Gregory Lynn Cook (November 20, 1946 – January 27, 2012) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

quarterback who played two professional seasons, in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...

(AFL) and later the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

and was selected 5th overall in the 1969 NFL/AFL draft. Once considered a rising star for the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

, he had his pro career prematurely ended by recurring shoulder troubles. In 2007,

NFL Films NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces advertisement film, commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentary film, documentaries ...

named Cook as the number one greatest NFL "one-shot wonder" of all time, describing him as one of the biggest "what-ifs" in league history, in the seventh installment of its program '' NFL Top 10''.

Early life

Cook lived most of his life in

Chillicothe, Ohio Chillicothe ( ) is a city in Ross County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 22,059 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located along the Scioto River 45 miles (72 km) south of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, ...

, where he played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and football at Chillicothe High School. He played collegiately at

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, once throwing for 554 yards in a game. He was drafted by the

in the first round of the 1969 NFL/AFL Draft after Bengals coach and founder

Paul Brown Paul Eugene Brown (September 7, 1908 – August 5, 1991) was an American American football, football coach and executive in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), the National Football League (NFL), and the American Football League (AFL). ...

saw Cook's performance in the Bearcats' come-from-behind, 23–21 victory against

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

in Bo Schembechler's last game before he left to coach at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. Brown had attended the game, but left when the Miami Redskins' lead reached 21–6. "That quarterback. That's our draft choice," said Brown after seeing film of Cook's rallying performance.

Professional career

In 1969, the Bengals released John Stofa, the starting signal caller for much of the team's inaugural season, and named Cook as the starting quarterback. His season started spectacularly, as he led the Bengals to a 3–0 record. However, in game three versus Kansas City, Cook felt a pop in his right (throwing) shoulder after being tackled by linebacker Jim Lynch and missed the next three games. Possibly due to the limited medical technology at the time, his torn

rotator cuff The rotator cuff (SITS muscles) is a group of muscles and their tendons that act to stabilize the human shoulder and allow for its extensive range of motion. Of the seven scapulohumeral muscles, four make up the rotator cuff. The four muscles a ...

went undiagnosed. Despite this, Cook went on to pass for 1,854 yards and led the Bengals to wins over the Chiefs and the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

, two of the three best teams in the AFL. His 9.411 yards per pass attempt (YPA) and 17.5 yard per completion are rookie records that still stand; Cook's 9.41 YPA remains a Bengals franchise record. Cook was

UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...

's choice for AFL Rookie of the year. Cook recalled, "I took

cortisone Cortisone is a pregnene (21-carbon) steroid hormone. It is a naturally-occurring corticosteroid metabolite that is also used as a pharmaceutical prodrug. Cortisol is converted by the action of the enzyme corticosteroid 11-beta-dehydrogenase ...

shots and played in pain, but the shoulder hadn't started to deteriorate yet, so I could still function. I still had the strength. I felt obligated to finish the season. I'd gotten off to a good start. I didn't want to relinquish that." The rotator cuff began deteriorating after the season; during surgery, it was revealed that Cook also had a partially detached

biceps The biceps or biceps brachii (, "two-headed muscle of the arm") is a large muscle that lies on the front of the upper arm between the shoulder and the elbow. Both heads of the muscle arise on the scapula and join to form a single muscle bel ...

muscle. After three operations proved futile, he retired. Cook saw action in one game during a 1973 comeback attempt, but he retired permanently after. The

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League NTP and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and N ...

'' NFL Top Ten'' series named Cook the #1 One Shot Wonder in NFL history. Former

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

quarterback Chad Pennington, who suffered two tears to his rotator cuff and underwent as many surgeries to repair it, was often compared to Cook because their injuries were so similar. Cook's injury was also similar to one suffered by

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

quarterback

Drew Brees Drew Christopher Brees (; born January 15, 1979) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. A member of the New Orleans Saints for most of his career, Brees is sec ...

, who had surgery on his rotator cuff after the 2005–06 season. Cook finished his career with 1,865 passing yards with an average of 17.4 yards per completion. He threw 15 touchdowns in his career and 11 interceptions.

Life after football

Following retirement, Cook lived in Cincinnati, and worked with

United Parcel Service United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) is an American multinational corporation, multinational package delivery, shipping & receiving and supply chain management company founded in 1907. Originally known as the American Messenger Company specializi ...

and with Worksite Information Network as a

motivational speaker A motivational speaker (or inspirational speaker) is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep ta ...

for labor unions. He was an art major at the University of Cincinnati, and continued to paint. Cook had works on display in the Ohio Governor's Mansion. Cook did some color commentary of University of Cincinnati football broadcasts in the mid-1980s.

Death

Cook died on January 27, 2012, shortly after being admitted to The Christ Hospital, a Cincinnati-area hospital, with

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

References

External links