SteveCookHOF

Steve was just 23 years old when he captured

the 1970 Stardust One Pocket title

The

One Pocket

Hall of Fame

Is pleased to honor

Steve Cook

'Cookie Monster'

For his Outstanding Contribution

to the Legacy of

The Game of One Pocket

Elected 2005

b. 12-31-46 d. 10-21-03

1970 Stardust One Pocket and

All-Around Winner

One Pocket legend Steve Cook died in his sleep at his home in Lima, Ohio at the age of 56. Under the tutelage of Junior 'Lefty' Goff he took to One Pocket as a young man, surprising the field with his 1970 Stardust victory. His boyish looks belied his fierce competitive talent, earning him the title 'The Clark Kent of One Pocket,' since he looked more like a school teacher than a hardened One Pocket player.

Steve is one of only two players to win both a Jansco Brother's One Pocket championship and one of Grady Mathews' Legends of One Pocket. Steve's major One Pocket wins include:

1970 Stardust One Pocket & All-around
1991 Philadelphia Legends of One Pocket
1993 Los Angeles Open One Pocket Division

Steve was one of the co-authors of Eddie Robin's landmark One Pocket book, Shots, Moves & Strategies.

My advice to all one-pocket players, beginners and experts alike, is to work as hard on the easiest shots and moves as you would on the most difficult. This advice is not meant for games like straight pool, for example, where the better players continually pocket balls by the rack. Just playing that game will naturally keep them in stroke. In that game the player must relax wherever he can get away with it. Relaxing on the simple shots in one-pocket, on the other hand, is why so many get out of stroke.

Among the many reasons why I love one-pocket is that, even among professional level players, both sides get to play every game. More importantly, even after years of play you can still continue to learn more and more shots, moves, and strategies. It's the pool game for strategical and creative abilities.

-- A Few Words from Steve Cook

excerpted from Shots, Moves & Strategies, edited by Eddie Robin

Click Here for Page 2 on Steve Cook

All photos courtesy of Ken Cook, and are used here with his permission.

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