Dan Cook, Rest in Peace....

...We lost a friendly face here in San Antonio last night. Dan Cook, Sports Columnist and CBS Affiliate station Sports Anchor for fifty-one years before he retired, passed away. If you never passed through this fair town, you still knew him by six degrees. He was the feller that coined the phrase. "The Opera ain't over until the fat lady sings!"

That phrase has now slipped into the lexicon of Americana, so just hearing the phrase "the fat lady ain't sung yet" indicates there is still hope. As a matter of fact, this mornings Houston Chronicle led with the story; "The fat lady sang for Dan Cook last night...."

He did the daily six and ten pm news sports cast for forty years, plus five columns a week for the local major daily paper. Back in the '70's, the station brought in a team of consultants to identify problems and help them avoid slipping into second place. After two weeks of watching, listening and visiting around this town, their out going report said; "Dan Cook is too old, too wrinkled and his voice is too reedy for broadcast journalism. Further, he injects too much of his personal opinions in his sportscasts.

They concluded their report by saying; "But whatever you do, don't let one of the other stations steal him away from you, they'll kill you in the ratings book inside thirty days!"

Rest In Peace - Dan Cook - a True Gentleman!