John Glenn lacrosse player Cannon Fox writes and wins grant for his team and youth program

NEW CONCORD — John Glenn junior Cannon Fox has made consistent contributions on the field for the Muskies lacrosse team during his three-year career.

But Fox has now made an even bigger contribution to his team off the field by securing it a $29,435 grant award from the J.W. and M.H. Straker Charitable Foundation.

Fox came up with the idea, then followed through by writing the grant and submitting a proposal for funds that will be shared by the John Glenn High School lacrosse team and New Concord Youth Lacrosse to benefit both programs.

"Cannon did just a great job. I looked over his application and it was well done. I didn't really need to edit it. It was pretty much done and ready to submit," JG coach Bob Williams said. "Probably the thing that impresses me most is we know all the distractions our youth — our 16, 17,18 year olds — have these days. Just so many other things they could be doing.

"So for Cannon to set aside some dedicated time to gather resources that were going to impact more than 100 kids here locally, that's going to get more kids involved and engaged and help to continue to grow the sport. I'm just beyond proud of Cannon's efforts, just the time and work he put in on this is very impressive."

Fox looked for way to pay it forward

Lacrosse got started back in 2016 with the formation of the New Concord Lacrosse Youth program and became a sanctioned varsity sport at John Glenn High School in 2020.

"I've been playing lacrosse since the program was started here at John Glenn, and it's been my favorite sport for my whole life," Fox said. "Now, with playing in high school and starting to get some college looks, I'm hoping to play at that next level in college.

More: Nearly 40 organizations benefit from Straker Foundation's $1.2M spring grants

"Lacrosse has meant a lot to me throughout my life. Lacrosse has always been there for me. And I just wanted to make sure other kids have the same opportunity to experience playing lacrosse. It's just a great game and I want to see it continue to grow here at John Glenn."

Williams believes Fox will get his wish to play in college.

"Cannon is a valuable two-year letterman and starter for us in his third year," Williams said. "Cannon is a lefty, so having him on the left side of the offense is a tremendous advantage for us. He is incredibly coachable and has a great work ethic, always striving to get better. I fully expect him to continue to play lacrosse at the collegiate level."

A family conversation with dad sparks idea

"My father is an assistant principal over at Maysville Middle School and he was taking about grants they have received," said Fox, the son of Clint and Beth Fox. "So I just asked him about how you go about getting some of that type of funding. And so he pointed me in the direction of the Straker Foundation and I just checked into the application process."

Fox discovered it involved a bit more than just submitting an application, but that didn't faze the John Glenn player who mans the attack position for the Muskies (3-2).

"It was a pretty involved process, with putting together some paragraph prompts, talking about our program and what the money would be used for," Fox said. "I had to submit a detailed budget, and put together different videos and interviews about our program.

"My mom helped me a little bit to get it started and headed in the right direction. And my teammates helped with all the videos and ideas for the prompts and stuff. We had some fun really putting those together. It took about a month or two to get it all done, but it was worth it."

Plenty of competition

Making Fox's accomplishment even more impressive is the Straker foundation reported requests of more than five times the allotted funds. Nearly 40 requests were granted for more than $1.2 million.

"This application process was very detailed and a competitive project," Williams said. "I read in the Straker Foundation press release there were so many applications they could not help everybody. So we feel so fortunate and appreciate they choose us to receive funds. And that was made possible by the work Cannon put it on this."

The funds will be used for field equipment, training aids, varsity bussing, Muskingum University field rental, youth program uniforms, varsity uniforms, youth league player equipment, varsity player equipment and helping with fees for first-time youth players.

More: Slow start proves costly to John Glenn lacrosse

"With this grant money we can help defer some of the costs involved with getting new uniforms for both the youth leagues and our varsity team," Williams said. "We have been fortunate here in the community with having community sponsors as well.

"Since we started the program our motto has always been regardless of the ability to pay, any player who wants to play lacrosse, will play lacrosse. We will find a way to make it happen and get them involved."

John Glenn plans to recognize and thank the J.W. and M.H. Straker Charitable Foundation for their generous support at halftime of Thursday's 7 p.m. home game against Linsly.

KSutton1@gannett.com; X: @KSuttonDJSports; Instagram: kevinsutton_dailyjeffsports

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: John Glenn lacrosse player secures local grant funding for team