SUNY Cortland C-Club Hall of Fame
David Cook shined as perhaps the greatest football running back in school history in addition to being a two-time men’s lacrosse All-American during his storied career at Cortland.
Cook still ranks first in the Red Dragon football record book with career totals of 3,455 rushing yards, 44 touchdowns and 268 points scored from 1981-84, and he also holds the school mark for longest run from the line of scrimmage with a 91-yard jaunt at Albany during his sophomore season. He was named a Division III All-American in both his junior and senior years and was named to the 1983 Associated Press “Little All-America” squad, which recognizes players from all non-Division I schools. He also earned All-ECAC recognition four times, including ECAC Upstate New York Player of the Year in 1984 and Rookie of the Year in 1981.
On the lacrosse field, Cook was chosen twice as a first-team All-America midfielder and garnered three All-SUNYAC awards. He registered career totals of 58 goals and 36 assists and was ranked consistently in the top two on the team in ground balls each season. His teams tied for third nationally in his senior year, tied for fifth nationally in his junior year, and won three SUNYAC titles. Cook was chosen to compete in the 1986 North-South All-Star Game.
A Vestal, N.Y., native, Cook returned to Cortland and completed his bachelor’s degree in 1991. He also earned a master’s degree from the college in 1999.
Since 1991, Cook has worked in the Maine-Endwell School District as a teacher, administrator and coach. He has been Maine-Endwell’s director of athletics since 2004 and the school’s boys’ lacrosse head coach since 1994. Cook also has worked as a volunteer coach with the Vestal Youth Football and Lacrosse programs and the Vestal Challenger Baseball League, in addition to volunteering with the Maine-Endwell M-EALS Program assisting families in need with food donations and deliveries.
