Barry Cox's success on the gridiron began early, playing for a Baden Redwings Youth Football team that won the Beaver County Pop Warner title in 1974.

Barry's success continued at Center High School, where he was a three-year starter and letterman and a captain his senior year. In the fifth game as a sophomore, Barry became Center's starting running back, gaining 999 yards over the remaining games in the season. In each of the next two seasons, Barry gained over 1,000 yards, finishing his high school football career with 3,159 yards rushing. In 1980 and 1981, Barry earned the Beaver County Times' Traveling Trophy for being the top scorer that football season.

Barry received numerous accolades for his performance on the gridiron. In 1980 and 1981, Barry was named the Pittsburgh Press Player of the Week and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Player of the Week, and he was selected second-team All-Conference. In 1981, Barry was named to the Post-Gazette's Finest 44 and Fabulous 22 teams and was selected for the Penn-Ohio All-Star game and the Big 33 East/West PA All-Star game. In 1986, the Beaver County Times named Barry as the finest football player from Center.

Barry was recruited by several NCAA Division I universities as a wide receiver, but he selected Eastern Kentucky University. Due to a knee injury from an automobile accident, Barry was redshirted his first season at Eastern Kentucky, when the team won the Division 1-AA national championship in 1982. But Barry was active for the Eastern Kentucky teams that won the Ohio Valley Conference titles in 1983 and 1984.

During his sophomore season, Barry entered a game on the second series and finished the day with 36 carries for 212 yards and three touchdowns, as he led his team to victory over Tennessee Tech. Due to this performance, Barry was named Ohio Valley Conference Rookie of the Week.

After college, Barry served in the military, playing semi-professional football in Germany during his service. After the military, Barry served as a football coach at Moon, Ambridge, and Hopewell. Barry has also served as operations director for the Homeboys Foundation football camp, founded by Barry's teammate at Center, Beaver County Sports Hall of Famer Tyrone Dixon.

Barry is the father of two daughters: Autumn and Deirdra "DeeDee".