GREENVILLE – Jake Cook, a 1993 Greenville Senior High School graduate took ownership of the Green Wave’s single game scoring record pouring in 52 points in a 1992 GMVC varsity boys basketball game against the visiting Sidney Yellow Jackets.
“I was definitely in a zone,” said Cook. “It was fun, a fun night.”
The 6’6” Cook set the mark his junior season with Coach Doug Fries leading the team with a starting five made up of Dave Peltz, Matt Gallivan, Chris Lee, Chad Oliver and Cook.
“Best coach I ever had,” Cook said of his former coach and current Greenville City Schools Superintendent, Doug Fries.
“It was always a pleasure to coach Jake,” said Fries. “He was a young man that had tremendous intensity, was highly motivated to be successful and he really loved to compete.”
In the record setting game, Cook was 24-34 from the field for better than 70 percent shooting and was a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line.
“I only played the first two and one half quarters,” Cook noted, “and then they put me back in the fourth quarter to break the school record.”
“It was an outstanding night,” Fries stated. “Sidney had had a new coach and they put in a fast paced up-tempo – a couple passes and shoot. That played into the hand of Jake because he was such an athlete. He had great size but he could run the floor.”
“They were running the ball and shooting from 3-point lines and Jake was able to control the defensive boards and run straight down the floor,” continued Fries. “Their focus was not on defense. He was a tremendous inside player so once we got him the ball inside … he had a tremendous shooting night from the floor.”
“Jake had outstanding pivot moves but he also had the wonderful ability to be a good athlete. He could run and jump, had great hands and all that played into a wonderful night for him.”
“In addition to being 6’6” Jake had very big hands and very long arms,” Fries added. “In basketball when you can create somebody at any position that has longer arms, bigger hands regardless of the position they play, it can be very helpful to you.”
Cook’s scoring record is not the only boys varsity scoring mark that still stands today from the 1992 win over Sidney. The team on the same night set Greenville’s all-time scoring mark of 119 points for a single game.
“It was really a wonderful night for the whole team to score 119 points, a record that still stands today even when you have gone to the 3-point shot for so long,” Fries said. “It goes to show you when you get high percentage shots in tight to the basket; that’s still a great way to go in the game of basketball.”
“Jake was in a great zone and so was the team,” added Fries. “I believe Tyler Fasnatch came off the bench and scored well and David Peltz scored as well. All our inside guys took advantage. They were an offensive minded team and we was able to control the defensive board and get it inside and that really hurt them.”
Matt Schipfer, Chad Oliver, Brad Balser, Nathan Hunt Hunt and Cook made up the starting lineup in 1993, Cook’s senior season at GHS.
“We went through a spell when we had some real nice teams and of course Jake played a big part,” stated Fries. “If you go back and look, most of the teams he played on were above .500 or right there and this is a tough league. When you get above .500 in this league – you’re doing something.”
Cook played baseball for Greenville his senior season and went on to pitch in the Boston Red Sox minor league system.
Cook, now living in Miamisburg is married to the former Carrie Shields, also a GHS alum and are the proud parents of four children; 22 year old Addison, a University of Cincinnati student, 17 year old William, Alexander an eighth grader and JJ (Johnathan) the youngest.
Each of the four Cook siblings have been or are active in sports with the 17 year old 6’5” 195 pound William currently showing up on the radar with his commitment to the University of Louisville baseball program, one of the top five D-I baseball programs in the country.
William is penciled in primarily at third base going to the next level with the opportunity to fill in on the mound.
“He is more of an average hitter but home runs will come with strength,” noted Cook. “He lifts, he has a trainer, he works out with so he does good.”
“I told him when he was eight I knew he was talented,” Cook added. “I told him give me 10 years and good things will happen – well it happened in six because he was committed to Louisville when he was a freshman in high school.”
Cook brings 20 years of concrete experience to downtown Greenville heading up the Broadway project as the concrete foreman for the LJ Deweese Company located in Tipp City. Cook and his crew have been working on the project for three weeks and expects to complete the project in the next week.
“I had a lot of fun – that is what I was known for,” Cook said of his Greenville High School days, “having a lot of fun.”
