Longtime Knoxville councilman, youth sports advocate Larry Cox has died

Longtime former Knoxville city councilman and youth advocate Larry Cox died Oct. 18, former Mayor Victor Ashe told Knox News.

Cox served on the city council 1984-2003. He was a champion of North Knoxville, Fulton High School and any way to get kids involved in local athletics, largely through his time leading the Knoxville Falcons Youth Sports organization for decades.

It was Ashe who named the Larry Cox Senior Center after the councilman, an honor Cox told Knox Focus’ Mike Steely last year he knew nothing about until it popped up on the council agenda.

“He was a tireless advocate for recreation, particularly Little League Baseball and for North Knoxville,” Ashe told Knox News about Cox. “He was as hard a working councilmember as ever existed and that always came first, ahead of everything else. He will be missed.”

In a post on Facebook, former Vice Mayor Joe Bailey said Cox did more for Knoxville youth than anyone he could think of.

"He was serious about everything he did, was successful and involved in so many important activities," Bailey wrote. "He was an optimist, a local historian and had a great sense of humor. He was a longtime friend of my dad, our family, and we will miss him."

Steely closed his interview with Cox, which was published in December 2022, by asking the councilman how he would like to be remembered. Cox was to the point.

“As an honest person, I love my family, my church, my coaching and my work with boys and girls,” he said.

This is a developing story that will be updated.

Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism. Connect with Tyler by emailing him at tyler.whetstone@knoxnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @tyler_whetstone.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Longtime Knoxville councilman Larry Cox has died