Six-member College Sports Communicators Hall of Fame Class of 2024 highlights Special Award honorees
Carroll Hoff "Beano" Cook spent 55 years in college sports, first as a sports information director and then as a noted and national figure as a media network sports publicist and commentator.
Beano was often referred to as the "Pope of College Football," a title that acknowledged his work as a college football analyst and historian.
After earning his degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1954, Cook Beano" served a stint in the Army before he returned to Pitt to become its sports information director in 1956. During his time running the Pitt sports information office (1956-66), he became one of CoSIDA's leaders in the profession.
Cook left Pitt in 1966 to join ABC Sports as the network's NCAA press director, a position he held until 1974. Over the years, he held a number of different jobs in sports, including being a sports writer for the
St. Petersburg Times, vice president of the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, public relations director for the Miami Dolphins and the Mutual Radio Network, and publicist for CBS Sports before becoming an on-air commentator for ABC Sports from 1982-85. In 1986, he moved to ESPN, where he became a household name and continued to contribute to the network for many years afterward on ESPN Radio and ESPN News and the network's website. He maintained a blog, beano-cook.com, where he wrote about a variety of subjects.
Cook passed away October 11, 2012 at the age of 81.