ACA Sportsmanship Award (Week 5): Coach Demetrius Cox & the Hillsboro Trojans
Kpreps is excited to bring back the A Class Athlete (ACA) weekly sportsmanship award for the 2020 season. We have teamed up with 'A Class Athlete' (ACA) to recognize those individuals or groups that demonstrate sportsmanship and high character during the heat of action. This award is open to students or student-athletes who goes above and beyond to demonstrate an act of kindness or sportsmanship.
We are pleased to present this week’s ACA Award to Demetrius Cox & the Hillsboro Trojans!
The Hillsboro nomination and incredible tribute was written by Jayson Hanschu!
I HUMBLY write this email on behalf of the Hillsboro Trojan Football Team…but not only the team…but also the Coach, the Community, and the Band of Brothers a Football Team becomes…let me attempt to share the story/stories of why I feel ‘our story’ is one to be shared…again, I am humbly telling this story, on my own, without consulting with anyone other than my wife….I have a son on this team now, and he was a classmate of Demarius Cox….I have had two other sons graduate Hillsboro that also played football.
For the 2019 High School Football season, Hillsboro hired a new head football Coach, Demetrius Cox. He had been the middle school football coach for a few years, and stepped up to fill the high school vacancy. Coach Cox came to Hillsboro from Florida, went to Tabor College and played football. He also works at the High School and helps teach students with special needs or in unique circumstances. Coach Cox was super excited and energized to lead the Trojans, who had advanced to the second round of the playoffs during the 2018 season…plus, the team had a great core of sophomores/juniors coming back, all of which he had coached in middle school in the past.
Tragedy struck the summer of 2019. Coach Cox’s son, Demarius (who was to be a sophomore that year at Hillsboro High), suddenly died while attending a church camp in Colorado. Obviously, this tragedy hit hard with Coach Cox, his wife Ciara, the rest of his family…but also with the football team and the entire community. Coach Cox had spent all summer in the weight room with his team, plans were being formulated, his son Demarius was going to be a sophomore of the football team…but now….what?...
If Coach Cox would have backed out of coaching, no one would have blamed him. Some even felt he should considering the circumstances. But he didn’t back out…and here’s why…a football team is not just a bunch of random guys who show up for practice and games….a football team is a family…a football team is a band of brothers….and in small towns a high school football team becomes the face of the community….and Coach Cox realized he needed them, just as much or possibly more than they needed him….
So Coach and his family, as well as the team and community mourned the loss of Demarius…but Coach is a man with deep Christian faith, and he leaned on that faith to give him strength to move on…he shared that with the community, and he stayed on as coach for the high school football team…
At the booster club spring football introductions in 2019, when he introduced each player by name, each player took their jersey off….we all wondered why, as that had never been done before….when all introductions were done, Coach Cox explained why the players took their jerseys off….he said because on Friday nights these young men come out here and perform and entertain us all….but, at the end of the night, and all day every day, these young men are SONS…and he encouraged each family to cherish their children….what a powerful moment….
That year the 2019 team again advanced to the second round of the playoffs. At the year-end team banquet, Coach Cox established an award in honor of his son…the award was to recognize a player who shined as a complete person (not just a football player), meaning character, grades, service, etc…again, a powerful moment….
What a year! But, now it is the 2020 high school football season. Coach Cox’s second year. What happens? On the Monday before the first game of the season, one of the senior player’s mom’s dies unexpectedly….the player is Jared, or Big J as he is known by…so on Friday morning before the first game, the team attends the funeral of Big J’s mother…again, the coaches, the team, and the community banded together to give Jared comfort and support…Jared played that first game of the year, and the Trojan were victorious….again, a powerful moment….
But, there is more, on Sat Sept 19th, the Hillsboro Community Foundation sponsored a ‘scholarship fund drive’ for the ‘Demarius Lives’ scholarship fund…the fund drive was a ‘2K Color Run/Walk’….around 300 participants showed up, and most of the football team did, as would be expected due to their unique and tight bond…the event raised over $5,000 itself for the scholarship fund….again, a powerful moment…
Coach Cox has said it publicly more than once….the loss of his son was devastating, but the support and strength he finds in the team, the community, and his Faith has brought him through and keeps him moving forward every day….he has said, when he sees his son’s classmates and teammates out on the football field, he sees his son in a way also…and that is comforting to him…as he has said, ‘I see my son through your sons’….what a powerful moment and a statement about what a ‘band of brothers’ we call a football team is….it is so much more than a group of players on field…it is such a tight bond….
So this community, this school, this team, this coach, and this ‘football family’ have been through so much since the summer of 2019 until now……from mourning the sudden tragic death of Demarius Cox, to mourning the sudden loss of a teammates mother, to just recently celebrating the ‘Demarius Lives/Run Your Race’ community scholarship fund drive….this Coach and his Team have not only practiced and played the game of football together, but more importantly, they have been there for each other to lean on for support and strength, and also to grow – as players, as people, as examples of servant leadership – we should all heed their example, and do the same ourselves in our lives and our communities.
Each week during the season, we will choose an individual or group as recipient of this award. Winners will receive the Sportsmanship Excellence Award Certificate, and the unique ACA helmet sticker as part of our Kpreps Helmet Stickers feature. At the end of the season, we will choose one overall winner, for the annual Kpreps-ACA Sportsmanship Award.
Please help us by emailing your nomination stories, pictures, or videos to matt@kpreps.com and ACA@kpreps.com. You can also send to Kpreps via social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc). Please include the name of the person(s) involved and a description of the act or event that you are nominating. Nominations for the award will be accepted through Tuesday of each week, with the winners announced thereafter. We will list the weekly winners here, at kpreps.com, and also on aclassathlete.com. The overall winner will be announced after the State Championship games.
ABOUT A Class Athlete:
A Class Athlete was started in 2016 to encourage young athletes in all sports, to play hard, play to win, but also to play with class and dignity. Originally targeting youth sports, ACA quickly expanded to include middle school and high school sports, and beyond (coaches, cheerleaders, fans – everyone!). In recent years, participation in youth sports has continued to decline, and the #1 reason according to the kids: 'It's not fun anymore.' ACA is determined to bring the fun and the kids back!
Participating in sports is very beneficial in many areas. It helps build confidence and self-esteem, teaches respect, teamwork, and leadership skills, and improves communication and cooperation – all qualities needed to be successful in life. It is said that participation in sports reveals a persons’ character. But ACA believes, when sportsmanship is emphasized, it is a very important aspect in building a young person's character and integrity.
For more information, please visit www.aclassathlete.com.
A Class Athlete Sportsmanship Award (2020 Season)
Week 1 – Drew Schmelzle, Sabetha High School
Week 2 – Herington High School
Week 3 – James Lynn, Wichita Heights
Week 4 – Preston Miller, Meade
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