Cooks To Posthumously Receive Dowsing-Bell Award At 2023 Hall Of Fame Gala
September 18, 2023 | Football, Athletics, Joel Coleman
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State's M-Club Alumni Association has announced that Bulldog football great, the late Johnie Cooks, will posthumously receive the 2023 Dowsing-Bell Award at this year's Hall of Fame Gala.
The Dowsing-Bell Award was created in 2018 in honor of Mississippi State's first African-American student-athletes, Frank Dowsing, Jr., and Robert Bell. The two were teammates on the Bulldog football team from 1969-72. The award honors the most deserving male whose determination and perseverance in overcoming obstacles academically, athletically, or personally, is a testament to their tremendous character.
Cooks easily stands among the best to ever wear the Maroon and White. He lettered four straight years with the Bulldogs from 1977-81. The three-time All-Southeastern Conference linebacker ended his illustrious career fourth in school history in sacks (24.0) and fifth in total tackles (392). He was the Bulldogs' leading tackler during the 1978 and 1981 seasons, racking up 100-plus stops each year. During his junior year, he recorded a single-game career-high 24 tackles in a contest against Auburn.
The Leland, Mississippi, native was placed on five All-America teams following his outstanding 1981 campaign that was capped by MSU beating Kansas 10-0 in the Hall of Fame Bowl in Birmingham, Alabama. In addition, Cooks was one of 12 finalists for the Vince Lombardi Award that season and finished third in voting for the Nashville Banner's prestigious SEC Player of the Year honor.
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In 1980, Cooks helped the Bulldogs put together its best season in nearly 20 years. MSU finished the campaign ranked No. 19 nationally with a 9-3 overall record including a 5-1 mark in SEC play. Most notably, Cooks led State to one of its most memorable wins in program history, a 6-3 victory against No. 1-ranked Alabama. Cooks racked up more than 20 tackles in the contest and stopped the Crimson Tide around the goal line with a game-clinching forced fumble – a play that will forever live in Mississippi State lore.
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Cooks went on to become the second pick overall by the Baltimore Colts in the 1982 NFL Draft and play in the league for 10 years. He spent six years with the Colts, then three with the New York Giants, where he was on the 1990 Super Bowl championship team. Cooks then played his final NFL season with the Cleveland Browns.
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In 1998, Cooks was named to the SEC Football Legends class, an annual award program of the Southeastern Conference designed to honor outstanding former college football players from each of the conference's member institutions.
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Cooks, who wore No. 99, earned a spot in MSU's M-Club Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. His name is forever bound to Davis Wade Stadium after becoming a part of the Bulldogs' Ring of Honor in 2011.
Cooks passed away on July 6 of this year. He was 64 years old.
The 2023 MSU Sports M-Club Hall of Fame Gala is set for Friday evening, November 3, at the Rula Tennis Pavilion. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with the program set for 7 p.m.
Active M-Club members can receive discounted tickets to the event by signing in to their Athlete Network portal AT THIS LINK. Non-M-Club members may register to attend AT THIS LINK.