A far cry from the young boy who walked home to the tiny Delta town of Longswitch 10 miles after football practice in high school at Leland.

Easy-going and fun-loving, all it took was a point in the right direction for Cooks to take off.

Cooks’ mother borrowed $5 a full day’s salary for her at the time to pay for Cooks to take a physical for the football team.

“That’s probably the best five dollars that we ever spent in our lives, and it changed my whole life,” he said.

Cooks was a well-rounded athlete, lettering three years in football, basketball and track, and he used his ability and drive to be successful.

“I was determined not to grow up on a plantation and work on a plantation my whole life,” he said. “I just used that to get me out of Leland, out on my own.”

He soon began to draw the attention of colleges for his football play. The decision came down to Southern Miss and Mississippi State, and Cooks chose State because “it felt like home.”

In his sophomore year, Cooks led the Bulldogs to a 6-5 record and earned second-team All-SEC honors. Heading into his junior year, the preseason awards were rolling in and expectations were high, but Cooks suffered a knee injury in the opening game of the 1979 season that forced him to sit out the year.

“That was probably the best thing to ever happen to me personally,” he said. “My head was so big that I thought I was God’s gift to football. School wasn’t important, nothing was important. I thought I was too good to really concentrate on academics.

“When I got hurt, it brought me down. I was too big for my britches as the old folks say.”

With more time on his hands, Cooks began to concentrate more on his classes and getting involved in extracurricular groups. By the time he came back, though, he was more than ready to play.

“We had a great defense that year, and it was because of him,” McEnany said. “He was our leader, and he was a hoss.”

Without Cooks, the Bulldogs finished 3-8 in 1979. In 1980, they won more games than the fans in Starkville would see for another 20 years.

At 5-2 on the season, the Bulldogs defeated Auburn in Jackson thanks to Cooks’ career-high 24 tackles.

The next week they traveled back to Jackson for a bout with Bear Bryant’s two-time defending national champion Crimson Tide. Alabama came in ranked No. 1 and riding a 28-game win streak, but Mississippi State won 6-3.

Outside of his play on the field, Cooks showed his worth on the sidelines as well.

Throughout the game, Cooks would head over to talk to Collins, whose friend had been murdered that week.

“He kept coming to check on me and make sure I was OK,” Collins said. “That got us closer as friends.”

MSU finished 9-3 on the season and followed with an 8-4 year in 1981.

The Baltimore Colts chose Cooks with the second overall pick, and he got his introduction into professional football.

The Colts won seven games through Cooks’ first two seasons. A move to Indianapolis in 1984 didn’t change things much, and Cooks was looking to get away from the down-in-luck franchise.

He and the organization agreed for him to go on waivers in 1988, where he was picked up by the Giants.

“It was like I was in a different world,” he said.

Cooks was one of six former Bulldogs in Super Bowl XXV, but the other five were on Buffalo, including MSHOF member Kent Hull, who suffered through four straight Super Bowl losses as a center for the Bills.

“I was the only one on the Giants, so you know a little bragging went on that week,” Cooks said. “I let Kent Hull wear my ring now whenever he wants to because he didn’t get one.”

The following year, Cooks spent the first nine games of the season on injured reserve before being waived by the Giants. The Cleveland Browns picked him up for the rest of the year, but Cooks retired after the season.

“When I went back my next year, I saw but couldn’t get there,” he said. “I could see the play, but my body couldn’t get there. I knew it was time to leave.”

After a year off, he returned to work for the MSU athletic department, where he spent seven years.

“Probably the biggest thrill in my life, other than playing football, was coming back to work for Mississippi State,” he said. “Being able to go in the locker room, being able to hear all the gossip about recruiting, who’s going to play this week. I got to be right in the middle of that.”

Cooks left to work as a legislative liaison for former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove in Jackson. Following Musgrove’s loss in the recent election, Cooks returned to Starkville where he lives now and coaches football for a junior high.

He has no plans on the agenda for the future, but he’s content with that.

“I’ve just had a great life,” Cooks said. “As my momma said, Don’t ever burn any bridges and treat people nice, and you’ll be rewarded.’

“And I have.”