October 16, 2024 • 10 mins
Longtime Cincinnati sportswriter Bill Koch has written about UC legend and Bengals phenom Greg Cook, in Unfinished Painting: The Untold Story of Bengals Phenom Greg Cook.
Bill joined us on ESPN1530.
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
Bill joined us on ESPN1530.
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Twenty sixth away from six o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
I am broadcasting from Buffalo Wild Wings. Harper's point. I
mentioned this earlier that I read this book last week,
and if Bill Cook writes it, I read it. Bill
covered Cincinnati sports for years for both The Inquirer and
(00:21):
The Post before he retired for Go Bearcats dot com
and has written a whole series of books on a
bunch of different topics during his career, but since he
ended his newspaper career, and his latest was terrific, is terrific,
and I wanted to spend some time with Bill talking
about it. It's about Greg Cook, the Bearcat legend. And
(00:46):
I say this with all due respect the Bengals. What
if Greg passed away twelve years ago. He is somebody
that I never had a chance to meet, but I've
always I've always kind of kick out of talking with
people who were own Greg Cook, watched him play, in
some cases, played with him, and so I was really
excited to read Bill's book about Greg's life, his time
(01:09):
as a Bearcat, his time as a Bengal, his time
trying to return to the Bengals, and in many respects
and many of them sad what life was like for
him once football was no longer something he could do.
The name of the book is Unfinished painting the untold
story of Bengals phenom Greg Cook, Bill is with us.
(01:30):
First of all, thank you for your flexibility with time.
It's good to have you. What's going on.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Well, thanks for having me on MO. Flexibility is no
big deal. I'm retired, that's no problem.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
I appreciate you moving some stuff around for us. Is
Greg Cook the biggest what if in Bengals history?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I don't think there's any question about that. I mean,
even Mike Brown, who's not exactly known for making Outlandi's statements,
told me that if Greig hadn't gotten hurt, the Bengals
would have been the team of the seventy instead of
the Steelers. So, you know, he was so talented. Everybody
I talked to who played with him or saw him
play in his prime, well, they're no greater authority on quarterbacks.
(02:10):
And Bill Walsh and he said he was the greatest
talent to ever play the physician.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah, and there's a lot of there's a lot to
that in what you wrote. You obviously, you know you
covered sports in this town, but I think most closely
the University of Cincinnati. What about Greg as a Bearcat?
Did you not know going in that you knew coming out?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Well? I met Greg. I had dinner with Greg once,
just as an aside, when he tried to get into
a broadcasting career and he did color commentary on He
was like Jim Kelly junior for a couple of years,
and I remember on a UC football road trip having
dinner with him and a few other people. That's thely
time I ever met him. But what I didn't know
(02:54):
is he wasn't much of a star when he until
his senior year. He didn't start until his junior year,
and he wasn't out of that great. He wasn't bad,
but he was nothing special. And then a Bengals or
the UC coach at the time head coach was Holm
of Rice. He later became the Bengals head coach, and
he pulled Greg aside after the season and said, if
you want to play in the NFL, you need to
(03:14):
step it up. Devote this summer to getting better and
because you got the talent, and so that's what he
did every day with his two favorite receivers, Tom ross Ain,
Jim O'Brien, and when he came back out his senior year,
he led the nation in passing and total offense and
was a first round draft picker.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
And this is more of a comment than it is
a question like put up numbers. You know, his all
time record for passing yards in the game made it
through twenty fifteen, when it was when it was, it
was broken. And then you would go back and look
at Greg's numbers as a bearcat, they look like numbers
that you would associate with twenty first century football, not
(03:55):
college football played in the nineteen sixties.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, yeah, they only played ten games back then, for
one thing, and they didn't throw the ball the way
they do now. I mean they would, they would rarely
throw it twenty times a game. But Homer Rice was
smart enough to know what he had in Greg, and
he's pretty much cutting loose and he just had he
did have two great receivers. Jim O'Brien became, as you know,
famous for kicking the game winning field goal, and he
(04:23):
was Super Bowl five and he said he also kicked
the game winning field goal to beat Miami in Greg's
last game. When Greg rallied him from behind in the
fourth quarter. Brian kicked the field goal to win the game,
and he said his field goal to beat Miami is
just as important to him as the field goal that
he won the Super Bowl with. But yeah, Greg was
he was an anomaly for his time. He was He
(04:44):
could throw the ball ninety yards downfield. He was big
and strong. There's a there's a picture, you know, those
old days where he used to take post pictures for football,
for promotional things, and and there's a picture of him
with his center and he's doesn't have a helmet on
or anything, but he and he's taken and taking the
staff from the center. He looks just as big as
the center. He was six ' four, like two twenty.
(05:06):
He could run like a deer, and he had such
a powerful arm, and he rarely ever looked. Just if
he couldn't find somebody open, or if he was under pressure,
he wouldn't just drop the ball off. He would scramble,
but he would always keep his eyes downfield. He always
wanted to make the big play. And what he played
for the Bengals a lot of times his big plays
with Bob Trump.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Greg Bill Cook is with us to talk about his
book about Greg Cook unfinished painting the Untold story of
Bengals Phenom Greg Cook. You talked to a lot of
people for this who had spent time with Greg, had
played with Greg, had witnessed his greatness on the football field,
had witnessed his struggles when he suffered the injury that
(05:46):
derailed his career. Who did you enjoy talking with.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Most Well, Bob Trump, He was a big help to me.
Mike Reid was amazing. I remember when I got done
interviewing Mike Reid on the phone. I i went to
my wife and I said, I've been interviewing athletes for
forty some years and I've never had an interview like that.
He was just so intelligent, so perceptive. I just I
(06:10):
was just stung by it. And the court Mike Brown
was very good, he was very cooperative. I didn't realize
that Mike Brown was a very close personal friend of Greg's.
And he told me that even today he still feels
and avoid in his life because Greg's not around anymore.
So those are probably the top three interviews. But Ken
Anderson told me that if Greg Cook hadn't gotten hurt,
he probably would be teaching high school in Patavia Illinois
(06:33):
because the reason Paul Brown drafted Ken because he didn't
know if Greg was going to come back that year
and he had to do something to make sure he
had a quarterback, so he drafted Kenny Anderson. That's how
he got here. And then when Kenny got here, Bill
Walsh like broken down and builting back up step by
step and essentially made him a great quarterback that they
thought great. Cook?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Was you cover Greg post football when he was no
longer able to play? And in my experiences and yours
are larger in number than mine, whenever I've been around
anybody who knew Greg Cook, there was always this instant
sadness when they would talk about him. And I think
(07:14):
you'd do a good job in the book of kind
of covering Why was that your experience in talking with
everybody that there was this just sadness in talking about
why things maybe ended up for Greg the way they did.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah. Absolutely. Greg was, as you may know, as a
talented artist, and he sold a lot of his works
around town, but he was never able to let art
take the place that football had held in his life
because football meant so much to it and so many
of his friends. He was very popular. He had a
very olt going personality, and people who knew him well
(07:48):
loved him and they tried to help him. Mike Brown
tried to help him in many different ways, financially in
other ways, but Greg just for some reason he couldn't
accept it and maybe he was too proud, whatever, but
he often was homeless and he lived in someone's storage
unit for a while. He would he would move in
with friends for a few weeks, and then he would
(08:10):
leave early in the morning and come back late at
night because he didn't want to be a bother to anybody.
And yeah, it's a very sad story. I mean, if
you're looking for an uplifting story, this isn't it, right,
But it's just, uh, it's just it's so sad, not
only because of what happened to Greg, but what happened
to the Bengals franchise and what they could have been.
He was. He was their first round draft pick, just
(08:31):
the second year of the franchise's existence. In his first
three games they played, they were three and oho. He
got hurt in the third game against the Chiefs. They
still won that game, but then he missed a couple
of games and they started they started to lose. Sam
Whites was took over for him like he got hurt,
So they ended up with a losing record that year.
But Greg still ended up the AFL Rookie of the
(08:52):
Year Offense Rookie of the Year. So think about that.
He played most of the season with a store shoulder
and he could throw the way he used to throw,
and he still was AFC Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah, it's an incredible unfinished painting the untold story of
Bengals phenom Greg Cook the author of the book Bill Cook.
Where can folks find it?
Speaker 2 (09:18):
You can get it on Amazon of course starting Saturday,
hopefully it will be at Jesseph Beeth. You can go
to an email address we have set up. It's Bkocchbooks
at gmail dot com and a Facebook page Bill Cookbooks.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Bill Cookbooks, of which there are many in growing volume.
And it's always good to have you on when you
write one, and I look forward to what's next. This
is really good As somebody who did not grow up
watching Greg Cook and who did not know a ton
about him, It might not be the most uplifting thing,
I'll grant you that, but the stories are still really good,
(09:54):
really interesting, and in many cases still a lot of fun.
I appreciate the time. It's always Bill, thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
All right, mon, thank you.
Twenty sixth away from six o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
I am broadcasting from Buffalo Wild Wings. Harper's point. I
mentioned this earlier that I read this book last week,
and if Bill Cook writes it, I read it. Bill
covered Cincinnati sports for years for both The Inquirer and
(00:21):
The Post before he retired for Go Bearcats dot com
and has written a whole series of books on a
bunch of different topics during his career, but since he
ended his newspaper career, and his latest was terrific, is terrific,
and I wanted to spend some time with Bill talking
about it. It's about Greg Cook, the Bearcat legend. And
(00:46):
I say this with all due respect the Bengals. What
if Greg passed away twelve years ago. He is somebody
that I never had a chance to meet, but I've
always I've always kind of kick out of talking with
people who were own Greg Cook, watched him play, in
some cases, played with him, and so I was really
excited to read Bill's book about Greg's life, his time
(01:09):
as a Bearcat, his time as a Bengal, his time
trying to return to the Bengals, and in many respects
and many of them sad what life was like for
him once football was no longer something he could do.
The name of the book is Unfinished painting the untold
story of Bengals phenom Greg Cook, Bill is with us.
(01:30):
First of all, thank you for your flexibility with time.
It's good to have you. What's going on.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Well, thanks for having me on MO. Flexibility is no
big deal. I'm retired, that's no problem.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
I appreciate you moving some stuff around for us. Is
Greg Cook the biggest what if in Bengals history?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I don't think there's any question about that. I mean,
even Mike Brown, who's not exactly known for making Outlandi's statements,
told me that if Greig hadn't gotten hurt, the Bengals
would have been the team of the seventy instead of
the Steelers. So, you know, he was so talented. Everybody
I talked to who played with him or saw him
play in his prime, well, they're no greater authority on quarterbacks.
(02:10):
And Bill Walsh and he said he was the greatest
talent to ever play the physician.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah, and there's a lot of there's a lot to
that in what you wrote. You obviously, you know you
covered sports in this town, but I think most closely
the University of Cincinnati. What about Greg as a Bearcat?
Did you not know going in that you knew coming out?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Well? I met Greg. I had dinner with Greg once,
just as an aside, when he tried to get into
a broadcasting career and he did color commentary on He
was like Jim Kelly junior for a couple of years,
and I remember on a UC football road trip having
dinner with him and a few other people. That's thely
time I ever met him. But what I didn't know
(02:54):
is he wasn't much of a star when he until
his senior year. He didn't start until his junior year,
and he wasn't out of that great. He wasn't bad,
but he was nothing special. And then a Bengals or
the UC coach at the time head coach was Holm
of Rice. He later became the Bengals head coach, and
he pulled Greg aside after the season and said, if
you want to play in the NFL, you need to
(03:14):
step it up. Devote this summer to getting better and
because you got the talent, and so that's what he
did every day with his two favorite receivers, Tom ross Ain,
Jim O'Brien, and when he came back out his senior year,
he led the nation in passing and total offense and
was a first round draft picker.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
And this is more of a comment than it is
a question like put up numbers. You know, his all
time record for passing yards in the game made it
through twenty fifteen, when it was when it was, it
was broken. And then you would go back and look
at Greg's numbers as a bearcat, they look like numbers
that you would associate with twenty first century football, not
(03:55):
college football played in the nineteen sixties.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, yeah, they only played ten games back then, for
one thing, and they didn't throw the ball the way
they do now. I mean they would, they would rarely
throw it twenty times a game. But Homer Rice was
smart enough to know what he had in Greg, and
he's pretty much cutting loose and he just had he
did have two great receivers. Jim O'Brien became, as you know,
famous for kicking the game winning field goal, and he
(04:23):
was Super Bowl five and he said he also kicked
the game winning field goal to beat Miami in Greg's
last game. When Greg rallied him from behind in the
fourth quarter. Brian kicked the field goal to win the game,
and he said his field goal to beat Miami is
just as important to him as the field goal that
he won the Super Bowl with. But yeah, Greg was
he was an anomaly for his time. He was He
(04:44):
could throw the ball ninety yards downfield. He was big
and strong. There's a there's a picture, you know, those
old days where he used to take post pictures for football,
for promotional things, and and there's a picture of him
with his center and he's doesn't have a helmet on
or anything, but he and he's taken and taking the
staff from the center. He looks just as big as
the center. He was six ' four, like two twenty.
(05:06):
He could run like a deer, and he had such
a powerful arm, and he rarely ever looked. Just if
he couldn't find somebody open, or if he was under pressure,
he wouldn't just drop the ball off. He would scramble,
but he would always keep his eyes downfield. He always
wanted to make the big play. And what he played
for the Bengals a lot of times his big plays
with Bob Trump.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Greg Bill Cook is with us to talk about his
book about Greg Cook unfinished painting the Untold story of
Bengals Phenom Greg Cook. You talked to a lot of
people for this who had spent time with Greg, had
played with Greg, had witnessed his greatness on the football field,
had witnessed his struggles when he suffered the injury that
(05:46):
derailed his career. Who did you enjoy talking with.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Most Well, Bob Trump, He was a big help to me.
Mike Reid was amazing. I remember when I got done
interviewing Mike Reid on the phone. I i went to
my wife and I said, I've been interviewing athletes for
forty some years and I've never had an interview like that.
He was just so intelligent, so perceptive. I just I
(06:10):
was just stung by it. And the court Mike Brown
was very good, he was very cooperative. I didn't realize
that Mike Brown was a very close personal friend of Greg's.
And he told me that even today he still feels
and avoid in his life because Greg's not around anymore.
So those are probably the top three interviews. But Ken
Anderson told me that if Greg Cook hadn't gotten hurt,
he probably would be teaching high school in Patavia Illinois
(06:33):
because the reason Paul Brown drafted Ken because he didn't
know if Greg was going to come back that year
and he had to do something to make sure he
had a quarterback, so he drafted Kenny Anderson. That's how
he got here. And then when Kenny got here, Bill
Walsh like broken down and builting back up step by
step and essentially made him a great quarterback that they
thought great. Cook?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Was you cover Greg post football when he was no
longer able to play? And in my experiences and yours
are larger in number than mine, whenever I've been around
anybody who knew Greg Cook, there was always this instant
sadness when they would talk about him. And I think
(07:14):
you'd do a good job in the book of kind
of covering Why was that your experience in talking with
everybody that there was this just sadness in talking about
why things maybe ended up for Greg the way they did.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah. Absolutely. Greg was, as you may know, as a
talented artist, and he sold a lot of his works
around town, but he was never able to let art
take the place that football had held in his life
because football meant so much to it and so many
of his friends. He was very popular. He had a
very olt going personality, and people who knew him well
(07:48):
loved him and they tried to help him. Mike Brown
tried to help him in many different ways, financially in
other ways, but Greg just for some reason he couldn't
accept it and maybe he was too proud, whatever, but
he often was homeless and he lived in someone's storage
unit for a while. He would he would move in
with friends for a few weeks, and then he would
(08:10):
leave early in the morning and come back late at
night because he didn't want to be a bother to anybody.
And yeah, it's a very sad story. I mean, if
you're looking for an uplifting story, this isn't it, right,
But it's just, uh, it's just it's so sad, not
only because of what happened to Greg, but what happened
to the Bengals franchise and what they could have been.
He was. He was their first round draft pick, just
(08:31):
the second year of the franchise's existence. In his first
three games they played, they were three and oho. He
got hurt in the third game against the Chiefs. They
still won that game, but then he missed a couple
of games and they started they started to lose. Sam
Whites was took over for him like he got hurt,
So they ended up with a losing record that year.
But Greg still ended up the AFL Rookie of the
(08:52):
Year Offense Rookie of the Year. So think about that.
He played most of the season with a store shoulder
and he could throw the way he used to throw,
and he still was AFC Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah, it's an incredible unfinished painting the untold story of
Bengals phenom Greg Cook the author of the book Bill Cook.
Where can folks find it?
Speaker 2 (09:18):
You can get it on Amazon of course starting Saturday,
hopefully it will be at Jesseph Beeth. You can go
to an email address we have set up. It's Bkocchbooks
at gmail dot com and a Facebook page Bill Cookbooks.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Bill Cookbooks, of which there are many in growing volume.
And it's always good to have you on when you
write one, and I look forward to what's next. This
is really good As somebody who did not grow up
watching Greg Cook and who did not know a ton
about him, It might not be the most uplifting thing,
I'll grant you that, but the stories are still really good,
(09:54):
really interesting, and in many cases still a lot of fun.
I appreciate the time. It's always Bill, thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
All right, mon, thank you.
Mo Egger News
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