Chip Cox (born June 24, 1983) is an American former professional

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

He most recently played for the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL), where he spent 13 years of his career. He is a two-time

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

champion, winning in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, and winner of the

CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award The Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award is annually awarded to the best defensive player in the Canadian football League. The winner of the award is selected by members of the Football Reporters of Canada along with the head coaches in the CFL. ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

. He is also a six-time CFL Divisional All-Star and three-time CFL All-Star. He holds three CFL records, including most career fumble return yards (392), most career fumble return touchdowns (6), and the record for longest fumble return (108 yards in 2011). Cox also holds several Alouettes records including most career tackles (979), most single season defensive tackles (115 in 2013), and most defensive tackles in a single game (13 against

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

on July 1, 2012). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

Ohio Bobcats The Ohio Bobcats are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio University, located in Athens, Ohio, United States. Ohio University is a charter member (1946) of the Mid-Amer ...

High school career

Cox

lettered Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

three years in both track and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

Beechcroft High School Beechcroft High School is a four-year high school (grades 9-12) located on the north side of Columbus, Ohio. It is a part of Columbus City Schools. Beechcroft was first opened in 1976 as a six-year junior/senior high school. At that time, school en ...

in Columbus, earning special mention all-state recognition in football his senior year. Cox became a second-degree black belt in

Tae Kwon Do ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

in his Junior year.

College career

As a player for the

, Cox recorded 240 career

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

(176 solo), nine tackles for losses, five sacks, four

interceptions In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

, 29 passes defended, seven forced

fumbles A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful h ...

, two fumble recoveries and three blocked

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

s. He holds the Ohio school record for the

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a he ...

(4.37 seconds), and started every game his sophomore and junior years, but battled injuries as a senior, only playing in nine games. He was also a member of the

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

team, where he was a premiere sprinter and placed sixth in the

100 meter The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

dash at the 2004

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

championships.

Professional career

Cox was originally signed by the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

as an

undrafted In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

on April 28, 2005, and he spent the 2005

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

and preseason with the team. However, Cox was released on August 30, and he subsequently played in the CFL for the Montreal Alouettes. On January 9, 2007, he was signed by the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

but was cut before training camp and returned to Montreal. After switching to the

position for the 2009 season, Cox led the CFL in forced fumbles and capped off the year by winning the

97th Grey Cup The 97th Grey Cup was played on November 29, 2009, at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta, and decided the Canadian Football League (CFL) champion for the 2009 season. The Montreal Alouettes came from behind to defeat the Saskatchewan Roughrider ...

with the Alouettes. In

, the Alouettes repeated as champions and won the

98th Grey Cup The 98th Grey Cup was a Canadian football game played between the East Division champion Montreal Alouettes and West Division champion Saskatchewan Roughriders to decide the champion of the Canadian Football League (CFL) for the 2010 season. I ...

. On November 5, 2011 against the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first season ...

, Cox reached 400 career defensive tackles with the Alouettes, becoming the only player in club history to achieve this feat. In

, Cox had a career high, and league leading, number of tackles with 115. He also had 12 sacks (career high) and four interceptions en route to winning the

and the

James P. McCaffrey Trophy The James P. McCaffrey Trophy is a Canadian Football League trophy, awarded to the outstanding defensive player in the East Division. Each team in the East division nominates a candidate, from which the winner is chosen. Either the winner of thi ...

. With his 115 tackles that season, he broke the

single-season record of 110 set by

Tracy Gravely Tracy Gravely (born April 24, 1968) is a former all star linebacker in the Canadian Football League. A graduate of Concord University,(13 September 1989)Boone County Matchup Between Unbeaten Concord, Tech ''Point Pleasant Register'' where he was ...

in the

1996 CFL season The 1996 CFL season is considered to be the 43rd season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 39th Canadian Football League season. CFL News in 1996 At the CFL's Board of Governors Meetings in February 1996, it was decid ...

. On December 2, 2014, the Alouettes announced that they had resigned Cox to a three-year deal worth more than $200,000 annually, which general manager Jim Popp stated would make him the CFL's highest-paid defensive player. He continued to have strong performances, registering at least 65 defensive tackles in each of the subsequent four seasons. He became a

on February 13, 2019. Cox was announced as a member of the

Canadian Football Hall of Fame The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about t ...

2022 class on June 21, 2022.

References

External links

Cox's Alouettes bio

Cox's Sterling Sports Management page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Chip 1983 births Living people African-American players of Canadian football American football defensive backs American players of Canadian football Canadian football defensive backs Montreal Alouettes players Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award winners Ohio Bobcats football players Ohio University alumni Players of Canadian football from Columbus, Ohio 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people