Remembering Greg Cook

[kingwilly]

No, he is not dead. But article makes you wonder what could have been.

/>http://www.profootballweekly.com/2009/09/25/forgotten-greg-cook-and-the-69-bengals

[BengalszoneBilly]

No, he is not dead. But article makes you wonder what could have been.

/>http://www.profootballweekly.com/2009/09/25/forgotten-greg-cook-and-the-69-bengals

Jesus...at that time I was trying to figure out my school home work! It is incredible that he still holds the completion records for rookies though.

[Dimster28]

No, he is not dead. But article makes you wonder what could have been.

/>http://www.profootballweekly.com/2009/09/25/forgotten-greg-cook-and-the-69-bengals

Jesus...at that time I was trying to figure out my school home work! It is incredible that he still holds the completion records for rookies though.

thats nothing, i dont exist yet. lol

[jjakq27]

Yards per attempt (9.4) and yards per completion (17.5)

That's what is so impressive. I've heard Bob Trumpy refer to him as "John Elway about 15 years before John Elway". He also says that Cook's injury cost him several Super Bowl rings. In fact it is said that Offensive Coordinator Bill Walsh developed what would be the West Coast offense because of Cook's injury. His replacement in 1970 was Virgil Carter and he had a pretty mediocre arm. So the offense involved checking down and screens to the the RB.

As is a recurring theme for this franchise, he is the first of the "what-might-have-been"s.

[COB]

I recently read a biography of Paul Brown written by Andrew O'Toole. Paul Brown's man crush on Greg Cook was legendary. They drafted him with the fifth pick in the first round. OJ Simpson was the consensus number one pick, but Paul Brown said, "I would have drafted Greg Cook above OJ Simpson if I had the chance."

He absolutely loved Cook's size, arm, mobility, and his attitude and work ethic was infectious. Brown came across him while watching his alma mater, Miami, play UC, then personally scouted him. Cook's play before the shoulder injury validated Brown's opinion of him.

That biography was fascianting. I should probably start a new thread on it, but here are a few interesting things from the book:

1. Paul Brown was a very good pole vaulter, so good that when he was in junior high the track coach at Washington High in Massilon came to watch him vault, anticipting the time when he'd have Brown vault for him. Later, track was the only varsity sport he was eligible to play as a freshman, and he lettered. The varsity banquet, where he was to receive his letter, loomed large in him mind and he tried to convince his parents to buy him his first pair of long pants for the occassion. You read that right. They refused, and the book never did reveal when Paul Brown actually obtained his first pair of long pants.

2. Paul went to Ohio State his freshman year after a very good career as a quarterback at Massilon. He was so small the football team refused to let him try out. He transferred to Miami after his freshman year, quarterbacked the freshman team (only one he was eligible to play on), then won the starting job his junior year and started at qb his junior and senior seasons, leading the varsity to a 13-4 record over those two seasons. Paul Brown was also the starting centerfielder on Miami's baseball team those two years.

3. Two years out of college, Brown was hired to revive a Massilon Washington High School program that had only won 2 games in 1931. Brown coached the team from 1932 through the 1940 season. Dominant doesn't even begin to describe it. Implementing one innovation after another, Brown's team won six consecutive State Championships, scheduling and beating the largest and best teams in the state. How dominant were they? In 1940 Brown convinced two college teams, Kent State and Akron, to play exhibition games against his Massilon High team. Kent State's coach warned that he had his best ever Kent State team in hand. Brown's high school team beat Kent State 47-0, and Akron cancelled their game which had been to take place 2 weeks later.

4. Paul Brown built the Browns and dominated the All American Football Conference in the '40s. They won the league championship every year. The Browns were admitted to the NFL in 1950. The NFL was not impressed with Brown's innovative passing offense, as smashmouth football ruled the day, and the NFL didn't think Otto Graham could work his passing magic in the big league. That final year in the AAFC, 1949, the NFL Championship was won by the Philadelphia Eagles. Their coach, Greasy Neale, was particularly dismissive of the Browns, saying "all they do is throw the ball." The following season, 1950, would be the Browns first in the NFL. Their first game was against the defending champion Eagles. Coach Neale's comments leading up to the game revealed a severe lack of respect for the Brown's pass-first philosophy. When asked if he'd scouted the Browns, Neale said there was no need to, "They are just a basketball team, all they do is throw the ball." Paul Brown's squad beat the Eagles 13-7 while throwing exactly zero passes. That's right, Brown just shoved it in this guys's face, and he later said that Neale never forgave him for it. The Browns went on to win the NFL Championship their first year in the NFL.

5. In 1959 Green Bay neede a new coach. They called Brown, and asked him who they should hire, expecting him to recommend one of his assistants. To their surprise, he recommende an assistant from the Giants who wasn't on their radar, Vince Lombardi. Brown was vociferous in his endorsement of Lombardi, so the Packers hired him.

I could go on and on.

[jjakq27]

Good stuff. He was also instrumental in the hiring of Pete Rozelle as commissioner of the NFL. And it is speculated that part of the agreement for the Cincinnati AFL franchise was an understanding that the leagues would eventually be merged into one.

[kingwilly]

Good stuff. He was also instrumental in the hiring of Pete Rozelle as commissioner of the NFL. And it is speculated that part of the agreement for the Cincinnati AFL franchise was an understanding that the leagues would eventually be merged into one.

In the immortal words of Walter Sobchak "....and yet his son is an idiot."

[jjakq27]

Good stuff. He was also instrumental in the hiring of Pete Rozelle as commissioner of the NFL. And it is speculated that part of the agreement for the Cincinnati AFL franchise was an understanding that the leagues would eventually be merged into one.

In the immortal words of Walter Sobchak "....and yet his son is an idiot."

Ya know I was going to mention that too but decided to let it go!

[COB]

Good stuff. He was also instrumental in the hiring of Pete Rozelle as commissioner of the NFL. And it is speculated that part of the agreement for the Cincinnati AFL franchise was an understanding that the leagues would eventually be merged into one.

Okay, here's the story on that:

The owners couldn't agree on a new commissioner. This was 1960 and Paul Brown was still running and coaching the Browns. One owner at one of the meetings tried to get Brown to take the commissioner job, but Brown said no way, he'd never leave his football team.

Anyway, after all the popular candidates couldn't get enough votes, they decided on 32 year-old Pete Rozelle, GM of the Los Angeles Rams. But Rozelle wouldn't take the job. To show you what kind of reputation Brown had, the owners sent him out to LA to talk Rozelle into taking it.

He got out there, and Rozelle said he wouldn't take it, because he wasn't up to the job. Instead of blowing smoke, Brown told him he was right, he wasn't up to the job. But he expressed confidence in Rozelle and told him he'd grow into the job. He succeeded and Rozelle took the job.

Fast forward several years. Brown has been fired by known steaming bag of douche Art Modell. Heartbroken, he and his wife had moved as far away from Cleveland as they possibly could, to La Jolla, California. Brown spends years out there, and gets an investment group back in Ohio together to fund what will be the 16th NFL team. He's got the money and the commissioner's ear.

But other ownership groups want the new franchise too. The AFL is up and running, and the NFL faces a very stiff anti-trust claim. A Senator and a House member from Louisiana approach Rozelle. They practice a little Louisiana politics, telling Rozelle that they hold the votes to make the anti-trust claim go away. But they'll only do it if the NFL gives its new franchise to New Orleans. Rozelle is caught. So now it is his turn to fly to California. He does so, and to his surprise, Paul Brown expresses no ill will at all, and says go ahead and give it to New Orleans, you've got to. Obviously, this is a huge relief to Rozelle.

So a few months later, the NFL addresses the threat from the AFL by agreeing to fold the AFL into the NFL two seasons later. And the agreement dictates that Rozelle will be the commissioner of the new league. The AFL had been thinking expansion, so Rozelle stuck his nose into that on Paul Brown's behalf. He made sure Brown got an AFL expansion franchise in Cincinnati.

[COB]

Also, though completely off-topic I thought I would mention that Pete Rozelle was straight outta Compton. Literally, the guy grew up in Compton and graduated from Compton High School.

[jjakq27]

Good stuff.

An interesting tidbit is that prior to Cincinnati being selected as the expansion site, Seattle was under serious consideration. They ended up being part of the next round of expansion in the mid-70s with Tampa Bay.

I think I've read that Mike Brown was part of the site selection process which weighed heavily on Cincinnati being given the franchise. Somehow I think there must have been some discussion about the possibility of a. staying in Ohio and b. having a chance to play the Browns.