James Rox
James Davis Rox, 88, passed away peacefully on Sunday, November 17, 2019.
The son of George Davis Rox and Agnes Giles Rox, he was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. He graduated from Phillips High School in 1949, and while at Phillips he excelled at football, basketball, golf, and track. He was an Eagle Scout. He was recruited by legendary coach Adolph Rupp and received a basketball scholarship to the University of Kentucky. He later transferred to the University of the South in Sewanee, where he continued to excel in sports. He was fortunate to be a part of one of the most famous episodes in Sewanee sports history, in which the 1951 Sewanee basketball team accompanied the Harlem Globetrotters on a summer tour across Europe and North Africa. They won 53 of 57 exhibition games played against local teams, culminating in Sewanee winning the World Tournament in Geneva, Switzerland.
After graduating from Sewanee with a degree in History in 1954, he obtained a job with Alabama Freight Company. This began a lifelong career in the trucking industry. He later moved to Chattanooga, and he held positions at Eagle Freight Lines, Mueller Company, Whitaker Transportation, and finally as an agent for the Mason-Dixon Lines. He went into semi-retirement in his early 60s, working part-time at The Farm Golf Club and then later as a delivery man for Humphreys Flowers.
He was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. Married to the former Carldine Butcher of LaFollette, TN for over 60 years, they had one son, James Jr. He was a dedicated Christian and a gentleman. He enjoyed reading the newspaper from cover to cover, playing golf, keeping up with sports, writing letters, and reciting poetry from memory. He also enjoyed dispensing opinions and advice to family and friends—some of which was quite extraordinary, but you ignored it at your peril. Larger than life to his son, loved by all who knew him, he will be missed.
He is survived by his wife, Carldine Butcher Rox; a sister, Helen Thornbury of Birmingham, AL; son James Davis Rox, Jr. and his wife, Ann Crisman Rox; and granddaughters Julia Davis Rox and Margaret Frances Rox.
A funeral service will be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Chattanooga, on Wednesday, Nov. 27, at 2:30 p.m. There will be a visitation in the narthex beginning at 1:30 p.m.
Arrangements are by Chattanooga Funeral Home, North Chapel, 5401 Highway 153, Hixson, Tn. 37343, 423 870-1158, www.chattanooganorthchapel.com.