Jack Kent Cooke
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Jack Kent Cooke | |
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NBA champion | |
Baseball career |
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Member of the Canadian | |
Baseball Hall of Fame | |
Induction | 1985 |
Jack Kent Cooke (October 25, 1912 – April 6, 1997) was a Canadian-American businessman in broadcasting and professional sports. Starting in sales, Cooke was very successful, eventually becoming a partner in a network of radio stations and newspapers in Canada. After failing at starting a major league baseball team in
Biography
Early career
Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Cooke moved with his family to The Beaches area of Toronto in 1921, where he attended Malvern Collegiate Institute.[1]
At age 14, Cooke got a job selling encyclopedias door to door. At the end of his first day, he took home over $20 to his mother, and later claimed, "I think that was the proudest moment of my life." He later became a runner on the floor of the
Early foray in media and sports ownership
With the financial backing of
In 1951, Cooke ventured into sports, acquiring the minor league Toronto Maple Leafs baseball club. Upon purchasing the team, Cooke informed the media that the Maple Leafs would be integrated immediately, signing second baseman Charlie White and pitcher-outfielder Leon Day within two weeks of the acquisition.[2] Day, a future Hall of Famer, pitched in 14 games that season and then moved on to other teams. White and Day paved the way for future black Maple Leafs like Sam Jethroe, Elston Howard, Earl Battey, Dave Pope, Humberto Robinson, Connie Johnson, Lou Johnson, Mack Jones, Marshall Bridges, and Reggie Smith – not to mention later generations of black players who starred with Toronto's eventual Major League Baseball franchise, the Blue Jays.
Cooke transformed the games from straight athletic contests into complete entertainment packages, with a long list of special promotions and celebrity appearances. With his focus on entertainment, Cooke was compared to St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck. Five months after becoming owner, Cooke presented a 48-page booklet to all the teams in the league, outlining his promotional strategies. He was named minor league executive of the year by The Sporting News in 1952.[3] That same year, Cooke purchased Consolidated Press, publisher of Saturday Night magazine. He made an unsuccessful bid for The Globe and Mail newspaper in 1955.
While owning the Maple Leafs baseball team, Cooke set his sights on bringing a major league club to Toronto. He tried to purchase the St. Louis Browns, Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers when they came up for sale, and in 1959 he became one of the founding team owners in the Continental League, a proposed third major league for professional baseball. The league disbanded a year later without ever playing a game. Cooke still hoped to get an American League expansion team in Toronto, but the city's lack of a major league venue became an impasse.
On the field, Cooke's Maple Leafs were an International League powerhouse, finishing in first place during the regular season four times, capturing the 1960
Cooke sold the Maple Leafs in 1964. Before that, he had watched several team practices and observed Sparky Anderson, noting the player's leadership qualities and ability to teach younger players from all backgrounds. Cooke encouraged Anderson to pursue a career in managing, offering him the post for the Leafs. In 1964, Anderson accepted the offer. Cooke was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985.
In 1960, Cooke lost a bid to obtain a license for the first privately owned TV station in Toronto. There had been nine bids in a highly competitive process, and the licence was awarded to a consortium of
Move to the United States
Within weeks of being turned down for the Toronto TV licence, Cooke applied for U.S. citizenship. With the support of United States House Congressman Francis E. Walter (D-PA), Cooke quickly became a citizen when both houses of Congress and President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved a waiver of the usual five-year waiting period. He sold CKEY at the end of 1960 and Consolidated Press in 1961.
At the time, Canada and the U.S. both had laws prohibiting foreign control of radio and TV stations. Cooke had entered the U.S. broadcasting industry in August 1959 by acquiring Pasadena, California radio station KRLA 1110 (now KWVE) through his brother, Donald Cooke, a U.S. citizen.
Cooke formed American Cablevision in the 1960s and acquired several cable television companies. He acquired majority ownership of TelePrompTer cable TV, and sold it in the late 1970s for $646 million.[4] In 1979, he bought the Chrysler Building in New York City, one of the world's most renowned skyscrapers. In 1985, Cooke bought the Los Angeles Daily News for $176 million.[5] A year later, he acquired another cable TV company.[6] He sold the cable systems in 1989.[7]
Sports ownership
I was never into Cooke-watching as much as I was into watching his teams, and the people he hired to run them. You didn't have to be close to Cooke to make this case: He was the best owner in the history of sports. Not pro football, all of sports.
Washington Redskins
In 1961, Cooke purchased a 25% interest in the
While he was owner of the Redskins, the team won three Super Bowls under head coach Joe Gibbs (in 1982, 1987, and 1991), the franchise's first championships since the 1940s.
In 1997, Cooke completed a stadium deal near
In his will, Cooke left the team and the stadium to his foundation with instructions to sell it. Cooke's son John tried to put in a competitive bid to keep the team in the family, but the franchise instead was sold to a consortium led by local businessman Daniel Snyder for a record-setting $800 million.
Los Angeles Lakers
In September 1965, Cooke purchased the
Los Angeles Kings
As a Canadian, Cooke particularly enjoyed
Cooke claimed The Forum would be "the most beautiful arena in the world." It opened December 30, 1967, to rave reviews. Cooke was soon calling it "The Fabulous Forum." However, the Kings struggled both on the ice and at the gate. Cooke had been told that there were more than 300,000 former Canadians living within a three-hour drive of Los Angeles and remarked, "Now I know why they left Canada: They hate hockey!"
In 1979, Cooke sold the Forum, the Kings, and the Lakers to Dr. Jerry Buss for a then-record $67.5 million (equivalent to $283 million in 2023); half of the payment was in cash and half was in real estate, with part of Buss's payment including the Chrysler Building.[10][11]
Los Angeles Wolves
In 1967, Cooke was a founder of the United Soccer Association and owned the Los Angeles Wolves team, which became a charter NASL team the following year.
Boxing
In 1971, Cooke was a financial backer of the first Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier boxing match, held at Madison Square Garden and won by Frazier.[12]
Elmendorf Farm
A lover of horses and a fan of Thoroughbred horse racing, Cooke owned Kent Farms, a 640-acre (2.6 km2) estate in Middleburg, Virginia, not far from Washington, D.C. In December 1984 he purchased the historic Elmendorf Farm in Lexington, Kentucky from the estate of Maxwell Gluck. He bred and raced a number of successful horses, notably Flying Continental, sired by Flying Paster, whose wins included the 1990 Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Personal life
Cooke was married five times, however his last two marriages were to the same woman, Marlene Ramallo Chalmers. He was married to Chalmers at the time of his death.
Cooke's first marriage, his longest, lasted 45 years. He and Barbara Jean Carnegie married in 1934, divorcing in 1979. In the legal action, Carnegie was awarded what was then the largest divorce settlement in history—$42 million (equivalent to $176 million in 2023). The presiding judge during the bench trial was Joseph Wapner, who later became famous as the judge on television's The People's Court.[13] Cooke and Carnegie had two sons: John Kent Cooke and Ralph Kent Cooke.
On October 31, 1980, Cooke married Jeanne Maxwell Williams, a sculptor from Las Vegas.[14][15][13] The marriage lasted 10 months.[1] It ended with a $1 million (equivalent to $3 million in 2023) divorce settlement.[14]
Cooke's third marriage on July 24, 1987, to Suzanne Elizabeth Martin, a college dropout aged 31 at the time and 43 years his junior, was even shorter at 73 days.
Cooke married his fourth wife, Marlene Ramallo Chalmers on May 5, 1990. They were divorced in late 1993 after she made headlines in September by driving drunk in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C., with a man holding onto the hood and pounding on the windshield of her car.[19] They remarried in 1995 and remained together until his death.
Cooke, who had famously informed a reporter that "I don't intend to die,"
Cooke's will, which revealed his many changes of heart regarding his wives and children, received considerable public attention.
"The Cooke Foundation stands with our Black Scholars, Alumni, Families, Staff, and entire diverse community to condemn systemic racism. We are committed to fighting educational and economic inequalities."
—Jack Kent Cooke Foundation website[25]
The bulk of Cooke's $825 million estate went into establishing the
In February 2007, his daughter Jacqueline filed a $275 million lawsuit against the estate, seeking more money than her $5 million trust fund.[30][31]
Awards and honors
- 3× ; as owner of the Washington Redskins)
- Washington Redskins Ring of Fame
- NBA champion(1972; as owner of the Los Angeles Lakers)
References
- ^ a b "Jack Kent Cooke Life Chronology". The Washington Post. February 2, 1998. Retrieved January 14, 2008.
- ^ "Maple Leaf Stadium (Toronto) – Society for American Baseball Research".
- ISBN 1-55041-855-6
- ^ "Jack Kent Cooke 'Skins owner has done pretty well since dropping out of high school," Ken McKee, Toronto Star, February 2, 1988
- ^ "Jack Kent Cooke buys newspaper," Toronto Star, January 1, 1986
- ^ "Jack Kent Cooke buys US cable-TV system," The Globe and Mail, January 3, 1987
- ^ "A Consortium Will Acquire Cooke's Cable TV Systems", The New York Times, January 10, 1989.
- ^ "Owning Up to the Truth: Cooke Was the Best," The Washington Post, April 8, 1997.
- ^ Springer, Steve. "Raiders Return to Oakland: Coliseum Commission Turns L.A. Into Lost City of Sports." Los Angeles Times. June 24, 1995. p. C4
- ^ "Lakers Legendary Jerry Buss and His "Rags to Riches" Story Truly One of a Kind," Bleacher Report, February 18, 2013.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
- ^ Kirshenbaum, Jerry. "SPORT'S $5 MILLION PAYDAY". vault.si.com. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ a b c "Larger than Life". Sports Illustrated. December 16, 1991.
- ^ a b c "Cooke Bequeaths Wealth To Gifted and Poor Youths," The New York Times, May 9, 1997.
- ^ "Jack Kent Cooke, Redskins' Team Owner, Dies at 84," The New York Times, April 7, 1997.
- ^ a b "Cooke's Will Cuts Out Wife, Keeps Redskins in the Family," Los Angeles Times, May 8, 1997.
- ^ a b c d e Michelle Green and Linda Kramer (November 14, 1988). "Baby Doesn't Make Three," People.
- ^ "Jack Kent Cooke divorce talk of Washington," Bob Hepburn, Toronto Star, August 25, 1988
- ^ "WashingtonPost.com: Marlene Cooke Arrested". www.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
- ^ "Jack Kent Cooke, Redskins' Team Owner, Dies at 84". The New York Times. April 7, 1997.
- ^ Kornheiser, Tony (April 11, 1997). "Hail to The Squire". The Washington Post.
- ^ "Jack Kent Cooke's Will: Index Page" 1997, The Washington Post.
- Hamilton Spectator, May 10, 1997
- ^ "Cooke Estate To Pay $20 Million To Widow". Orlando Sentinel. April 14, 1998.
- ^ "Our Values and Community Commitment". May 19, 2023.
- ^ "Foundation Extends Jack Kent Cooke's Longtime Interests with New Grants," Press Releases | Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.
- ^ "FAQs".
- ^ @TheJKCF (December 8, 2017). "Together with fellow NSPA Board Member Julie Kim of @UNCF, our Director of Strategic Initiatives and Director of Scholarship Programs welcome new @NSPA_Tweets Executive Director Jackie Bright!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "SNIDER: Remembering Jack Kent Cooke 25 years later is complex". April 5, 2022.
- ^ Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts (February 21, 2007). "Jacqueline Kent Cooke, Auditing Trusts and Estates 101," The Washington Post.
- ^ A.J. Daulerio (June 30, 2008). "Jack Kent Cooke's Daughter Has Lots Of Moxie, Little Class", Deadspin.
Other sources
- Jack Kent Cooke: A Career Biography, by Adrian Kinnane, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, 2004