Typically, when people think of football, they rarely think of kickers. Many instead think of positions like quarterback, wide receiver and running back; however, on Sept. 11, 2021, this was not the case.
That day, everyone was paying attention to the kicker, Caden Cox — who was born with down syndrome. During the game, Caden had become the first player with Down syndrome to play and to score in a game, at least in known history..
Currently, a movie surrounding this story is being developed and is hoping to capture the inspirational story Cox has to offer.
For the Cox family, kicking was a family tradition. Caden’s father, Kevin, was a kicker at Middle Tennessee; Caden’s uncle kicked for Virginia Tech; and Zane, Caden’s older brother, played for Hocking College and later The University of Tennessee at Martin.
Caden’s parents had him doing sports since a young age. Caden and Zane, both blackbelts in olympic style taekwondo, attribute much of their kicking success to this foundation, instead of the traditional soccer background. The dojo was family owned and operated, until the family relocated to Ohio.
“My family really got into it. We merged off of the school that we were a part of and formed our own martial arts school, and it was a family business for years and years,” Zane said. .
On top of taekwondo, Caden participated in swimming, track and field, and diving. Caden is a multi-time Special Olympics Ohio gold medalist in swimming.
Caden’s mother, Mari (a graduate of the university), was originally from Lindsay, Ohio and decided to re-locate the family back to Fremont City Schools in order to obtain better educational support for her two sons.
Caden’s time in Ohio seems to be what truly developed him as a kicker; he really looked up to his brother Zane, who was the kicker for Fremont Ross High School.
“If Zane was doing it, Caden was doing it,” said Barb McNutt, a retired Fremont Ross school teacher. “Just because of how close Zane and Caden were, that’s how I really came to know Caden as well as I know him.”
This closeness is what allowed his interest in kicking to increase. The family would always include Caden when practicing kicking, but, when they let him try himself, they were shocked at the results.
When describing this time, Zane said, “Caden would always be out there shagging balls and stuff, and one day, he was like, ‘Can I do it? Can I do it?’, and my dad and I were like, ‘Of course, let’s try it,’ and he drilled it. And we’re like, ‘Oh no, this might be something.”’
Once Zane went off to college, the family transferred to Virginia, where Caden would finish his high school education.
Even though he did not get much opportunity in high school, Caden would get his chance in college. Caden’s dad was a coach at Hocking College. With this, Caden got a chance to kick on the football team.
Given this chance, he was able to take full advantage. He never missed an extra point during his time at Hocking College, all while breaking records and proving doubters wrong.
In the beginning, there was doubt Caden would even be able to put on a football helmet, but with friends, family and community support, Cayden was able to succeed.
“It definitely takes a village. Me, my mom, and my dad — we don’t take all of the credit. We know that it’s family, friends, educators, doctors — it’s everybody helping us get to that point and not just putting a label on like, ‘Oh, no, he probably won’t be able to do that,” Zane said.
“We’ve had plenty of doctors tell us Caden will never be able to put on a football helmet because he was supposed to be born without his corpus callosum,” Zane continued. “Mom and them were like, ‘OK, well, we need to find out how he can get a football helmet on.’”
Today, Zane claims that his best title is that of “Caden’s little brother,” and he takes joy in seeing others succeed, especially his younger brother Caden. And, as the strength coach at Tiffin University, he brings the mentality of taking joy in others to his job everyday.
Given this inspiration, it was only a matter of time before the story was turned into a movie.
The family has worked closely with the studio to provide their story and seems to have stayed humble in the process.
According to Zane, the studio behind the film has a lot of ambition to produce a high quality movie, and it seems that Zane believes in their vision.
The movie is scheduled to release in theaters sometime in 2026.
