Mason Cox (born March 14, 1991) is an American-Australian professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who plays for the

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). Playing as a ruckman and key forward, he first played Australian rules football in April 2014 before making his AFL debut two years later in April 2016. Cox previously played basketball for

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

in the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

and, standing at 211 cm (6 ft 11 in), is the tallest player to ever be measured at an AFL Draft Combine.

Early life

Cox was born in Highland Village, a suburb of

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, to parents Jeanette and Phil, the youngest of their three sons. Cox was a student at Edward S. Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas, and was part of the school's state championship-winning soccer team. One of his schoolmates and teammates in college was future

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

player

Marcus Smart Marcus Osmond Smart (born March 6, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball, Oklahoma Stat ...

. Cox studied

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, graduating in 2014. While studying, he started playing

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

as a hobby. He initially joined the Oklahoma State Cowgirls' "scout team" to simulate

Brittney Griner Brittney Yvette Griner (; born October 18, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist with the U.S. women's natio ...

, former Baylor University basketball player. After being noticed by former head coach Travis Ford, he was asked to join the university's men's basketball team as a walk-on. He played a total of 57 minutes for the Cowboys in 24 games over three seasons between 2011 and 2014, scoring seven points. One of his highlights while playing

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

basketball was shutting down future

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

MVP

Joel Embiid Joel Hans Embiid ( ; born 16 March 1994) is a Cameroonian and American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After one year of college basketball with the Kansas Jayhawks men's ...

while defending him.

Recruitment and move to Australia

Cox was invited to attend the 2014 US International Combine for potential Australian rules footballers, in Los Angeles in April 2014 despite knowing very little at all about the sport.Don't ignore US talent, says American Pie
By Ben Guthrie. May 6, 2018 After impressive performances in the skills testing, he travelled to Australia for a second combine and on May 30, 2014, was signed by the

. AFL teams

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

, Richmond, and

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

were also reported as having shown interest in recruiting Cox. Collingwood selected Cox at pick 60 in the 2015 AFL rookie draft and he joined the club's list as an international rookie.

VFL career

Cox played for the Collingwood reserves team in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL) throughout the 2015 season while learning the game and improving his skills. Cox became known for his goal-kicking accuracy in the VFL, being ranked equal 10th.Why Collingwood should unleash Mason Cox, Sydney’s big test
by Ben Waterworth from Fox Sports April 14, 2016 Cox shone in the 2016 NAB Challenge pre-season series showing his ability to compete at that level kicking 2 goals against Geelong, his ability to take contested marks and average a goal a game across both the VFL and AFL drew notice. Despite his strong showing at AFL level in the NAB Challenge, he was not elevated at the start of the season and returned to VFL level for the premiership season. Cox played well in the opening two games of the 2016 VFL season including a dominant performance up forward against Port Melbourne and as such earned a long-awaited call up to the AFL.

AFL career

Cox made his AFL debut on April 25, 2016, in the annual Anzac Day match against Essendon. Within the first 80 seconds of the match, he took his first

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and scored the game's first

goal A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...

with his first kick in the AFL. Collingwood went on to win the match by 69 points. On September 11, 2017, despite interest from other clubs, Cox signed a three-year contract extension, keeping him at Collingwood until the end of 2020. Cox continued his good form in the 2018 season, kicking a career-high five goals in the Queen's Birthday match at the MCG and was awarded the Neale Daniher trophy as

best on ground Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporatio ...

. In the 2018 Preliminary Final against Richmond, he played a man-of-the-match performance, kicking three goals consecutively and taking many contested marks; Bruce McAvaney remarked "what has Collingwood unleashed" when talking about Mason's performance. In the 2018 Grand Final, he kicked two goals during the third quarter and took many contested marks while playing in Collingwood's loss. He also dominated in its one-point elimination final win against West Coast in the

2020 AFL finals series The 2020 AFL season was the 124th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featur ...

. Cox received special dispensation from the AFL to wear prescription sunglasses in competition. Cox suffered a torn

retina The retina (; or retinas) is the innermost, photosensitivity, light-sensitive layer of tissue (biology), tissue of the eye of most vertebrates and some Mollusca, molluscs. The optics of the eye create a focus (optics), focused two-dimensional ...

in one eye due to an accidental eye poke in a 2019 game against

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns, officially the Gold Coast Football Club, are a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast in the ...

and a detached retina in the other eye after an on-field altercation in the 2018 Grand Final. He has had six eye surgeries in his career. After the 2019 injury, Cox said he had to spend two weeks in bed in a darkened room for 45 minutes of each hour, calling it "probably the darkest moment of my life." Cox appeared in a ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...

'' interview in the United States in April 2023.Texas man becomes unlikely Australian rules football star, mastering world's "roughest sport"
by JON WERTHEIM April 30, 2023 In the interview, Cox explained how sections of the Collingwood crowd would chant "USA USA" whenever he had possession of the ball. Against the GWS Giants in Round 9, 2023, his performance won praise declared by some as a career-best kicking two goals including a set shot from outside the 50. Cox became the second American-born AFL premiership player after Don Pyke in 1992 and 1994.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of the 2024 season''. , - ,

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2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

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2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

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2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

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2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

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2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

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2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

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2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

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Honours and achievements

Team * AFL Minor Premiership ( Collingwood)

AFL Premiership This page is a complete chronological listing of VFL/AFL premiers. The Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1989, is the elite national competition in men's Australian rules football. The inaugur ...

( Collingwood) -

Individual * Neale Daniher Trophy: 2018

Personal life

Cox's older brothers also now play Australian rules. Nolan played for the USAFL National Championships team

Austin Crows The Austin Crows is a United States Australian Football League team, based in Austin, Texas, United States. It was founded in 2002 by Steve Gaines & Miles Sims. They play in the Mid American Australian Football League. The Crows are a mix of Aus ...

and has also represented the USA Revolution national team. Austin plays for USAFL club the Seattle Grizzlies. Mason has expressed a keen interest in promoting the game at the grassroots level in the US, visiting the US to support his brothers at the USAFL National Championships. In 2019, Cox was in a relationship with

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

netball international Geva Mentor. Cox was seeking

permanent resident Permanent residency is a person's legal resident status in a country or territory of which such person is not a citizen but where they have the right to reside on a permanent basis. This is usually for a permanent period; a person with such l ...

status on a path towards Australian citizenship to fulfill his desire to live the rest of his life in Australia, committing to a multi-year contract at Collingwood. At the end of March 2020, he was accepted to become an Australian citizen. Cox became a citizen of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

on June 22, 2022, at a special citizenship ceremony at the MCG along with over one hundred conferees.

References

External links

* *
Mason Cox's profile
at OSU Cowboys {{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Mason 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Denton County, Texas American men's basketball players Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball players American players of Australian rules football VFL/AFL players born outside Australia Collingwood Football Club players Naturalised citizens of Australia American expatriate sportspeople in Australia Edward S. Marcus High School alumni VFL/AFL premiership players 21st-century American sportsmen Australian sports podcasters