by Charly Mann

Bob Cox was a UNC tight end and kicker for the great "Charlie Justice" era UNC football team. He was called "True Toe" because of the accuracy of his extra points. In 1947 he led the team in pass receptions.

In February 1952 Bob Cox quit his position as coach of the UNC Junior-Varsity football team. The team had gone undefeated in 1951, and many people thought Bob was going to become a leading college football head coach in the near future. But Cox had a hard time supporting his growing family on a salary of $300 a month, and convinced his friend Monk Jennings, who was the manager of The Sport Shop on North Columbia Street in the Carl Smith Building, that they should rent  the recently vacated space on Franklin Street where the Varsity Clothing Store had been located and open a clothing store to be called Town and Campus. This may have seemed like a fool hearty idea at the time as they were greatly undercapitalized,  but it proved to be one of the most auspicious decisions in Chapel Hill's retail history.

This is ad for the Sport Shop from January 1952, the last month Monk Jennings worked there before co-founding the Town and Campus store. 

This is the Grand Opening Annoucement for Town & Campus in Chapel Hill  from April 1952

In 1952 Chapel Hill was a small town of about 10,000 and the number of students at UNC was 1/8 of what it is today. There were also already a number of great clothing stores downtown catering to the same preppie look market Bob and Monk wanted to sell. These included Milton's Clothing Cupboard,  Stephen Shepherd's, Julian's College Shop, and Varley's, which sold primarily to professors and men over 30. Bob and Monk were undeterred and quickly secured a talented young sales staff and some great lines of clothing. They also scored a major coup in getting the exclusive rights to several of the top coed lines in the nation including Villager.

The only shoes to wear in Chapel Hill and look cool in were Bass Weejuns. In 1952 Lacock's had the exclusive on Weejuns, so Town & Campus sold these clones that look almost as good as the real thing. Weejuns are still made today, but not by the original company. Their quality is poor, and the women's Weejuns of  today are far inferior to any clone from the 1950s or 60s. Note that students had accounts at Town & Campus where bills would be sent to their parents.

Bob Cox had the charisma ,charm , and good looks of John F Kennedy, and was an innate politician. By 1954 he was the leading force of the Chapel Hill Junior Chamber of Commerce. In 1956 he became President of the North Carolina Jaycees, and in 1957 was elected to the highly prestigious and influential position of President of the National Jaycees. During that year his family moved to Tulsa, and he lived out of suitcase visiting every state on behalf of the Jaycees. When Bob returned to Chapel Hill in 1959 he took over Town and Campus, and  Monk Jennings and amazing wife, Ann, helped establish the great downtown women's clothing store The Fireside.

Bob Cox and Monk Jennings often appeared in their ads. This is from October 1957 when Bob was actually away from Chapel Hill acting as President of the National Jaycees out of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

In 1960 Bob sold Town and Campus to Bob Simpson, who had worked at the store almost from the start, and a couple of other investors. Bob and his wife, the former Anne Ruffin, transformed Town and Campus into one of the most visually dynamic and sophisticated clothing stores in the nation. They had the local exclusive on the European styled Pierre Cardin line which they bought from the company's sales representative Mickey Ewell. Ewell was so taken by the town when he made his regular sales trips to see the Simpsons at Town and Campus that he left Piere Cardin to start a restaurant business in Chapel Hill. In 1984 he opened McCarthy's, and went on to become Chapel Hill's most successful restaurateur with Spanky's, Squids, and 411 West Italian Cafe.

This is an ad for the Bob and Anne Simpson era Town & Campus from 1964

Town and Campus through Bob Cox, Monk Jennings, and Bob and Anne Simpson added a warmth and class to Chapel Hill that we can all be thankful for.
 

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