ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 7, 1997 TAG: 9704080023
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS AND WASHINGTON POST REPORTS
The death Sunday of Jack Kent Cooke robs the NFL of one of its most colorful characters.
Jack Kent Cooke was a crusty entrepreneur whose Washington Redskins won three Super Bowls and whose personal life was the stuff of tabloid headlines.
When he died Sunday, the NFL lost one of its most colorful characters.
For Cooke, image was nothing - success was everything. And during his 23 years as majority owner of the Redskins, his success could be measured by his vast financial holdings, his NFL championships and the parade of celebrities that came calling to his stadium box.
``Nobody's going to write a book about me [50 years from now],'' Cooke told The Associated Press in 1995, ``because nobody's going to find anything worth writing a book about.''
It was that no-nonsense mindset that helped Cooke become one of the most successful American sports owners.
``He was a tough negotiator,'' said D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, who haggled with Cooke for several years over a new stadium. ``He wouldn't have made all his money if he had been a softie. I regret that he didn't live long enough to see the stadium completed. It was one of his dreams. In fact, he was almost obsessed with it.''
Cooke's box at RFK Stadium was a bipartisan mix of Capitol Hill's most noted - from presidents to generals such as Colin Powell and much of the U.S. Senate.
``He combined promotional flair, management skill and financial strength to turn the Redskins into a Washington institution, a national attraction and one of the most successful franchises in sports history,'' NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said. ``Jack Kent Cooke loved the game, loved to win and knew how to field a winner.''
He became majority owner of the Redskins in 1974, took over daily operation of the team from Edward Bennett Williams in 1980 and began his dogged pursuit toward making the Redskins an NFL power.
``He was one of those rare people who was a tough guy, a super-smart guy, and he was always better when things were at their worst,'' said Joe Gibbs, who coached the Redskins from 1981-1993.
``I was 40 years old and no one took a chance on me,'' Gibbs said Sunday from Texas Motor Speedway, where the racing team he owns was competing in the Interstate Batteries 500. ``That showed the kind of guts he had. He gambled and went with me, a nobody.''
Cooke's first sports venture came in 1951 when he purchased baseball's Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League. That paved the way for the city to land the Blue Jays in 1977.
Next came Los Angeles, where he purchased basketball's Lakers and hockey's Kings. In 1967 he built them the Forum, a showplace arena favored by Hollywood stars. He also owned a horse breeding farm in Lexington, Ky.
As the Kings failed to draw, he grew tired of hockey.
Once he noted that he had purchased the franchise because he'd heard there were a half-million Canadians in southern California. Then he added that those half-million must have left Canada because they hated hockey.
So he turned to football, and his relentless effort to build a winning football team was matched by his determination to build a new stadium.
Despite offering to pay for the building, he endured nearly a decade of rejection by citizens' groups and local governments before reaching agreement last year to build a $160 million, 78,600-seat complex near Landover, Md. It is to open this season.
``These things can be done if you put your will to it,'' Cooke said. ``This was proved when I built the Forum, which they said would take 78 weeks; it took us 52 weeks.''
But Cooke's business prowess was often overshadowed by a personal life that smacked of scandal.
He was married five times, with one marriage lasting just 73 days and another only 10 months.
Cooke had far more success with the Redskins. Their rise began in 1981 with the hiring of Gibbs. He and general manager Bobby Beathard built a team that played in four Super Bowls and won three - in 1982, 1987, 1991.
Cooke had a meddle-free philosophy that remained in place with current coach Norv Turner and general manager Charley Casserly. Both recently received long contract extensions despite a four-year absence from the playoffs.
``I almost invariably agree with them,'' Cooke said of his coaches and executives, ``because they know these things better than I do.''
His health had deteriorated in recent months. He suffered a heart attack in 1973, and was bothered by breathing difficulties and angina pain. In early November he fell ill while watching the Redskins-Cardinals game at RFK, and was diagnosed with a degenerative arthritic condition.
Cooke, who suffered increasing arthritic pain in his hands in his final months, missed the final two games at RFK, but vowed to be well enough for the opening of his new stadium in September. Despite his failing health, Cooke was closely involved in the stadium's design and construction and went to the site on most Sundays to check its progress.
Cooke is survived by his wife Marlena, daughter Jacqueline and his son, John Kent Cooke Sr., who is the Redskins executive vice president and who is expected to assume control of the team. Cooke's other son, Ralph Kent Cooke, died in 1995. Cooke also had five grandchildren.
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. Washington Redskins owner Jack Kentby CNBCooke, with former coach Joe Gibbs, holds the Super Bowl trophy
after Washington beat Denver in Super Bowl XXII. color.