Cooke's gone, never forgotten

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

Even in its heyday, it wasn't an opulent venue. It was open to the elements. The food and drink were fine but forgettable.

And yet, the owner's box for a Redskins game at RFK Stadium was the place to be seen in Washington from 1979 to '96.

The man responsible for that atmosphere, Jack Kent Cooke, died 10 years ago today at 84. But in his time, the Redskins' owner presided over a box full of high-ranking government officials, corporate chieftains, magnates and renowned authors like a lord of the manor.

"He was kind of like P.T. Barnum," said longtime Maryland State Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller. "People came to RFK to see the Redskins, but they would also look up to his box."

Mr. Cooke wasn't a run-of-the-mill NFL owner. He built the Forum in Los Angeles, Redskins Park and the stadium now called FedEx Field. He owned New York's Chrysler Building, the Los Angeles Daily News, the Lakers and the Kings in Los Angeles and a Kentucky horse farm. He won championships in football, basketball and baseball, gave Hall of Fame leaders Sparky Anderson and Joe Gibbs their first commands, and traded for superstars Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Mr. Cooke, a native of Hamilton, Ontario, would tell his rich pals that they should "buy a ballclub" because it was so much fun.

"Jack lived a good life," said Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder, who got to know Mr. Cooke while serving as Virginia's governor from 1990 to '94.

"He liked entertainment and being with friends. He loved being the owner of the Redskins. Jack didn't hide his personality at all. He was outgoing and outspoken. He would talk to people in a commanding voice. He would say, 'Listen to me carefully. This is what you're going to do.' "

Mr. Cooke even brought that approach to the dinner table, where he would confound diners and servers alike as he tried to order food for friends at restaurants, according to author Larry L. King.

"Cooke was quite a character," said the author of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," a man who knows a thing or two about characters. "After I had been to two games, Cooke said, 'You pass the test. If you're here two games and I still like you, you become a regular in the box.' I was there the next 14 years."