Fred Cox: Remembering the Inventor of the Nerf Football | NFL Films Presents 

NERF - Never Ending Recreational Fun Edit: Thank you @NFL Films for the love and thank you Fred Cox for the memories!

Jerry rice: nice invention Barry sanders: I remember this Chris colinsworth: I love this toy Deion sanders: B O Y L E T M E T E L L Y O U W H A T

I remember when they came out with one that would whistle, we thought it was the coolest thing ever, lol.

Shoutout Mike Trico for actually knowing who that was lol

Wiffle balls and Nerf footballs made kids into neighborhood Cy Young and MVP Quarterbacks when I was younger

I wanna hear Deion's top 5 toys.

Nerf football was my first football I remember this one time my mom ran over my nerf ball with her car by accident and it was completely fine afterwards we could play in the house and in the bathtub and at the park. We appreciate you Fred. rest my brother.

I had a nerf football R.I.P. to him🕊

Freddie Kitchens looks confused lol "A nerf what?...is that like a cake?"

"I could clutch this. I could grip this and rip this sucker." - John Gruden

RIP Fred Cox ... many happy memories of his Vikings career and of course the Nerf Football.

Gotta thank this guy for making not just mine, but millions of boys and girls’ childhood a fun. RIP

Fred seems like such a genuinely good guy. Really sorry to hear him passing. RIP

One time when I was a kid I punted one of these in the house and it hit my mom right in the face. One of the most terrifying moments of my life

RIP, ima go cop a nerf ball right now for my guy Fred, rest in paradise

He passed away 1 week ago. Rest easy 🙏

I told him, "You're gonna have a lot of sore legged little kids running around." Haha, I'm glad he had the foresight to know that going lighter and softer was the way to go. Growing up my friends and I all had one and would take them everywhere. So many memories.

RIP Freddie.

The man that created the deepest ball our little arms could do. The deeper someone ran the longer the whistle would go. Those really helped kids perfect a tight spiral just to hear the ball.

Thank you Fred Cox. You made my childhood recess sessions 1000x better than it ever would have been. I have memories of pick sixes against kids I hated and insane imaginary sideline grabs. Thank you man.

You will never know how many lives you've changed. Rest in Peace, legend.

So apparently I have Fred Cox to thank for half of all the fun I had in my childhood...and about 90% of the times I got grounded. :-) Homework, shmomework. There's a game of NERF football that needs playing!

RIP to a 🐐🙏

R.I.P. Fred Cox, the man who brought happiness by a foam football.

RIP to the legendary creator of the NERF football.

I bet Blair Walsh would have killed to have one of these lol

I have seen a lot of these NFL mini docs, but never have I seen all the head coaches being this excited 😂😂

Thank you Fred! RIP!

I didn't know he had passed and when I found this video I literally cried

Legend.

RIP Mr. Cox and thanks for the memories.

I'm 57 and remember Fred Cox as a good kicker and now inventing a toy I played with. RIP Mr. Cox

A nerf football was the last gift my uncle gave me before he passed away. I wish I still had it

Love this old man

Thank you, Mr. Cox. My condolences to your family.

R.I.P. Fred Cox

Thanks for posting in remembrance of a great dude who bought kids of the 70s and 80s a great toy.

The nerf football was my first touchdown pass ever. In middle school in P. E class, maybe a 20-25 yard throw. Ever since then, I've fallen in love with playing qb.

RIP..wish I had seen this long before Mr. Cox passed away...

R.I.P. Mr. Cox. Thanks for your invention. Skol!

I remember being a kid. Watching Ricky Williams on tv, and having my dad throw a nerf football to me in the house while he sat on the couch and I pretended I was in the nfl. I even put on some gloves (like winter gloves lol). Nerf was awesome.

I remember as a kid I had a giants one and Steelers one. Me and my friends would play all day on Saturdays with those footballs in the front yard. Good times

the best part about this is how every single one of the people they interviewed has a nerf anecdote to tell. from playing with them at the beach, which brother was better with a real football vs nerf, getting chewed up by the dog etc. this ball has had a profoundly positive affect on so many people and probably coming up on 100% of people in professional football. players, coaches, even the ball boys.

If we had rain and had recess inside, we'd play silent speed ball. Passing the ball around and if you dropped it you had to sit down til game was over. Also thank you for the vortex ball too!!

The spiral model came out when I was a kid. I got one for Christmas and felt sooo cool

Thank You Fred Cox 🙏🏽

A true legend! Thank you Mr. Cox for all the childhood memories

Man dad always said "Want to NEVER have to work again? Invent something!"

Legendary.

Gruden the John Daly of HC's just used the phrase "Grip it and rip it." I can die happy

Rip, to him he was a legend.

My favorite was the whistler. My brothers, my friends and myself would play games of 500 for hours on end, just chucking the nerf ball as high and far as we could to get it to whistle the best.

I remember having one that was black with rubber “spikes” on both sides of the laces. Miss it

Just about every kid was lucky enough to have one of these rip sir.

Thank you Mr. Cox for giving kids of all ages the greatest toy of all time. RIP, I'm sure you'll be invited to many NERF pick up games in heaven.

When I was little, we'd always get the off-brand dollar store ones, but when our cousins/friends came with the nerf balls, I knew that there was something special to them. Never going to forget those fun times :)

I had that orange and black one, RIP to a man that started my love for the game with throwing NERF footballs around. SKOL VIkes baby

Inventions of that magnitude rarely go as smoothly for the inventor as it did for Fred Cox. I am glad it did, he deserves it (and so does his neighbor who sparked the idea).

Damn that's amazing. We all grew up tossing those things around

RIP Freddie

this legend made my childhood so much fun. thank you 🐐👑

Thank you. REST IN PEACE.

Fred Cox was one of my close friends grandfathers. I feel really bad for him :(

I grew up in Minnesota and remember getting his autograph as a kid.

For sure ! For myself and the boys ín the sandlot , We all had óne or twó . I got one every Christmas and birthday . Thank you for the best tóy ever created ,

Fred Cox nailed kicks turned around and sat tf back down... Legend

4:27. Billy “Whiteshoes”Johnson celebration dance.

RIP TO A LEGEND

Recess football was the greatest time of my life!

So many memories of playing with nerf footballs in the house. Running down the hall after throwing a pass or kicking it around. R.I.P. Fred, you affected so many people and we’re all grateful.

One of my favorite toys of the 90s ! the one that was mini that looked like a missle, you could throw that thing so far !

I miss him already! D:

Thank you sir for making my childhood fun ❤️

My first football ever

Man this legend died Nov 20th 2019 R.I.P 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

Had no idea Fred invented that in my back yard. I grew up a die hard Vikings fan watched him every week. When the nerf came out our neighborhood group had one right away. It was the best because we played a lot in the winter and a regular ball was hard as a rock. It also floats for water sports. Thanks for the memories, Go Vikes!!!

R.I.P Fred cox you are a legend😢

What a cool story! I’m smiling!

Even on my 8th grade field trip we had one of these we had a blast

Nerf Is Legendary.... Thx Cox

My favorite football of all time was my Cleveland Browns nerf football lol and my friend had a bengals one so we’d have to take turns every other game. Nostalgia lol

RIP to Fred Cox

He is such an icon, what a good guy

Always had a bite out of them for some unknown reason

This is the man who started backyard super bowls

I had many but I’ll never forget the weather blitz football. That commercial was so revolutionary and the other football where you could open it up and make plays with your finger. Good times!

Greatest Christmas gift when I was a kid.

My favorite was the one I got when I was around 10 I think and it was one of the ones from the series of NFL team logo ones so it had either a falcons logo or patriots logo since those are the two teams in our house we cheer for living in GA but my dad being from NE. Good memories. Definitely kept it away from the dog but he got into the backup foam football. Good memories.

Rip to the legend we will never forget him he’s the all time best kicker

what a humble man. Fred the goat

That is so legit! Awesome documentary NFL Films!

what a great piece of history to share...thank you...

From Minnesota,RIP -Fred Cox was a very good man.Yes,we too had a Nerf football.

Imagine having that Vikings nerf ball signed by Mr. Cox 🙌🏻

Wow! Never knew Fred Cox invented it. Killed a lot of time throwing these over in the sandbox. God bless you Fred. RIP...Viking legend. You, and Mark Mosely, the last two straight on kickers.

Such great memories playing Backyard football with Netf football's.. I still got a few

Jerry Rice: oh you could throw it in the house Tony Gonzalez: ReMemBer tHe sMeLl oF ThEsE tHings *sniffs the ball*

I always had the orange one with the black laces and tips. I kind of want another now

On any given Saturday afternoon back in the 70’s & early 80’s I would rush for 350 yards, score 15 TD’s(1 kickoff return, 4 rushing, 5 receiving, 3 throwing and 2 pick 6’s). I would also have 45 catches for 500 yards. I would have another 500 through the air, and another 200 kick return yards- we never punted and always went for it on 4th down no matter how far it was for a first. It was nothing to have over 1,500 all purpose yards on a Saturday. All with a NERF. It’s what made us IMMORTALS! AND THATS WHY WE LOVE THE GAME OF FOOTBALL!

That guy has probably made so many HOF players because of a toy. That’s crazy. Usually kids first interest in football is a nerf. Never knew.