Gardner Cox graduated from Philips Andover Academy in 1937 and then Princeton in 1941. He won the Morss Trophy for the Intercollegiate Dinghy Championship in 1940 and 1941 and was second in 1939. Cox was International Penguin Class Dinghy Champion in 1958, 1960, and 1964. Cox won the US Championship in the 5.5 metre class in 1968, qualifying him for the Olympic team, where he helmed the US entry in the 5.5 metre. Cox became a frequent columnist for Sail magazine. In 1988 US Sailing honored him with the creation of the F. Gardner Cox Sportsmanship Award. Cox was an inaugural member of the Intercollegiate Sailing Hall of Fame, inducted in 1969.