Samuel Stephen Cooke Sr. (August 7, 1879 – May 28, 1944) was an American college football coach. He served as the head football coach at Maryland Agricultural College—now known as the University of Maryland, College Park—in 1899, compiling a record of 1–4.
Biography A native of Hyattsville, Maryland,Reveille, p. 42, Maryland Agricultural College, 1900. Cooke enrolled at the Maryland Agricultural College (now the University of Maryland) in 1897.Alumni record of the Maryland Agricultural College: 1914, p. 77, Maryland Agricultural College, 1914. He played on the football team from 1897 to 1899 as a fullback.All-Time Lettermen (PDF), 2007 Terrapin Football Record Book, p. 19, University of Maryland, 2007.Morris Allison Bealle, Kings of American Football: The University of Maryland, 1890–1952, p. 30, Columbia Publishing Co., 1952. In the 1898 game against Western Maryland, Cooke performed the dubious feat of kicking a punt from midfield over his head and backwards 25 yards. The opponent scored a touchdown shortly thereafter.Bealle, pp. 30–35. The following season, the team elected Cooke as captain, but he suffered a broken arm in the first game against Western Maryland. By Thanksgiving, he returned to the sport, playing for the Hyattsville town team.Bealle, p. 36. Cooke left the college before graduating and went to work for the Potomac Electric Power Company in Washington, D.C. He married Mary née Ward on March 28, 1910.
Head coaching record
References