Hanover
None, however, is any more a Big Green leader than Joseph Cook, a lanky tight end who’s barely stepped on the field in varsity competition. A 6-foot-5, 218-pound Californian who played his first three years as a wide receiver, Cook has never quite gotten untracked on the college gridiron. Injuries, a logjam of players at his former position and Dartmouth’s increasing talent pool have conspired to keep him on the sidelines.
Nonetheless, if you’re having a bad day, Cook is your man. His frequent smiles, ready laugh and nonstop effort make it difficult for everyone from teammates to support staff to reporters not to walk away from him a bit less burdened. He’s typically the last player to leave the practice field, often staying for an extra half-hour to catch passes.
“It’s easy to lead when you’re playing in games,” receivers coach Jerry Taylor said. “Joe’s energetic and well-liked, and he’s done a great job of harnessing that and making it his thing. He’s typically the loudest person on the sideline, and the guys feed off that.”
Cook grew up an only child in Monrovia, a Los Angeles suburb of roughly 40,000 and just east of Pasadena. His father, Joseph Sr., is a hazardous materials technician who played trombone in the University of Southern California marching band. His mother, Kim, attended Long Beach State and is general manager at a bulk merchandise store. Despite a lack of siblings, Cook has two female cousins, and his extended family shows why his personality is so exuberant, his mother said.
“We’re all crazy and loud,” Kim Cook said. “We believe in laughter and love.”
Baseball was Joseph Sr.’s game at Long Beach (Calif.) Polytechnic High, which also produced Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn around the same time. Cook got his son involved in the game early, and the boy starred at catcher on youth teams that traveled the country. By ninth grade, however, Joseph Jr. hit a growth spurt, and although he attended athletic power Bishop Amat High in part because of its baseball program, he was soon considered too tall to catch. That wilted his interest in baseball.
Football and basketball remained, however, and the former resulted in recruitment by assorted schools. Portland State looked like the frontrunner for a bit, but Keith Clark, Dartmouth’s offensive coordinator, got his program in the running when he approached Cook at the University of Pittsburgh’s summer camp. Cook had just been chatting with a coach from Princeton, but had never heard of its Ivy League rival.
“I’m talking to this dude in a little green sweater and thinking, ‘Why in the heck would I want to go to New Hampshire?’ ” Cook recalled with a chuckle. “I thought they were in Division III.”
The Cooks did go all the way to New Hampshire, however, attending a mid-winter recruiting weekend as a family and enduring below-zero temperatures. So impressed was Joseph Jr. with the football program’s commitment to academics that his mother, who entered the trip with no intention of allowing her baby to actually enroll at Dartmouth, had to loosen her grasp.
“I was going to find something wrong with that school, but by Sunday, I was in tears because I couldn’t come up with anything and I couldn’t stop him,” she said, noting that Dartmouth is 2,940 miles from her house. “I knew it was where he needed to be.”
Cook arrived weighing 185 pounds and resembling a bundle of kindling. So slender were his limbs that observers wondered if he’d survive his first preseason camp, let alone an entire college career. Ultimately, however, it wasn’t hard hitting that knocked him off his stride, but wear and tear on his knees. Ligament and cartilage tears resulted in the loss of almost two full seasons and didn’t help the agility of a player who wasn’t a speed demon even before the setbacks.
“You bleed for guys like that,” Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens said. “The time he’s missed, it leaves him playing catch-up. I know it hurts him that he’s not playing more, but you’d never know it the way he takes the field and how engaged he is in the locker room.”
Cook also is no slouch academically. An engineering major, he’s enrolled in a five-year program, has helped conduct biomedical research and had his name included on two studies presented at a national conference. Despite that success, however, he’s more interested in medical sales, sports marketing or attending law school after receiving his undergraduate degree. Cook is hoping to soon land an internship with the Los Angeles-based Creative Artists Agency, which is considered a dominant player in its field.
“I’ve been looking into entertainment and sports law or maybe patent law, because there’s a big need for people there and you need a technical background,” Cook said. “Engineering is part of my identity here, but I don’t necessarily want to be a practicing engineer.”
Cook would like to do more than just practice football. As it became apparent this fall that he wasn’t likely to crack the receiving lineup, he suggested to his coaches that he move to tight end, a position where Dartmouth is a bit thin.
That term also applies to Cook’s physique when compared to the requirements of his new position, so he’s embarked on a campaign to gain roughly 20 pounds. It’s expected that the Ivy League will grant Cook a fifth year of athletic eligibility because of his past injuries, and he wants to be ready.
“I’m eating six times a day, things like peanut butter and jelly and guzzling milk,” he said. “I’m just determined to get on the field. That’s what I owe to my family back home and to Coach Teevens, who used (an admissions) spot on me. If doesn’t work out, I at least did everything I could do.”
Cook’s posture and tone of voice leave no doubt he’s somewhat anguished at not having contributed more during games. Still, he’s the player Teevens turns to when a touted recruit is in town, because he knows no one’s better at closing the deal than No. 84.
“You want visitors to talk to him because he loves the college and his teammates,” the coach said. “He’s been wonderful for our program, and you want all your guys to be like him.”
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.