Greg Cook was a talented quarterback whose promising career was cut short by injury after only one season. Cook died on Fridayafter being hospitalized with pneumonia. He was 65:

Greg Cook was one of pro football’s shooting stars. Although his career consisted of just 12 games, he left an impression that hasn’t been forgotten, especially by his teammates and coaches. Cook, as his offensive coordinator, Bill Walsh, once told NFL Films, “could very well have been remembered or noted as the greatest quarterback of all time.”

After setting more than a dozen school passing records at the University of Cincinnati, Cook was selected by the Bengals in the first round (fifth over all) in 1969, the third year of the A.F.L.-N.F.L. common draft. In those days, young quarterbacks, even high draft picks, usually had to wait their turn. Cook, however, was so talented and so well prepared coming out of college that he won the job in his first training camp and was named the starter for the Bengals’ opener against the Dolphins.

At 6 feet 4 inches and about 220 pounds, Cook looked the part. Paul Zimmerman called him a “blond-haired football god.”(Zimmerman, “Landmark Meeting”, cnnsi.com, Oct. 10, 2001) He could make all the necessary throws, especially the deep ball, with timing, anticipation, and accuracy, from inside or outside the pocket. His footwork enabled him to avoid the rush and to use his spontaneity to keep the play alive. Walsh saw Cook as a combination of the size and strength of Terry Bradshaw along with the instincts and feel of Joe Montana.

The Bengals, a second-year expansion team, won their first two games in 1969. In Week 2, Cook was 14 for 22 for 327 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 34-20 victory over the Chargers.

In Week 3 against Kansas City, midway through the second quarter, Cook was sacked outside the pocket by linebacker Jim Lynch, who fell on Cook’s right (throwing) shoulder. He threw one more incomplete pass before leaving the game. It wasn’t diagnosed at the time, but Cook had torn his rotator cuff. Drew Brees successfully returned, after surgery and rehabilitation, from a similar injury in the final game of the 2005 season. Cook, because of the limits of sports medicine at the time, was allowed to continue to play. “I took cortisone shots and played in pain,” he said, “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.” (Zimmerman)

Cook missed the Week 4 game against the Chargers, played briefly the following week against the Jets, then missed the next two games against the Broncos and Chiefs. He came back for a 31-17 win over the Raiders in Week 8, Oakland’s only loss in 1969.

Cook finished the rest of the season but he wasn’t the same player. It turned out he also had a partly detached biceps muscle. “It got to the point that I could lay on the side of the bed”, Cook said, “and hang my arm off it, and when I’d try to lift it, the shoulder would go out. I’d get sick to my stomach. What’s going on?” (Zimmerman)

A series of operations over the next three years couldn’t save Cook’s career. He played in one game for the Bengals in 1973 and was released by the Chiefs in 1974. At age 27, Cook was done.

Despite the injuries, Cook led the A.F.L. in completion percentage in 1969, 53.8, and he led both leagues in yards per attempt, 9.4, yards per completion, 17.5, and in passer rating, 88.3. U.P.I. named him the A.F.L.’s rookie of the year.

In 1970, when it was determined that Cook would not be available, Walsh redesigned the Bengals’ offense around the strengths of their new starting quarterback, Virgil Carter. Although he didn’t have anything resembling Cook’s powerful arm, Carter was smart, mobile and accurate on short- and medium-distance throws. Walsh’s new offense featured high-percentage, ball-control passing primarily to the tight ends and the backs out of the backfield. Thus, what would later be known as the West Coast offense was born.

Through all the years, Cook never expressed any bitterness about what had happened to him. At least not publicly. As he told NFL Films: “I had some success and I thank God for that.” But his Bengal teammate, Bob Trumpy, saw a different side of his old friend. “Regardless of what Greg has told you”, Trumpy said,”it’s affected him psychologically for a long time.

“He got cheated and it’s a scar he carries with him to this day.” (NFL Films)

Many “what might have been” stories are exaggerated. Not this one. Greg Cook had everything a football player could ask for. Everything, that is, but the gift of years.

Andy Barall writes about pro football history for The Fifth Down.

Gregory L Cook