Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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THE FIFTH QUARTER LOU SOMOGYI Indiana," he shot back. As a teenager, Cook once sat next to "God would never put his school in Leahy in a press box and rambled on and on until the exasperated Leahy turned to assistant Joe McArdle and said, "Who is this guy?" After graduating from Pitt in 1954 "Haven't they suffered enough?" On the 100th anniversary of Notre and serving a stint in the U.S. Army, Cook worked as the sports information Dame football in 1987, he told us: "Next year is when you win the national ti- tle because it's Holtz's third year and it's the 100th anniversary of Knute Rockne's birthday." The Irish indeed won it all in 1988, but Cook is better known for the two Heismans he projected for quarterback THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF KNUTE ROCKNE'S BIRTHDAY." BEANO COOK, ON THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL IN 1987 "NEXT YEAR IS WHEN YOU WIN THE NATIONAL TITLE BECAUSE IT'S HOLTZ'S THIRD YEAR AND IT'S director at his alma mater from 1956-66 and became close with Notre Dame's own SID, Charlie Callahan, his mentor, and later Roger Valdiserri, who held the same post from 1966-95. When ABC-TV started broadcast- ing college football in 1966, Cook was hired as its press director, and he be- came a prime figure ABC Sports presi- dent Roone Arledge leaned on to mar- ket and promote storylines in an era when only one college game a week was nationally telecast. It was people like Arledge and Cook who helped elevate college football into the marvelous, and sometimes satu- rated, spectacle it has become today in the media. Cook always believed col- lege football was a much greater pas- time than baseball, which was way too mundane for his taste. Upon learning that 52 released Amer- Ron Powlus after his 1994 debut with the Irish. When he discovered that No. 2 Notre Dame was a seven-point underdog to No. 1 Florida State in November 1993, he won thousands betting on Notre Dame ("Don't print that until I'm dead," he said.) because FSU schedul- ing the Irish that year was "the dumb- est move of overextending yourself since Germany's decision to invade Russia in World War II. "Two things you don't mess with: a ranked Notre Dame team as an under- dog at home, and Russia in the winter." Rest well, old friend. "You'll never have a 16-team playoff in college football. The most that could happen would be four teams in the next century. But after that, I'm dead, so who cares?"— Cook in 1992 ✦ icans who were held hostage in Iran for 444 days until Jan. 20, 1981, were issued free lifetime passes to Major League Baseball games, Cook deadpanned: Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com