39 years–The average career length for many people. This is no different for bus driver George Cox; however, he couldn’t fathom fully retiring just yet. Working in data security for thirty years, and for his own company for nine, he felt like he was done with office jobs, but there was still something missing. He needed an outlet for his palpable energy, and he still hadn’t found it yet. 

“I had retired [from my 9-5] and I was looking for something to do. I wasn’t really ready to retire retire,” Cox said. 

Becoming a bus driver was not Cox’s original plan, however. It simply happened by chance. 

“I took a class trip with my daughter, and the bus pulled up and it was a guy that I went to school with. ‘This is the best retirement job ever.’ he said. ‘I work when I want, I golf when I want, and I’m off all summer. It’s the best job out there.’ And I said, ‘I can do this,’ So I applied at North Penn, took all the training, and became a bus driver.” 

After completing his training, North Penn was no longer in need of drivers for school runs, but for sports runs. A youth sports coach years before, George took this as an opportunity to go back to his roots.

“I coached youth sports for almost 15 years, I coached 5 different sports. I coached boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, volleyball, baseball, and softball. I ran a lot of them, my kids did it,” said Cox. “Once I started driving it, it just became part of me [again].”

Returning to the world of high school sports brought many familiar faces for Cox. Those he had coached were now at the high school, bringing his integration with youth sports full circle. 

“The first time I pulled up to the school, there were kids that I coached when I was a youth coach. So I saw these kids when they were six years old, and now I see them as high schoolers. It was really neat to see the kids and how they grew,” Cox said. “[With time], I got to know the parents again, and that’s how I got to know the coaches.”

Most North Penn athletes know Cox not only for his upbeat personality but also for the notorious name of his bus, the “W Bus”. 

“I believe it started after I had driven the [soccer] team to a night game that we won. The next day I had another trip using the same bus as the previous night. I mentioned to the team that the team won last night and told them to see if we can make this a “W” bus again,” Cox stated. “We just had a boy in here yesterday who graduated in 2018 and he was on the soccer team and he said, ‘Oh, you used to drive the W bus.’”

Driving had always been something that Cox had found joy in, and adding that to his love for working with kids, bus driving was a career that he never knew he needed, but could no longer live without. 

“I’ve always liked to drive. Whether it’s a car or a bus or a truck, doesn’t matter, I always like to drive,” Cox said. “I coached youth sports for almost 15 years, [and] once I started driving it, it just became part of me.” 

Throughout the years, Cox has gotten to know many of the players and parents alike, creating a relationship both he and the athletes will likely cherish forever. 

“I met a lot of kids here that really are nice and they see me after they graduate. And quite a few of them, when they see me, they know it’s Mr. George,” Cox stated. “When I go to senior night, I make a note of who graduated and where they’re going, so when I see them I ask them about how they’re doing at wherever they are.”

Although it seems that bus driving takes up the majority of his time, just like anyone, Cox has a life outside of it as well. 

“I do a lot of my own work on my house, I don’t trust most of the people that are out there doing the stuff,” Cox stated. “I do my own painting, my own drywall, my own electrical, my own plumbing, and I just like to fiddle around with that, and I keep very close tabs on my stock portfolio.”

Now, years later, Cox does much more than just drive teams to and from their games. He has become an influential part of many teams at the high school and a die-hard fan of everything North Penn. 

“As a coach, I lived and died with the teams I used to coach, now I live and die with the teams I drive. It’s just the way that it is. Everyone knows when I’m there, and it’s just something I will do until I can’t do it anymore,” Cox said.