mrs. X B Cox Memorial Scholarship at ASU. This has been an important aspect in the lives of Cox, his brother Donald, nephew Donald Boyd Cox, and grandniece Kim Cox. Donald Boyd and Kim are both graduates of ASU. Donald Boyd played clarinet in the original Dixiecats Jazz Band, under the direction of Jack Hudgins--band director at San Angelo Junior College. Kim holds a Masters Degree in Animal Science.
X B has been active in many civic organizations especially, for over thirty-five years, the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo Association. He served as President for three years and General Manager for two years. He has been involved with the Boy Scouts, Administrative Board and Board of Trustees at First United Methodist Church, President of the Businessmen's Bible Class, and Chairman of the Radio Committee for Businessmen's Bible Class for over twenty years.
Cox has been very active in the 101st Airborne Division Association, was President of the TALON Chapter and serves on the Pratt Memorial Committee, which raises funds to maintain monuments in Normandy.
In addition to his many military honors, one of his proudest accolades is having been named Outstanding Alumni of ASU in 1977, the second such award to be given.
Cox is the father of Melba Ellen Cox Williams and X B Cox, III. He is grandfather to Herbert Eugene Williams, III, Sarah Elizabeth Williams, X B Cox IV and Jordan Katherine Cox.
As profiled in the 2005 Fall Alumni Magazine.