25 Facts About Cloyce Box

Cloyce Kennedy Box was an American professional football player and businessman.

Cloyce Box played five years in the National Football League with the Detroit Lions, was a member of NFL championship teams in 1952 and 1953, was selected as a second-team All-Pro in 1950 and a first-team All-Pro in 1952, and played in the 1951 and 1953 Pro Bowl games.

Cloyce Box later became a successful businessman in the oil and gas business in Texas.

From 1938 to 1942, he attended Jonesboro High School in Jonesboro, Texas, where he and his twin brother Boyce Box were both star athletes.

Cloyce Box never saw a game of football until he was 18 years old, having played basketball throughout his youth.

Cloyce Box attained the rank of captain during World War II.

Cloyce Box attended Louisiana Tech University as part of the V-12 Navy College Training Program.

Cloyce Box played professional football at the end and halfback positions in the National Football League for five seasons with the Detroit Lions from 1949 to 1950 and 1952 to 1954.

Cloyce Box rushed for 62 yards on 30 carries and caught 15 passes for 276 yards and four touchdowns.

Cloyce Box's 302 receiving yards against the Colts was the second highest in NFL history at the time and currently ranks fifth in league history.

In February 1951, with the Korean War ongoing, Cloyce Box was recalled from inactive reserve status by the United States Marine Corps.

Cloyce Box missed the entire 1951 season due to military service.

In June 1952, after being discharged from the Marine Corps, Cloyce Box returned to the Lions.

Cloyce Box was the leading receiver on the 1952 Lions team that won the NFL championship.

Cloyce Box led the NFL with 15 receiving touchdowns, ranked second in the league with 90 points scored, and again ranked among the league leaders with 924 receiving yards, 22.0 yards per reception, and 924 yards from scrimmage.

In 1953, the Lions won their second consecutive NFL championship, though Cloyce Box's receiving statistics declined significantly with only 16 receptions for 403 yards.

Cloyce Box was reportedly "robbed of his blinding speed by a leg injury", though he did manage a career-long 97-yard touchdown reception against the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving Day 1953 which would remain a Lions record until 1998.

Cloyce Box began in 1954 as an assistant manager in the Dallas office of the George A Fuller Company, eventually serving as chairman of the board.

Cloyce Box became president of the Oklahoma Cement Company and president and chairman of OKC Corporation, which later became known as the Cloyce Box Energy Corporation.

Cloyce Box served as chairman of the board of regents for West Texas State University and the Texas Board of Penal Corrections.

Cloyce Box was inducted into the West Texas State University Business Hall of Fame.

Cloyce Box's Cloyce Box Ranch was used as the original Southfork Ranch for the mini-series that became the first season of the television series Dallas.

In 1982, Cloyce Box hosted a reunion for his 1952 Lions teammates at the site of Super Bowl XVI.

At the time, the 1952 Lions were the last championship team that had not received a ring, so Cloyce Box presented each of his teammates with championship rings that he paid for personally.

Cloyce Box died of a heart attack at his home in Frisco in 1993, at the age of 70.