Jack Kent Cooke
Encyclopedia
Jack Kent Cooke was a Canadian entrepreneur and former owner of the Washington Redskins
(NFL
), the Los Angeles Lakers
(NBA
), and the Los Angeles Kings
(NHL
), and built The Forum
in Inglewood, California
and FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland
.
, Cooke moved with his family to The Beaches
area of Toronto in 1921, where he attended Malvern Collegiate Institute
.
At age 14, Cooke got a job selling encyclopedias door to door. At the end of his first day, he took home over $20 to his mother, and is reported as later saying "I think that was the proudest moment of my life." He later became a runner on the floor of the Toronto Stock Exchange
. He was selling soap in Northern Ontario for Colgate-Palmolive
in 1936 when he met Roy Thomson
, who hired Cooke to run radio station CJCS
in Stratford, Ontario
. The two became partners in 1941, buying radio stations and newspapers in Ontario
and Quebec
.
With the financial backing of J. P. Bickell, Cooke purchased CKCL
in 1945, changing the call letters to CKEY. He also continued to work with Thomson, and the two acquired the Canadian edition of Liberty magazine in 1948, naming it New Liberty. The following year, Thomson sold his half of the magazine to Cooke.
In 1951, Cooke ventured into sports, acquiring the minor league
Toronto Maple Leafs baseball club. He transformed the games from straight athletic contests into complete entertainment packages, with a long list of special promotions and celebrity appearances. With his focus on entertainment, Cooke was compared to St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck
. Five months after becoming owner, Cooke presented a 48-page booklet to all the teams in the league, outlining his promotional strategies. He was named minor league executive of the year by The Sporting News
in 1952. That same year, Cooke purchased Consolidated Press, publisher of Saturday Night
magazine. He made an unsuccessful bid for The Globe and Mail
newspaper in 1955.
While owning the Maple Leafs baseball team, Cooke set his sights on bringing Major League Baseball
to Toronto. He tried to purchase the St. Louis Browns, Philadelphia Athletics, and Detroit Tigers
when they came up for sale, and in 1959 he became one of the founding team owners in the Continental League
, a proposed third major league for professional baseball. The league disbanded a year later without ever staging a game. Cooke still hoped to get an American League
expansion team in Toronto, but the city's lack of a major league venue became an impasse. Cooke would sell the Maple Leafs in 1964 and was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
in 1985.
In 1960, Cooke lost a bid to obtain a license for the first privately-owned TV station in Toronto. There had been nine bids in a highly competitive process, and the license was awarded to a consortium of Aldred-Rogers Broadcasting
and the Telegram Corporation
, which launched CFTO-TV
.
, Cooke quickly became a citizen when both houses of Congress and President Dwight D. Eisenhower
approved a waiver of the usual five-year waiting period. He sold CKEY at the end of 1960 and Consolidated Press in 1961.
At the time, Canada and the U.S. both had laws prohibiting foreign control of radio and TV stations. Cooke had entered the U.S. broadcasting industry in August 1959 by acquiring Pasadena, California
radio station KRLA 1110 through his brother, Donald Cooke, a U.S. citizen.
Cooke formed American Cablevision in the 1960s and acquired several cable television
companies. He acquired majority ownership of TelePrompTer cable TV and sold it in the late 1970s for $646 million. In 1980, he bought the Chrysler Building
in New York City, one of the world's most renowned skyscrapers. In 1985, Cooke bought the Los Angeles Daily News
for $176 million. A year later, he acquired another cable TV company.
after team owner and founder George Preston Marshall
became incapacitated by a stroke, becoming majority owner in 1974 and sole owner in 1985.
While he was owner of the Redskins, Cooke's team won three Super Bowl
s under head coach Joe Gibbs
in 1982
, 1987
, and 1991
, the franchise's first championships since the 1940s.
In 1997, Cooke completed a stadium deal in Landover, Maryland
, for a new home for his team. Initially, the community was called Raljon
—a name devised by Cooke by combining the names of his sons Ralph and John. Shortly afterwards, he died of cardiac arrest
. The stadium was posthumously named Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, which was changed to FedEx Field in 1999.
In his will, Cooke left the team and stadium to his foundation with instructions to sell it. Cooke's son, John Kent Cooke, tried to put in a competitive bid to keep the team in the family, but it instead went to local businessman Daniel Snyder
and his associates for a record-setting $800 million.
for $5 million from Bob Short
. Under Cooke's ownership the Lakers moved from the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena
to The Forum
and changed their colors from Royal and Light Blue to the current Purple (which he referred to as "Forum Blue") and Gold.
The Lakers during Cooke's ownership reached 7 NBA Finals and won the 1972 NBA Finals
.
, and he was determined to bring the National Hockey League
(NHL) to Los Angeles. In 1966, the NHL announced it intended to sell six new franchises, and Cooke prepared a bid. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Commission, which operated the Sports Arena, supported a competing bid headed by Los Angeles Rams owner Dan Reeves
, and advised Cooke that if he won the franchise he would not be allowed to use that facility. In response, Cooke threatened to build a new arena in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood
. Nearly thirty years later Cooke told the Los Angeles Times
sportswriter Steve Springer that he recalled "one official representing the commission laughing at him" (Springer's words) when Cooke warned he would build in Inglewood. Cooke won the franchise, and paid $2 million for the new Los Angeles NHL club, which he called the "Kings." Springer: "Cooke went to Inglewood and built the Forum
. Good-bye, Lakers. Good-bye, Kings." The Kings played their first game on October 14, 1967—at the Long Beach Arena, while construction was being completed at Cooke's new arena.
Cooke claimed The Forum would be "the most beautiful arena in the world." It opened December 30, 1967, to rave reviews. Cooke was soon calling it "The Fabulous Forum." The Kings struggled both on the ice and at the gate, however. Cooke had been told that there were more than three hundred thousand former Canadians living within a three-hour drive of Los Angeles, and remarked, "Now I know why they left Canada: They hate hockey!" Cooke sold the Forum, Kings and Lakers in 1979 to Dr. Jerry Buss
.
and owned the Los Angeles Wolves
team. In 1971, he was financial backer of the first Muhammad Ali
vs Joe Frazier
boxing match, held at Madison Square Garden
and won by Frazier.
horse racing
, Cooke owned Kent Farms, a 640 acres (2.6 km²) estate in Middleburg, Virginia
, not far from Washington, D.C. In December 1984 he purchased the historic Elmendorf Farm
in Lexington, Kentucky
from the estate of Maxwell Gluck. He bred and raced a number of successful horses, notably Flying Continental whose wins included the 1990 Jockey Club Gold Cup
.
Cooke's first marriage, his longest, lasted 45 years. He and Barbara Jean Carnegie married in 1934, and were divorced in 1979. In the divorce action, Carnegie was awarded what was then the largest divorce settlement in history — $42 million. The presiding judge during the bench trial was Joseph Wapner
, who later became famous as the judge on television's The People's Court
. Cooke and Carnegie had two sons: John Kent Cooke and Ralph Kent Cooke.
Cooke's second marriage, to Jeanne Maxwell, lasted only 10 months.
Cooke's third marriage, to Suzanne Elizabeth Martin, was even shorter: 73 days. During that brief marriage Martin, age 31, gave birth to a baby girl who the couple named Jacqueline Kent Cooke. At the time of Jacqueline's birth, Cooke, her father (age 74), was 43 years older than Martin, her mother (age 31). Martin in the divorce action sought $15 million from Cooke.
Following Cooke's death, it was revealed that his final wife, Marlene Ramallo Chalmers—a former drug runner from Bolivia who was 40 years his junior—had been cut out of his will. Cooke and Chalmers had married in 1990, divorced in 1993 (after she made headlines in May 1992 by accidentally shooting herself in the finger and in September 1993 by driving drunk in Georgetown
with a man pounding on the hood of her Jaguar convertible), and remarried in 1995. Chalmers filed suit against Cooke's estate and reportedly received $20 million in a settlement reached about a year after Cooke's death.
The bulk of Cooke's $825 million estate went into establishing the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation to help selected students of modest means attend college. The stated mission of the foundation is to "help young people of exceptional promise reach their full potential through education."
Cooke's will, which revealed his multiple changes of heart regarding his wives and children, received considerable public attention at the time of his death.
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
(NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
), the Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
(NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
), and the Los Angeles Kings
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
(NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
), and built The Forum
The Forum (Inglewood, California)
The Forum is an indoor arena, in Inglewood, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. From 2000 to 2010, it was owned by the Faithful Central Bible Church, which occasionally used it for church services, while also leasing the building for sporting events, concerts and other events.Along with Madison...
in Inglewood, California
Inglewood, California
Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...
and FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland
Landover, Maryland
Landover is an unincorporated community in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, within the census-designated place of Greater Landover. The Prince Georges County Sports and Learning Complex is in Landover...
.
Early career
Born in Hamilton, OntarioHamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, Cooke moved with his family to The Beaches
The Beaches
The Beaches is a neighbourhood and popular tourist destination located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the east side of the "Old" City of Toronto. The original boundaries of the neighbourhood are from Fallingbrook Avenue on the east to Kingston Road on the north, to Woodbine Avenue...
area of Toronto in 1921, where he attended Malvern Collegiate Institute
Malvern Collegiate Institute
Malvern Collegiate Institute is a Toronto high school that was founded in 1903 as "East Toronto High School", in what was then the village of East Toronto...
.
At age 14, Cooke got a job selling encyclopedias door to door. At the end of his first day, he took home over $20 to his mother, and is reported as later saying "I think that was the proudest moment of my life." He later became a runner on the floor of the Toronto Stock Exchange
Toronto Stock Exchange
Toronto Stock Exchange is the largest stock exchange in Canada, the third largest in North America and the seventh largest in the world by market capitalisation. Based in Canada's largest city, Toronto, it is owned by and operated as a subsidiary of the TMX Group for the trading of senior equities...
. He was selling soap in Northern Ontario for Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American diversified multinational corporation focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal products, such as soaps, detergents, and oral hygiene products . Under its "Hill's" brand, it is also a manufacturer of...
in 1936 when he met Roy Thomson
Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet
Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet GBE was a Canadian newspaper proprietor and media entrepreneur.-Career:...
, who hired Cooke to run radio station CJCS
CJCS (AM)
CJCS is a Canadian radio station in Stratford, Ontario with an oldies format at AM 1240 kHz.The station, known as "10AK" began broadcasting in 1928 as an amateur station at 250 metres. In 1933, the station changed to 1200 kHz, moved to 1210 kHz in 1936 and then moved to its present...
in Stratford, Ontario
Stratford, Ontario
Stratford is a city on the Avon River in Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada with a population of 32,000.When the area was first settled by Europeans in 1832, the townsite and the river were named after Stratford-upon-Avon, England. It is the seat of Perth County. Stratford was...
. The two became partners in 1941, buying radio stations and newspapers in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
and Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
.
With the financial backing of J. P. Bickell, Cooke purchased CKCL
CHKT (AM)
CHKT is a Canadian radio station, airing at 1430 AM in Toronto, Ontario. The station, owned by the Fairchild Radio service, airs Chinese language programming.-History:The station first aired in 1925 as AM 840 CKCL, owned by the Dominion Battery company...
in 1945, changing the call letters to CKEY. He also continued to work with Thomson, and the two acquired the Canadian edition of Liberty magazine in 1948, naming it New Liberty. The following year, Thomson sold his half of the magazine to Cooke.
In 1951, Cooke ventured into sports, acquiring the minor league
Minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities. This term is used in North America with regard to several organizations competing in...
Toronto Maple Leafs baseball club. He transformed the games from straight athletic contests into complete entertainment packages, with a long list of special promotions and celebrity appearances. With his focus on entertainment, Cooke was compared to St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck
Bill Veeck
William Louis Veeck, Jr. , also known as "Sport Shirt Bill", was a native of Chicago, Illinois, and a franchise owner and promoter in Major League Baseball. He was best known for his publicity stunts to raise attendance. Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis...
. Five months after becoming owner, Cooke presented a 48-page booklet to all the teams in the league, outlining his promotional strategies. He was named minor league executive of the year by The Sporting News
The Sporting News
Sporting News is an American-based sports magazine. It was established in 1886, and it became the dominant American publication covering baseball — so much so that it acquired the nickname "The Bible of Baseball"...
in 1952. That same year, Cooke purchased Consolidated Press, publisher of Saturday Night
Saturday Night (magazine)
Saturday Night was a Canadian general interest magazine. It was founded in Toronto, Ontario in 1887.The publication was first established as a weekly broadsheet newspaper about public affairs and the arts, which was later expanded into a general interest magazine. The editor, Edmund E. Sheppard,...
magazine. He made an unsuccessful bid for The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
newspaper in 1955.
While owning the Maple Leafs baseball team, Cooke set his sights on bringing Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
to Toronto. He tried to purchase the St. Louis Browns, Philadelphia Athletics, and Detroit Tigers
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
when they came up for sale, and in 1959 he became one of the founding team owners in the Continental League
Continental League
The Continental League was a proposed third major league for baseball, announced in 1959 and scheduled to begin play in the 1961 season...
, a proposed third major league for professional baseball. The league disbanded a year later without ever staging a game. Cooke still hoped to get an American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
expansion team in Toronto, but the city's lack of a major league venue became an impasse. Cooke would sell the Maple Leafs in 1964 and was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum is a museum located in St. Marys, Ontario, Canada. The museums commemorates great players, teams, and accomplishments of baseball in Canada.-History:...
in 1985.
In 1960, Cooke lost a bid to obtain a license for the first privately-owned TV station in Toronto. There had been nine bids in a highly competitive process, and the license was awarded to a consortium of Aldred-Rogers Broadcasting
Aldred-Rogers Broadcasting
Aldred-Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. was a broadcasting company created in 1959 to launch Toronto's first private television station. The partnership was made up of media personality Joel Aldred and radio station owner Edward S. "Ted" Rogers. The station created was CFTO-TV and began operations in 1960...
and the Telegram Corporation
Telegram Corporation
Telegram Corporation was a media outlet created under a joint venture between John Bassett's Toronto Telegram and the Eaton family, as one of three co-owners of CFTO-TV in 1960...
, which launched CFTO-TV
CFTO-TV
CFTO-DT, broadcast on channel 9 and cable 8, is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, owned by Bell Media. Currently branded as CTV Toronto, it is the flagship station of the CTV Television Network, and was one of the charter members of the network when it was launched in 1961. It...
.
Move to the United States
Within weeks of being turned down for the Toronto TV license, Cooke applied for U.S. citizenship. With the support of Francis E. WalterFrancis E. Walter
Francis Eugene Walter was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.-Biography:...
, Cooke quickly became a citizen when both houses of Congress and President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
approved a waiver of the usual five-year waiting period. He sold CKEY at the end of 1960 and Consolidated Press in 1961.
At the time, Canada and the U.S. both had laws prohibiting foreign control of radio and TV stations. Cooke had entered the U.S. broadcasting industry in August 1959 by acquiring Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
radio station KRLA 1110 through his brother, Donald Cooke, a U.S. citizen.
Cooke formed American Cablevision in the 1960s and acquired several cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
companies. He acquired majority ownership of TelePrompTer cable TV and sold it in the late 1970s for $646 million. In 1980, he bought the Chrysler Building
Chrysler Building
The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco style skyscraper in New York City, located on the east side of Manhattan in the Turtle Bay area at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Standing at , it was the world's tallest building for 11 months before it was surpassed by the Empire State...
in New York City, one of the world's most renowned skyscrapers. In 1985, Cooke bought the Los Angeles Daily News
Los Angeles Daily News
The Los Angeles Daily News is the second-largest circulating daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, a branch of Colorado-based MediaNews Group....
for $176 million. A year later, he acquired another cable TV company.
Washington Redskins
In 1961, Jack Kent Cooke purchased a 25 percent interest in the Washington RedskinsWashington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
after team owner and founder George Preston Marshall
George Preston Marshall
George Preston Marshall was the owner and president of the Washington Redskins of the National Football League from 1932 until his death in 1969.-Contributions:...
became incapacitated by a stroke, becoming majority owner in 1974 and sole owner in 1985.
While he was owner of the Redskins, Cooke's team won three Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
s under head coach Joe Gibbs
Joe Gibbs
Joe Jackson Gibbs is a former American football coach, NASCAR Championship team owner, and two time NHRA Pro Stock team owner. He was the 20th and 26th head coach in the history of the Washington Redskins...
in 1982
Super Bowl XVII
Super Bowl XVII was an American football game played on January 30, 1983 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California to decide the National Football League champion following the strike-shortened 1982 regular season...
, 1987
Super Bowl XXII
Super Bowl XXII was an American football game played on January 31, 1988 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 1987 regular season...
, and 1991
Super Bowl XXVI
Super Bowl XXVI was an American football game played on January 26, 1992 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota to decide the National Football League champion following the 1991 regular season...
, the franchise's first championships since the 1940s.
In 1997, Cooke completed a stadium deal in Landover, Maryland
Landover, Maryland
Landover is an unincorporated community in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, within the census-designated place of Greater Landover. The Prince Georges County Sports and Learning Complex is in Landover...
, for a new home for his team. Initially, the community was called Raljon
Raljon, Maryland
Raljon, Maryland was a place name used from 1997 to 1999 for the area of Landover, Maryland, around Jack Kent Cooke Stadium , where the Washington Redskins play....
—a name devised by Cooke by combining the names of his sons Ralph and John. Shortly afterwards, he died of cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest, is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively...
. The stadium was posthumously named Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, which was changed to FedEx Field in 1999.
In his will, Cooke left the team and stadium to his foundation with instructions to sell it. Cooke's son, John Kent Cooke, tried to put in a competitive bid to keep the team in the family, but it instead went to local businessman Daniel Snyder
Daniel Snyder
Daniel M. Snyder is the current owner of the Washington Redskins American football team, owner of the Dick Clark Productions television production company, and primary investor in Red Zebra Broadcasting, which is home to the Redskins Radio Network. Snyder has a net worth of $1.05 billion...
and his associates for a record-setting $800 million.
Los Angeles Lakers
In September 1965, Cooke purchased the Los Angeles LakersLos Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
for $5 million from Bob Short
Bob Short
Robert Earl Short was an American sport teams owner and politician.-Biography:A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Short bought the Minneapolis Lakers of the National Basketball Association in the late 1950s and moved the team to Los Angeles in 1960...
. Under Cooke's ownership the Lakers moved from the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena
The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena is a multi-purpose arena, in the University Park neighborhood, of Los Angeles, California, at Exposition Park. It is located next to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, just south of the campus of the University of Southern California.-History:The Los Angeles...
to The Forum
The Forum (Inglewood, California)
The Forum is an indoor arena, in Inglewood, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. From 2000 to 2010, it was owned by the Faithful Central Bible Church, which occasionally used it for church services, while also leasing the building for sporting events, concerts and other events.Along with Madison...
and changed their colors from Royal and Light Blue to the current Purple (which he referred to as "Forum Blue") and Gold.
The Lakers during Cooke's ownership reached 7 NBA Finals and won the 1972 NBA Finals
1972 NBA Finals
The 1972 NBA Finals was played at the conclusion of the 1971–72 NBA season. The Western Conference Champion Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Eastern Conference Champion New York Knicks in five games...
.
Los Angeles Kings
As a Canadian, Cooke particularly enjoyed ice hockeyIce hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, and he was determined to bring the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
(NHL) to Los Angeles. In 1966, the NHL announced it intended to sell six new franchises, and Cooke prepared a bid. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a large outdoor sports stadium in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, at Exposition Park, that is home to the Pacific-12 Conference's University of Southern California Trojans football team...
Commission, which operated the Sports Arena, supported a competing bid headed by Los Angeles Rams owner Dan Reeves
Dan Reeves (NFL owner)
Daniel "Dan" Reeves was the owner of the Cleveland/Los Angeles Rams from 1941 to his death in 1971.In addition to the controversial move of the Rams from Cleveland to Los Angeles, Reeves is remembered for being the first NFL owner to sign an African-American player in the post World War II era...
, and advised Cooke that if he won the franchise he would not be allowed to use that facility. In response, Cooke threatened to build a new arena in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood
Inglewood, California
Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...
. Nearly thirty years later Cooke told the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
sportswriter Steve Springer that he recalled "one official representing the commission laughing at him" (Springer's words) when Cooke warned he would build in Inglewood. Cooke won the franchise, and paid $2 million for the new Los Angeles NHL club, which he called the "Kings." Springer: "Cooke went to Inglewood and built the Forum
The Forum (Inglewood, California)
The Forum is an indoor arena, in Inglewood, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. From 2000 to 2010, it was owned by the Faithful Central Bible Church, which occasionally used it for church services, while also leasing the building for sporting events, concerts and other events.Along with Madison...
. Good-bye, Lakers. Good-bye, Kings." The Kings played their first game on October 14, 1967—at the Long Beach Arena, while construction was being completed at Cooke's new arena.
Cooke claimed The Forum would be "the most beautiful arena in the world." It opened December 30, 1967, to rave reviews. Cooke was soon calling it "The Fabulous Forum." The Kings struggled both on the ice and at the gate, however. Cooke had been told that there were more than three hundred thousand former Canadians living within a three-hour drive of Los Angeles, and remarked, "Now I know why they left Canada: They hate hockey!" Cooke sold the Forum, Kings and Lakers in 1979 to Dr. Jerry Buss
Jerry Buss
Gerald Hatten "Jerry" Buss Ph.D., M.S. is an American businessman, real estate investor, and a former chemist. He is the majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers professional basketball team along with other professional sports franchises in Southern California...
.
Los Angeles Wolves
In 1967, Cooke was a founder of the United Soccer AssociationUnited Soccer Association
The United Soccer Association is a former professional soccer league featuring teams from the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League to form the North American Soccer League. All the teams in the league were imported...
and owned the Los Angeles Wolves
Los Angeles Wolves
Los Angeles Wolves are a former United States professional soccer team, owned by Jack Kent Cooke, that played for two seasons during the 1960s...
team. In 1971, he was financial backer of the first Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
vs Joe Frazier
Joe Frazier
Joseph William "Joe" Frazier , also known as Smokin' Joe, was an Olympic and Undisputed World Heavyweight boxing champion, whose professional career lasted from 1965 to 1976, with a one-fight comeback in 1981....
boxing match, held at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
and won by Frazier.
Elmendorf Farm
A lover of horses and a fan of ThoroughbredThoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
, Cooke owned Kent Farms, a 640 acres (2.6 km²) estate in Middleburg, Virginia
Middleburg, Virginia
Middleburg is a town in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States with a population of approximately 976 as of July 2010.-History:The town was established in 1787 by American Revolutionary War Lieutenant Colonel and Virginia statesman, Levin Powell. He purchased the land for Middleburg at $2.50 per...
, not far from Washington, D.C. In December 1984 he purchased the historic Elmendorf Farm
Elmendorf Farm
Elmendorf Farm is a Kentucky Thoroughbred horse farm in Fayette County, Kentucky, and has been involved with horse racing since the early 19th century...
in Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
from the estate of Maxwell Gluck. He bred and raced a number of successful horses, notably Flying Continental whose wins included the 1990 Jockey Club Gold Cup
Jockey Club Gold Cup
The Jockey Club Gold Cup, established in 1919, is a prestigious thoroughbred flat race open to horses of either gender three-years-old and up. It is typically the main event of the fall meeting at Belmont Park, just as the Belmont Stakes is of the spring meeting and the Travers Stakes is of the...
.
Personal life
Cooke's marital history became progressively more colorful as he got older. He was married five times; however, two of the five marriages were to the same woman: Marlene Ramallo Chalmers. He was married to Chalmers at the time of his death.Cooke's first marriage, his longest, lasted 45 years. He and Barbara Jean Carnegie married in 1934, and were divorced in 1979. In the divorce action, Carnegie was awarded what was then the largest divorce settlement in history — $42 million. The presiding judge during the bench trial was Joseph Wapner
Joseph Wapner
Joseph Albert Wapner is a former American judge and TV personality of the real-life courtroom-style show The People's Court, which ran in syndication from 1981 to 1993 for 2,484 episodes....
, who later became famous as the judge on television's The People's Court
The People's Court
The People's Court is a US television court show in which small claims court cases are heard, though what is shown is actually a binding arbitration....
. Cooke and Carnegie had two sons: John Kent Cooke and Ralph Kent Cooke.
Cooke's second marriage, to Jeanne Maxwell, lasted only 10 months.
Cooke's third marriage, to Suzanne Elizabeth Martin, was even shorter: 73 days. During that brief marriage Martin, age 31, gave birth to a baby girl who the couple named Jacqueline Kent Cooke. At the time of Jacqueline's birth, Cooke, her father (age 74), was 43 years older than Martin, her mother (age 31). Martin in the divorce action sought $15 million from Cooke.
Following Cooke's death, it was revealed that his final wife, Marlene Ramallo Chalmers—a former drug runner from Bolivia who was 40 years his junior—had been cut out of his will. Cooke and Chalmers had married in 1990, divorced in 1993 (after she made headlines in May 1992 by accidentally shooting herself in the finger and in September 1993 by driving drunk in Georgetown
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Georgetown is a neighborhood located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years...
with a man pounding on the hood of her Jaguar convertible), and remarried in 1995. Chalmers filed suit against Cooke's estate and reportedly received $20 million in a settlement reached about a year after Cooke's death.
The bulk of Cooke's $825 million estate went into establishing the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation to help selected students of modest means attend college. The stated mission of the foundation is to "help young people of exceptional promise reach their full potential through education."
Cooke's will, which revealed his multiple changes of heart regarding his wives and children, received considerable public attention at the time of his death.
Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
Launched in 2000, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has been providing scholarships for many young high school, undergraduate, and graduate scholars studying worldwide. Each year the program helps approximately 650 students achieve their dreams via financial aid.Other sources
- Jack Kent Cooke: A Career Biography, by Adrian Kinnane, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, 2004