Tag: Beano Cook

Notre Dame-Pitt: How Beano Cook nearly ended annual rivalry game

Earmuffs!

If you’re a longtime fan of college football then the name Beano Cook certainly means something to you.

Cook was a prominent college football media member and played a huge role in ESPN developing as a college football brand.

Notre Dame fans remember Cook for his prediction about Ron Powlus winning multiple Heisman Trophies, but Cook was so much more than just that.

The following comes from “Haven’t They Suffered Enough?”, Cook’s biography written by avid college football fan and Notre Dame graduate John D. Luckas.  As you’d probably guess, the book has plenty of stories of Beano that involve Notre Dame.

Before his ESPN career that most of us knew him from, Cook served as a sports publicist at Pitt.  It was in that role that he nearly ended the Pitt-Notre Dame rivalry in 1958.

Notre Dame football: Top 25 quarterback recruits since 2000

Four in the top 16 since the 2020 recruiting class. Not bad by Tommy Rees on his way out the door.

It was once said the highest pressure position in all of college football was playing quarterback at Notre Dame.  Sure, when [autotag]Beano Cook[/autotag] puts the pressure on you to win multiple Heisman’s and national championships, it’s nearly impossible to dispute the claim.

Times have changed a bit in recent decades and although the pressure on Notre Dame quarterbacks might not be the same as it was during the peak of the [autotag]Lou Holtz[/autotag] era for [autotag]Ron Powlus[/autotag], but pressure comes with playing for the Irish still, no doubt.

Quarterback has also been perhaps the biggest difference between the elites and Notre Dame in recent years in the sense that the elites have an elite signal caller while the Irish put out good but far from elite players at the position recently.

If we look back since the year 2000 there have been some fantastic quarterbacks to wear blue and gold.  Which of those came in with the biggest hype in terms of recruiting rankings?  And which ones soared beyond the little hype the may have been surrounded by?

And which didn’t even play quarterback in college?

Here are the top 25 Notre Dame quarterback recruits since 2000 according to the 247Sports composite ranking system.

Remembering Beano Cook and his Notre Dame moments 10 years after passing

Love him or hate him, few have ever been quite like Beano, who died 10 years ago today.

Ten years ago today a legend in the college football media world left us as Beano Cook passed away.  The 1954 University of Pittsburgh graduate went on to become one the most recognizable faces associated with college football media but before his ESPN career that most of us knew him from, he served as a sports publicist at Pitt.

Eventually Cook worked his way into the media world and upon doing so, waste no time becoming one of the biggest names in the business.

 John D. Lucaks, a Notre Dame graduate and passionate college football fan in his own right worked with Cook for years after developing a unique friendship on a whim.  Lucaks released Cook’s biography, “Haven’t They Suffered Enough?” in 2021 and as you’d probably guess, has plenty of stories of Beano that involve Notre Dame.

I was seven years old when Beano declared that Ron Powlus would win multiple Heisman Trophies and just assumed Cook was a Notre Dame backer at heart.  After reading this book I’ll let you know that he certainly wasn’t (doesn’t make him any less of a college football enthusiast) but sure did have some tales involving Notre Dame.

I’ll also say that in no point in my life have a I read a biography and in my head heard the featured person’s voice as clearly I did Beano’s with this book.

Find out below just a few of the stories that Lucaks shares in the book that involve Beano irritating a few Notre Dame priests during his publicist days at Pitt, the story behind his Powlus prediction, and what game Notre Dame won that earned Beano a huge pay day!

All are excerpts from the book that can be purchased for any longtime college football fan on Amazon.