By Tim Parry
Peter Cox is surrounded by more than 100 kids in football uniforms. Most of them are from Bridgeport, some from surrounding areas, and other are visiting family from as far away as Kansas.
It’s a two-week camp that Cox, who works in the resource center and coaches football at Bridgeport Central High School, was able to set up through the National Football League’s Junior Development Program.
The cost for the kids — nothing. And they get to learn about more than football, they’re taught about life skills.
How many of these 12 to 14 year old boys will play football at Central. But the number of kids whose lives Cox will help shape will continue to grow.
In a city where teenage boys from a single-parent home can either walk the straight line or get tempted to join a gang, Cox has spent his last 11 years as a father figure and mentor to many Hilltoppers. The number he has got into college grows each year.
And from the Class of 2008, at least nine will go on to play college football.
“If you’re ever looking for a feel-good story, there’s one right there,” Central head coach Dave Cadelina said a few weeks back at the FCIAC Strongest Man competition.
“He’s not an Xs and Os kind of guy,” adds Central assistant coach John Carolina. “But what he’s done for our kids off the field has been amazing.”
So why does Cox do it? It’s not for the recognition. But he did see a difference almost immediately when he came over to Central from Amity Regional in Woodbridge. And he has his roots in Bridgeport, having gone to Bassick as a teen.
“In the suburban school, you have the parent involved. In the inner city, you become the mentor, the father, and everything else,” Cox said.
Cox said took one of his current players to the doctor Wednesday, with a note from the player’s mother saying he’s the guardian, “or as she said ‘coach/father,’” so the doctor could be release him to play football this season.
“So the doctor at first wasn’t going to do anything, but when he looked at the record and say the letter the mom wrote about me, and with my signature, he was fine’” Cox said.
And Cox does more than that for the student-athletes, much more than trips to the doctors and helping kids with applications and SAT scores. The 69-year-old former drill sergeant also brings the kids on road trips to various colleges so they can experience what campus life is like.
The hope is that they will enjoy the experience, and want to be on campus after four years of high school.
“My car is four years old in December, and I’ve got 146,000 miles on it,” Cox said like it’s no big deal. “That’s my passion — to make sure they do well in school, to make sure they do well in their SAT courses, then get them into college.”
Tomorrow there’s a trip to Lackawanna College in Scranton, PA, where he’s going with recent Central graduate Dewayne Guscott. Coming along for the ride — Rashaad Bass, an Ansonia lineman who will room with Guscott this fall. They are heading out to meet with the coaching staff and fill out some paperwork.
And Guscott is just one of many thankful past and future Hilltoppers who understand what Cox has done to help out.
“Without Coach Cox, I probably wouldn’t even be in college,” Guscott said. “He puts in so much work – I can’t even count how many times we’ve been to McDonalds, driven us to a college, or that he’s called up a college so he’d get our names in a coach’s ear.”
Guscott has estimated Cox’s fuel bill to be around $7,000 since his freshman year. And that’s included trips from South Carolina to Maine.
“When I first met him, he was kind of a hard ass, telling us not to quit on him,” Guscott said. “Now it’s all love. He’s like a father, and I feel like a son to him.”
One of those Central players who Cox convinced not to quit is Trevardo Williams, who has a full ride to UConn waiting on the table after he preps this year at Canterbury School. He’s convinced none of his good fortune would have happened without Cox’s support.
“He’s the one responsible for us going to college,” Williams said. “When we need a ride, he gives it to us. When we need some guidance, we’ll go to him, he’s the one we can rely on.”
Williams said he’s also thankful for Cox, who gave him the advice to do a year of prep school before taking his offer to play at UConn.
“I could have different choices, and what he told me made me think twice about the choice I made,” Williams said. “With him being there, I just feel like I’ve accomplished something, like someone is on my side, guiding me.”
Timmy Reece, who is heading off to play football at American International College, says it’s more than the miles Cox puts on the car that makes his a hero to the football community.
“Not a lot of people go the extra mile,” Reece said. “Coach Cox does. I remember my freshman year, [former running back] Akeem Wright’s grades were so bad that Coach Cox found a school for him all the way out in California. Not a lot of coaches do that.”
Reece, too, will soon be brought to college in Cox’s white van. And when Cox drops him off in Springfield, he says it will be like saying good by to a dad.
“He’s the type of man you’d want in your corner at all times,” Reece said. “I love him like a father because that’s what he is to us.”
And while Cox does see himself as a father figure to many of Central’s players, he also feels he’s helping to do God’s work.
“It’s like God sent him down here, and he says that’s why he does it. He’s such a devout Christian,” Guscott said. “He thinks this is his way of paying back God for all he has given, and he wants to give back to people. He’s just a nice person.”
Though Cox’s work has been appreciated by the community, it may be he doesn’t think he’s done anything to help out just yet. Or that he’s found his life’s calling.
“It’s worth it, 100%,” Cox said. “If I can help one kid, it’s worth it.”
