Hendricks Fox Estate funds major football scholarship at APSU
By: Emily Evans August 27, 2025
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Austin Peay State University has received a generous gift from the Estate of Joe Hendricks Fox to create the Hendricks Fox Football Scholarship, named in honor of one of the university’s most storied players.
This gift, combined with funds to create the Fox Endowed Football Scholarship in 2009, makes Fox the largest private contributor of APSU football scholarship funds in the program’s history.
“We are deeply honored for Fox’s storied service and dedication to APSU,” said Austin Peay State University President Mike Licari. “For decades, he was an exemplary ambassador and generous supporter of APSU, and I feel privileged to have known him.”
The scholarship will ensure that Fox’s passion for APSU football leaves a lasting impact on future student-athletes.
“Hendricks was dedicated to Austin Peay and its football program, and I am so happy that these funds will support the team and provide generations of players with the opportunity to play for and learn at APSU,” said Michele Fox, Hendricks’s wife.
A four-year player during some of the most successful seasons in Austin Peay’s early history, Fox was a vital part of the 1948 Volunteer State Athletics Conference (VSAC) championship team, which went 8-2. Fox was a captain in his final two seasons, including a 1950 campaign which earned him All-VSAC honors. Years later, Fox restored scholarship football to APSU, raising $500,000 with his late wife Gladys Fox to establish the Fox Endowed Football Scholarship and receiving the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Philanthropy in 2009.
“No one has done more to directly and positively impact our football program, from his time as a player to the support in the years since, and we are so grateful,” said APSU Vice President and Director of Athletics Gerald Harrison.
Fox was among a group of former Aaron players, called the Dave Aaron Founding Fathers, who reunited several years ago during Homecoming to raise funds for the Dave Aaron Scholarship Endowment in Aaron’s memory, creating one of APSU’s largest endowments.
In Fall 2014, the Hendricks Fox Walk of History was named in his honor to recognize his longtime support of APSU Athletics. Located at the southwest entrance of Governors Stadium adjacent to Blake Jenkins Plaza, the walk catalogs all student-athletes’ names in the 70-plus years of Governors football history. Fox was also a member of APSU’s Legacy Society. He was inducted into the Red Coat Society in 2014 and the APSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.
“Hendricks Fox is truly one of the greats, not just in service to Austin Peay but to his community and his country,” said Kris Phillips, APSU Vice President for Alumni, Engagement and Philanthropy. “His dedication to APSU, through both giving and engagement, leaves an indelible impact and embodies the Govs For Life Experience. Not only is he a great friend to the university, but he and his wife Michele have been great personal friends to me, and it is an honor to know that our students, particularly football players, will know his name as both a benefactor of football scholarship and as someone deeply ingrained in the history of Austin Peay.”
Fox was born in 1929 in Lick Creek, Tennessee. After graduating from APSU in 1951, he joined the military and served with the 7th Marine Division during the Korean War. He was elevated to captain and received the Bronze Star with valor, the Korean Service Medal and the United Nations Service Medal. Fox was inducted into APSU’s Inaugural Military Hall of Fame Class in 2022. He also served in the Metro Nashville school system for more than 30 years.
Planned gifts can be arranged through wills, trusts, life insurance and annuities and provide support for the university endowment, which are permanently restricted funds managed by the Austin Peay State University Foundation. The amount of each scholarship award may vary and will be determined based upon the value of the endowment and the Foundation spending plan.
To establish an endowment or support other fundraising initiatives, contact APSU Alumni, Engagement and Philanthropy at 931-221-7127 or give@apsu.edu.