Talk:Fred Cox

Birthdate

Anyone have any way of finding Cox's birthdate, because I sure cant. 67.186.145.68 04:01, 22 November 2005 (UTC)

According to his football card, the birth date is 12-11-38. Based on the format, I would interpret it as 11 Dec 1938. The card appears to be a 1973 card. It says 433 on it. It says that he was 5'-10, 200 lbs. Home listed was Edina Minnesota. The college listed was Pittsburgh. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Archf 1 (talk • contribs) 04:40, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Fred Cox

There are hundreds of Fred Cox's out there. Where do we put any others? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Archf 1 (talk • contribs) 05:55, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Mid importance

I changed his biography class to mid, he is a prominent businessman and athlete, and should be noted as such.Millertime246 (talk) 21:26, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

Nerf

Fred Cox has only been named as a “nerf inventor” since his passing. It wasn’t on the Nerf page. It wasn’t on his page. It wasn’t on nerfs own website.

If Fred Cox at some point said verifiably “let’s make a softer football” it does not make him a Nerf inventor. Call me out and cite real sources if you want to disagree. Richard7773 (talk) 04:39, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

See [1], specifically "In 1972, while still playing for the Vikings, Cox came up with the idea of a soft football to prevent leg injuries to kids. He and partner John Mattox, a local entrepreneur, took a mold of a full-sized football and injected it with soft foam rubber material. The result was the Nerf football. He and Mattox took their sample to Parker Brothers, which had produced the earlier round Nerf balls, and they loved it." Eagles 24/7 (C) 13:07, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

Here's an article from 1989 confirming he received royalties for the sale of the toy. Eagles 24/7 (C) 13:09, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

Kicking Style

What this article completely ignores is that Fred was one of the last guys who kicked the ball “Football style,” meaning off of the toe, starting from a position straight behind the ball holder. Kickers don’t kick that way anymore and his stats, had he been a modern kicker, would be dismal. He was one of the last to kick that way. It started changing in the AFL, with Pete Gogolack. 2600:1004:B09C:7240:FCA1:1527:6F4A:3E46 (talk) 19:05, 30 January 2022 (UTC)