Johnie Cooks, the former Colts and Browns linebacker who won the Super Bowl with the New York Giants in 1991, dies at 64
Johnie Cooks, the former NFL linebacker who played for the Colts, New York Giants and Cleveland Browns, has died at the age of 64.
Colts owner Jim Irsay confirmed the news on his Twitter, saying, “Rest In Peace Johnie Cooks.”
A cause of death has not yet been given, but the Starkville Daily News said he had some health problems. He played 83 games with 74 starts in seven seasons with the Colts.
Cooks won the Super Bowl with the Giants in 1991 and retired with the Browns in 1992.
Johnie Cooks, a former linebacker for the Colts, Giants and Browns, has died at the age of 64.
He was inducted into the Mississippi Hall of Fame in 2004. Cooks had played college football at Mississippi States.
“The Mississippi State family mourns the loss of the all-time great Bulldog, Johnie Cooks,” they said Thursday. ‘Cooks was an SEC football legend and one of the greatest to ever represent Maroon and White. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.’
In the 1982 NFL Draft, Cooks was the second choice and went to the Baltimore Colts and was there for six years, including when they moved to Indianapolis in 1983.
In 1988, Cooks was released and signed by the Giants and three years later, he became a Super Bowl champion.
The Giants outscored the Buffalo Bills 20-19 in Florida, a game remembered for the Bills’ Scott Norwood missing a 47-yard field goal attempt late in the game.
Former Mississippi Bulldogs teammate John Bond also tweeted about Cooks’ death, saying: ‘I will miss you Big Dawg! You were the best of all! I love you brother!
Mississippi State director of athletics Zac Selmon added: “Johnie Cooks is without a doubt one of the best players to ever put on Maroon and White and at the same time he’s one of the coolest college football players. decorated of his time”.
“He really did it all in his career, from winning accolade after accolade as a Bulldog to winning a Super Bowl in the NFL.
‘Johnie will forever be remembered in Starkville as he is established as an MSU legend.
“We extend our deepest condolences to Johnie’s family, as well as to all who knew, loved and admired him.”
In a video on the Mississippi State Athletics YouTube channel filmed over four years, Cooks discussed how playing football in Mississippi shaped him.
“They changed my whole life and they changed my family’s life,” he said. ‘They saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself.
I needed them much more than they needed me.
