Hall of Fame
Ronald L. Cook, 2007- Ronald L. Cook was a three-sport student-athlete at Western Illinois, lettering twice in football (1938-39), four times in track (1939-41, 1946) and three times in basketball (1938-39, 1946). He played halfback in football and was a team captain and conference MVP as a guard in basketball. As a trackster, Cook qualified for the NCAA nationals at Milwaukee in 1940 in both the hurdles and the pole vault.Â
After a two-year stint in the U.S. Coast Guard, where he played basketball, Cook returned to the Macomb campus to complete his bachelor’s degree in 1946 and his master’s degree in chemistry in 1947. He became a football, basketball and track coach and junior high science teacher at the Western Academy, then continued to coach and teach in several high schools before joining the Illinois State University faculty as a chemistry professor in 1962 - a position he held until his retirement in 1977.
He was on the Illinois Curriculum Council, State Superintendent's Office, from 1949-79. He received the Freedom Foundation of Valley Forge Outstanding Educator Award in 1961, and received an Alumni Achievement Award from Western Illinois University in 1976. In 1999 he was inducted into the Morrison Community High School Athletic Hall of Fame as a basketball coach.
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