Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2022
- Class:
- 2017
Without question, J’Den Cox is one of the most accomplished and successful athletes in the long history of athletics at the University of Missouri. Wrestling for Coach Brian Smith, Cox became the first three-time NCAA champion in any sport by winning wrestling titles at 197 pounds in 2014, ’16 and ’17. He was a four-time champion of the Mid-American Conference and only the program’s second four-time all-American, joining Ben Askren. He finished he career with a school-record .965 winning percentage (136-5) and tied for second in all-time wins. He won a bronze medal in the 86-kilogram weight class at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games to become Mizzou’s seventh Olympic medalist and first since 2008. He won world championships at 92 kilograms in Budapest, Hungary in 2018 and Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan in 2019. He is qualified to compete at the 2022 World Championships – his fifth appearance – in mid-September in Serbia. A legend at Columbia’s Hickman High School, Cox won four state high school wrestling crowns at four different weight classes during his prep career, and never lost a match after his freshman season.
