Dick Cook, a member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and a mainstay of area high school sports for more than five decades, died Aug. 6 at his Crystal City home at the age of 87.
He taught physical education and coached football, basketball and track, but also served his community in a number of other ways, family and friends said.
The former athlete and coach had such a reputation in Crystal City that municipal leaders named a street (Dick Cook Drive) after him in the 1990s and Crystal City School District officials named the track and field inside the district’s J.J. Commerford Stadium after him in 2024.
He taught and coached for more than 50 years at Poplar Bluff, Herculaneum and Crystal City schools. He worked in Crystal City schools for 34 of those years.
A 1956 Crystal City High School graduate, he went on to the University of Missouri in Columbia where he played football and ran track as a sprinter. He coached the Crystal City High School girls track team to six consecutive Class 2A state championships from 1984-1989. He also helped establish the Jefferson County Jets AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) summer track club.
He ran the Crystal City Municipal Pool for many years.
For all of his athletic acclaim, people who knew him said they remember Cook more for the way he lived his life.
His wife of 64 years, Mary Ellen “Mimi” (Noce) Cook, said he was a devoted husband and family man.
“He was a very wonderful and devoted husband,” she said. “And a wonderful and fantastic father.”
Former Crystal City Mayor Tom Schilly, one of Cook’s nephews, said he always looked up to the man. He said Cook was his best man at his wedding.
“He was an outstanding gentleman,” Schilly said. “He was my mentor. I was raised in the same house he was. Overall, he was a community leader. He served on the Crystal City Council. He was Crystal City through and through. Uncle Dick was an advocate for the community. He worked for the best interests of Crystal City.
“I would go to him a lot of times for advice. When I was considering running for mayor, he told me to go ahead and do it – don’t wait until you retire. He will be missed.”
Schilly played on football and track teams that Cook coached at Crystal City High School.
Schilly’s wife, Linda, a longtime member of the Crystal City Board of Education, spoke of Cook’s character.
“I wanted to say what a great gentleman he was,” she said. “He was a coach when Tom was in school. Tom always said he treated everybody the same whether he was related to them or not. He coached a lot of his nephews and some of his nieces and, also, his own children.”
Angie (Lalumondier) Mather, a member of several of the Crystal City Hornets girls track state championship teams in the 1980s, recalls Cook’s personable style of leadership. She said she went on to the University of Missouri in Columbia on a track and academic scholarship.
“I knew Mr. Cook since I was a little girl,” she said. “He was my PE teacher and talked me into going out for the Jets track team. Not only did I know him from track, but I worked for him at the pool.
“He was a soft-spoken man,” she said. “You were comfortable talking to Coach Cook. Mr. Cook was such a mentor for all of us kids. He was a fine man.”
Jim Kasten, a longtime track coach at Herculaneum High School as well as the former Herculaneum city administrator, said Cook influenced him.
“Besides my father, he was probably the one adult male figure who has made an impact on my life,” Kasten said. “He’s a reason I got into coaching. He was my 10th grade world history teacher and football coach on the Herculaneum JV. He was bigger than life for a lot of us. He was young, funny… had a lot of great character.
“Later in life, we coached on separate teams. He had so much class and character. That’s what you noticed first.”
Two others who knew him – Frank and Jeanie Schultz – had similar words of praise.
“A true legend and gentleman,” said Frank Schultz, longtime Hillsboro High track coach. “A quality person always giving and concerned about others. My wife, Jeanie, worked with him at Crystal City.”
Jeanie Schultz said, “We worked at Crystal City together for 10 years and coached girls track. He was very good at what he did. He was always very helpful to anyone who needed help.”
Taylor Massa, the current Crystal City Schools superintendent, said Cook’s reputation in the school district left an impression that remains to this day.
“Coach Dick Cook’s impact on Crystal City Schools extends beyond his accomplishments as a coach and educator,” she said in a written statement. “He genuinely cares about the athletes and students. His commitment left a lasting mark on generations of Hornets.”
In addition to his induction into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023, he was named to the Missouri Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2002 and to the Crystal City High School Hall of Fame in 2009.
