Tina Cox’s death has left a hole in a lot of places - in Kentucky basketball circles, around family and friends, and in the lives of people who leaned on her honesty, humor and perspective.
Rusty Cox called early Tuesday morning to say his wife had passed peacefully in her sleep, and for Larry Vaught, the news landed hard. He had known Cox for years, long enough to picture her always being there for conversations about University of Kentucky basketball, grandchildren and everything else that fills a life.
Vaught first met her when she was a high school cheerleader at Boyle County. She had a crush on a UK basketball player and asked him to get a picture of him, which he did. Later, her son Charlie and Vaught’s son Jeremy played together on a youth baseball team, and the boys also lined up against each other in football when Charlie was at Boyle and Jeremy at Danville.
Through all of that, Cox was more than a familiar face. Vaught said she was the friend he turned to in some of his lowest moments, the one who would tell him what he needed to hear rather than what he wanted to hear.
About 14 years ago, he persuaded her to write about Kentucky basketball for vaughtsviews.com, and she kept at it until about a year ago, when she stepped away and wrote her farewell column. In that goodbye, Cox said, “I was given the opportunity of a lifetime.
At the time I had no idea it would lead me down a road which would allow me to chase my passion and live a dream I never thought was imaginable,” Cox wrote. “Thanks to all the readers throughout the years.
So many of you took the time to read my work. You made my heart full with your likes, comments and shares.
I enjoyed the interactions with every one of you. I have truly been blessed.
Deb Moore, the former UK basketball media relations director, remembered Cox’s 2018 Bahamas trip and the story that came out of it - the “Bahama Mamas.” Moore said Cox told her about the group before she ever wrote about them.
Cox had met the women while riding what she called a “rickety bus” from Nassau Airport to Atlantis, learned they had been scammed out of $2,400 each by a travel company, and then found out they had made new plans to watch the Cats anyway. She later reconnected with them at UK women’s clinics and SEC Tournaments, and discovered they had been following Kentucky since the Joe Hall era.
The story didn’t end there. Cox saw the women again in Toronto in 2023, and Moore said the connection showed exactly what made Cox different.
“I think because Tina could identify with so many of our fans, she was always able to connect and write with a lens from their point of view. And that made her uniquely special, talented and loved,” Moore said.
Moore also pointed to Cox’s laugh, her smile and the way she always had a grandkids story ready to go.
Country singer J.D. Shelburne, a Nashville-based Kentucky fan, got to know Cox when he performed in Danville in 2024 and 2025. Cox worked for county attorney Chris Herron, and she helped arrange for Shelburne and his band to use the office so they could get out of the July heat.
“She was always cutting up with me,” Shelburne said. “She let us in the courthouse and spoiled the hell out of us. Whatever we needed, she made it happen.
“She was always as funny as she could be and I could tell she was a huge UK fan just like me. She was a sweet, sweet lady.”
Kentucky Today sportswriter Keith Taylor also had plenty of memories from covering UK basketball with Cox. One that stuck came in Jacksonville during the 2019 NCAA Tournament. Taylor flew down, Cox drove by herself, and when Taylor realized he had forgotten his shaving cream, Cox took him to Walmart.
“We hung out a lot that weekend and she never let me live that down. She would always ask if I had shaving cream or an electric razor at tournament sites. I sat with her at a lot of tournaments and she was a hoot and full of fun,” Taylor said.
Cox also spent years overseeing former UK player Cameron Mills’ website, handling stories, assigning writers on the UK beat and keeping Mills on task. Tamara Schneider and Leigh Roach began posting on that site in 2017 before eventually moving on to their own radio show and now a TV show on FOX56.
“What Leigh and I will remember most about Tina was her warmth and sense of humor. She was an absolute riot! We will miss her,” Schneider said.
Vaught said that’s exactly how Cox should be remembered: warm and funny.
After her death, he went back and read her final column from nearly a year earlier. The last two paragraphs hit him especially hard.
“Larry, my forever friend, you were the one that made my dreams come true. When you asked me to write a story years ago, I had no idea the doors it would open.
Throughout the years we have celebrated the weddings of children and birth of grand babies. We have grieved the loss of family and friends.
Thanks for believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. I will forever be grateful.
“Look for me in the stands … I will be the one standing and yelling in my UK Gear!”
Vaught said he will keep looking for her there in his mind when the Cats are rolling, even though he knows he won’t see her the way he used to.
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