BOERNE SPORTS
Boerne Champion has won the 202324 Cook Cup as the best all-around sports program in the greater San Antonio area.
It’s the Chargers fifth Cook Cup, while Boerne High leads the greater San Antonio area with six Cook Cups. Champion is tied with Reagan for second most with five Cook Cups apiece.
The Cook Cup is an award handed out by the San Antonio Express-News at the end of each school year to the top athletic program in the greater S.A. area and it’s named after legendary and iconic sports writer Dan Cook, who worked at the Express-News for more than 50 years.
At the same time, Cook was also a sports anchor for CBS affiliate KENS 5 for about 44 years and did radio work for much of that time as well, while owning a sports bar near downtown.
Cook made the phrase, “the opera ain’t over till the fat lady sings” a part of everyday language in American culture and it was called the quote of the decade by one national magazine.
I got the chance to meet Dan Cook when he spoke at a Boerne Chamber of Commerce luncheon in 2002, and after his talk, he and I sat and chatted for a bit.
Dan was comfortable in his own skin and you could tell he didn’t take himself too seriously. He had just retired and was very open about himself and his life. He mentioned that his wife really liked Boerne and they had thought about moving out here at one time, but ultimately decided against it.
We mostly talked mostly about his career and what a career it was. He attended 50 world championship boxing matches, was at the first 25 Super Bowls and even had the chance to hang out with Babe Ruth for a whole day as a young reporter.
His list of accomplishments went on and on and yet he was very humble about all of it.
I was surprised at his candor with me, basically a complete stranger. He told me how much money he made at KENS and at the Express-News and shared other personal information.
He knew I was writing a story about him yet he let the stories flow, especially a few involving his bar that made me blush, but he never said, “you can’t put that in the article.”
Dan seemed glad to have somebody listening to the stories as if somehow retirement meant people had forgotten him or made him less relevant, but that wasn’t the case back then, nor is it true today.
In fact, his legacy lives on through the Cook Cup.
He gave me career advice and asked me questions as if he was interested in what I had to say. To put it plainly, he was a nice guy and it was genuine, not forced.
After about two hours, it was time to leave, so I thanked him for his time and shook his hand, wondering which wild stories I was going to put in the article and which ones I was going to leave out.
Before we parted, he gave me his mailing address and asked me to mail him a copy of the article after it printed, and so I did.
I guess he liked the article because to my surprise, he sent me a short thank-you note a few weeks letter.
I still have the letter and think about him whenever they announce the annual winner of the award named after him.
A school may earn the Cook Cup but I have to say it was a pleasure to meet the man himself, Dan Cook.
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