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2010-02-09

2010-01-19

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Monday, October 05, 2009 9:56 PM

Photo by Elliot J. Sutherland/The Ottawa Herald

Ottawa native Orlis Cox was inducted Sunday night into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. Janet Gleichman, left, Piper, and Joyce Ensley, Atlanta, Kan., two of Cox’s daughters, accepted the honor at the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in Wichita on their father’s behalf.

Orlis Cox joins Kansas hall of fame

By The Herald Staff

WICHITA — Orlis Cox was a modest man, his daughter said.

Joyce Ensleym, Atlanta, Kan., spoke fondly of her late father, a man whose legendary coaching in Ottawa earned him a spot Sunday in the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in Wichita.

“He probably wouldn’t have thought that people thought of him that much,” Ensleym said.

“He would have been honored,” Janet Gleichman, Piper, another of Cox’s daughters, added.

Ensleym and Gleichman were among 17 family members who attended the hall of fame ceremony Sunday honoring Cox. The coach’s other living daughter, Dar Welborn, Estes Park, Colo., was not present at the event.

“He would be very pleased to know his grandchildren were here,” Gleichman said.

Cox earned recognition after coaching the 1933 Ottawa High School relay team to a national championship over Jesse Owens. His daughters, however, said the achievement wasn’t something their father boasted about.

“He never really talked about it,” Ensleym said. “We knew about it, but I don’t think we really understood what it meant until after he passed away.

“He didn’t revolve his life around it.”

Cox also was the first director of the Ottawa Recreation Commission and many of his doctrines were incorporated by other recreation commissions throughout the state. The Orlis Cox Sports Complex in Ottawa is named in his honor.

Despite the obvious impact he had on the city, Cox’s daughters said the coach didn’t necessarily see himself as a community leader — though he did take his role seriously.

“He felt that he had a responsibility to Ottawa,” Ensleym said. “When you live somewhere for that long (1929-1988), you have some connection to it.”

That responsibility and connection translated into long hours coaching and working with the ORC.

“With all he did, he wasn’t home a lot,” Gleichman said. “When he was home, he made family the focus.”

“Growing up I didn’t realize what he did for the community. He was just our dad,” Ensleym said.

So what made Cox tick?

“Family and sports,” Ensleym said.

Her sister agreed.

“Sports was his passion. Family was his passion. So being at a game with family was it,” Gleichman said. “He was an exceptional man.”

“Growing up, we thought all men were like that,” Ensleym added. “He was our dad.”

Ensleym said she believes Cox used his coaching to be a father to more than just the members of her family.

“He had a son in all of his athletes,” she said.

Cox also was known for defending blacks during times of racial turmoil and working to expand the recreation opportunities available to them.

“He was a strong Christian man, and he felt that everyone was equal,” Ensleym said of her father.

In the 1950s, Cox — acting as the ORC director — opened the city’s pool to blacks.

“He just felt, ‘We will have a public pool, and everyone will be a part of it,’” Gleichman said.

“He just spoke his mind,” Ensleym said.

Cox is the fifth Franklin County resident to be selected for the state hall of fame. The others are Steve Grogan, former quarterback of the New England Patriots; Dick Peters, a former Ottawa University football coach; Arthur Schabinger, a former OU basketball coach who organized the country’s first Olympic basketball tournament; and E.A. Thomas, who was superintendent of Williamsburg schools when he became the first executive secretary of the Kansas State High School Activities Association.

Joining Cox, the 2009 class includes pitcher Jesse Barnes, NFL running back Don Calhoun, Kansas basketball player Paul Endacott, sprinter Gwinn Henry, basketball player and track junior Olympian Steve Henson, inventor Ken Mahoney, Kansas football and basketball player Harold Patterson, Kansas basketball coach Ted Owens, All-American track athlete John Mason, college basketball coach Eddie Sutton, bull rider Ken Roberts and Olympians Janell Smith and Ken Swenson.

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Orlis Cox joins Kansas hall of fame

By The Herald Staff

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.