Steve Cook

[Jason Koopman]

Any good stories of Steve? I never met him, but seemed like a heck of a nice guy with a pleasant demeaner (only watched him in videos). I know he was a great one pocket player, but his name doesn't seem to come up as often as some of the others. I enjoyed watching him play, unfortunately he was another champion that passed unexpectedly before his time.

 

[Jason Koopman]

Anyone have anything to share?

 

[1pocket]

We inducted Steve Cook posthumously into the One Pocket Hall of Fame a few years ago. His plaque was accepted by his father Ken Cook, who was about 80 years old at the time. Steve happened to have been back living at home in Ohio with his father at the time he died. It really meant a lot to his father to see Steve honored. Steve's hall of fame page is here:

http://www.onepocket.org/SteveCookHOF.htm

I personally really admired Steve's style of One Pocket play, as well as his understated demeanor -- the "Cookie Monster", as I think Danny Di Liberto referred to him. But he was a tip top all-around player. He won the One Pocket division and All around title at one of the big Stardust tournaments when he was only 20 years old!

Ken Cook (with Grady Mathews) at Steve's One Pocket HOF induction in 2006:

 

[eezbank]

Anyone have anything to share?

One thing I think many people don't know about Steve is that he was a great barbox player. I played on a Valley team with Steve in the mid 90's. Steve could get out where it looked impossible. I remember him running out a rack one time and my friend Montie was pointing down towards his shoes snickering. I looked down and "Cookie Man" was wearing light blue socks. Montie thought that was the funniest thing. I still giggle a bit when I think about it. In the short time I knew Steve I never heard the guy raise his voice or saw him get upset. He was one of the most pleasant people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.

 

[Johnnyt]

I hung around and went bar hopping around the Tampa Bay area in the 1980's with Steve. We met one nite when I busted most of the Porthole bar in Town n Country. Someone called Steve up to win their money back. I didn't know him, but I figured out in two games that I couldn't beat him. I played one more game for about 1/4 of what I had won and still walked away with a good weeks pay. Steve And I became good friends after that.

About 6 months after that I was in a biker bar not too far from the Porthole. I had the better players stuck pretty good. One of the bikers says to me, "Wait right here. I'm going to call someone and your going to play him." A few minutes later in walks Steve and starts laughing. Thank God Steve knew the right guys in there. He said he wouldn't gamble with a friend, and they went along with that. I bought a few rounds of drinks to smooth things over a little more and then Steve and I got out of Dodge. RIP my friend. Johnnyt

 

[lfigueroa]

Any good stories of Steve? I never met him, but seemed like a heck of a nice guy with a pleasant demeaner (only watched him in videos). I know he was a great one pocket player, but his name doesn't seem to come up as often as some of the others. I enjoyed watching him play, unfortunately he was another champion that passed unexpectedly before his time.

Upon the news of his passing:

http://goo.gl/eAzBx

Lou Figueroa

 

[Zbotiman]

A second hand story!

Any good stories of Steve? I never met him, but seemed like a heck of a nice guy with a pleasant demeaner (only watched him in videos). I know he was a great one pocket player, but his name doesn't seem to come up as often as some of the others. I enjoyed watching him play, unfortunately he was another champion that passed unexpectedly before his time.

Sometime in the mid-eighties, DiLiberto was around the Cincinnati area and beat a guy in a Northern Kentucky bar out of $2500.00. Danny said, the guy always paid by check and was good for the money.

So Danny runs into Steve, lays out how the score works, takes him to the spot and Steve goes in plays the guy, "robs him," and at the end of the night, asks for the check. The guy stiffs Steve and says he won't pay!
So Steve says, "O.K., just be that way then, and walks out!"
When he tells Danny out in the car, Danny said "I just laughed," Steve was always a gentleman, nobody would've done that to me!"

 

[8balljohn]

I wrote 2 long stories about Steve Cook & they didn't submit because it took too long!! Grrrr........I give up! LOL. I'll just sum it up..
Steve Cook was the most humble person/champion on the pool table I've ever met! He was my idol because of how humble he was & how good he played. I spent a good amount of time with him in the early 90's.....roomed with him at a couple tournaments. We talked about movies all the time. He was a major movie buff! One of his favorite movies was Harvey (the 7ft bunny flick.) He also told me he'd watch The Silence of the Lambs to get a killer instinct before a big match/tournament. I tried it, didn't work for me, LOL. Basically, Steve doesn't seem to get talked about enough in the pool world, imo. I'm glad this thread was started. Before I lose my message again, lol....I'll just say I miss Steve & he was a true champion, and more importantly, extremely humble!

 

[Johnnyt]

This one was told to me by Jerry, the owner of the old 8 Ball Poolroom in the Tampa area. Jerry had some land up in North Florida that I believed he used for hunting. While up there he set up a game of 1-hole with some guy that Steve could rob. He picks up Steve in Tampa and tells him to use another name at the room he's taking him to to rob this guy. After a 200 mile trip, Steve walks in the place and the guy asks him his name. Steve says, "I'm Steve Cook the One Pocket Champion." Needless to say there was no game and Jerry yelled at Steve all the way back to Tampa about the wasted trip and all the money lost from his set-up.

PS: Even smart players screw up sometimes. One night Nick Varner walks into the Varsity Poolroom in Tampa looking for a game. When he took his jacket off he was wearing a tee-shirt saying, "Nick Varner, World 9 ball champ. I forget what year it said. No game for poor Nick. LOL. Johnnyt