John Cox, of Carrollton, Ga., has received a couple dozen new friend requests on Facebook, a couple interview requests from outdoor media outlets and traffic on his John Cox Fishing Facebook page jumped 5,600 percent in the last week – all because of his name.
The uptick in activity on Cox’s social media pages can be traced to last Thursday, right about the time John Cox, the FLW Tour angler who shares the same name, took the day-1 lead at the Forrest Wood Cup.
It’s fairly easy to get two people with the same first and last names mixed up, but when both are involved in bass fishing, it can get confusing, especially when one of them goes on to win one of the sport’s marquee tournaments.
To be clear, John Cox, the Florida angler who won the Forrest Wood Cup at Wheeler Lake, has Facebook and Instagram pages, but isn’t as active as others. John Cox, a 45-year-old plumber from Carrollton who fishes some local tournaments, is quite active on Facebook through his personal page and the John Cox Fishing page he uses to promote companies he works with and his daughter’s involvement with her high school fishing team.
This recent rash of mistaken identity isn’t the first time the two John Coxes have seen their paths cross through fishing. It first happened a few years ago, but both have been good sports about it. The John Cox Fishing Facebook page now features a profile picture of the two Johns together (picture shown).
“John and I have discussed this stuff before,” said Cox, who also attended the FLW Expo at the Cup in Huntsville, Ala., over the weekend. “Of course, it will happen more often now, but it’s happened two or three times before.”
Cox said he’s fielded interview requests from media outlets that mistook him for the FLW Tour pro.
“I think it’s because I’m way more active on social media than he is,” he said. “I’ve had to send people his way. I could almost be his agent.”
Last Thursday, Cox – the one from Georgia – posted a photo of some chicken nachos he’d made for dinner. Shortly after, he received a congratulatory message referring to day 1 of the Cup from someone he didn’t know. He responded, “For what, the chicken nachos?”
“I like to have some fun with it,” he added.
When asked if there are any plans to alter his name in the future to avoid any more confusion, Cox quipped, “I’m older than he is. He should change his name. It was my name first.”
