Wayne Cook

Wayne Cook (born April 13, 1971) is an American former college football player who was a quarterback for the UCLA Bruins. He led the Bruins to their first Rose Bowl in eight years during the 1993 season. Cook ended his UCLA career ranked third in Bruins history in touchdown passes (34). An undrafted free agent after college, he briefly tried out for the National Football League (NFL) with the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals.

After his playing career, Cook became a high school teacher and golf coach. He joined the UCLA football radio broadcast team as a sideline reporter in 2002.

Early life Growing up in Newbury Park, California, Cook was a fan of the Arizona Wildcats. His father, Ken, played college football for the Wildcats as a tight end and defensive tackle and was the most valuable player and team co-captain of their 1962 team. Cook attended Newbury Park High School, where he was a three-sport athlete in football, basketball and baseball. He figured that playing three sports increased his chances of earning a scholarship, but he was not sure which sport it would be in. The Bruins offered him a scholarship after Newbury Park's season finale, a 21–14 win over Royal in which he completed 10 of 13 passes for 127 yards. He completed eight of 13 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown in the game. He underwent reconstructive surgery for the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, and the Bruins finished the season 6–5 with Ryan Fien and Rob Walker playing quarterback. The following week, he threw for a season-low 134 yards in a one-point loss to No. 8 Nebraska. However, UCLA emerged as a Rose Bowl contender, Cook also held the school record of eight touchdown passes in two consecutive games until Drew Olson had 11 touchdown passes in 2005. Olson also broke Cook's three-game record of 11, surpassing it with 13. He was out injured when they lost 9–3 to Arizona State. Cook was hurt the previous week when Washington State's DeWayne Patterson was offside and flattened him, He returned the following week and threw for a touchdown and ran for another in a 27–21 win over USC, snapping a 10-game losing streak in their crosstown rivalry when the Rose Bowl was at stake for both teams. Cook became the first quarterback in eight years to lead UCLA to the Rose Bowl since Matt Stevens in 1985.

The Bruins lost 21–16 to Wisconsin in the 1994 Rose Bowl. On first and 10 from the Wisconsin 18-yard line with 15 seconds left in the game and no timeouts remaining, Cook ran the ball for three yards but was tackled and time expired. The Bruins committed six turnovers, with Cook losing two fumbles and throwing an interception. UCLA head coach Terry Donahue said that "what's been the most impressive about Wayne Cook is his touchdown-to-interception ratio". Fifteen of his scoring strikes were to All-American receiver J. J. Stokes, including a 95-yard pass against Washington that was the longest play in UCLA history. Cook received honorable mention for the All-Pac-10 team.

UCLA was hampered by injuries in 1994, and lost six straight games. In their season finale, UCLA upset USC 31–19, their fourth straight win against their rivals. The loss denied the Trojans a berth in the Rose Bowl, while Cook became the first Bruins quarterback in 35 years to defeat the Trojans in consecutive seasons. In three straight wins to end the season, he was 52 of 72 passing for 894 yards and eight touchdowns.

Cook finished his career with 352 completions on 612 attempts (57.3%) for 4,753 yards. At the time, his 34 touchdown passes ranked third in UCLA history behind Tom Ramsey (50) and Troy Aikman (41). He entered training camp with three other quarterbacks—veterans Dave Krieg and Mike Buck and fellow rookie Stoney Case, a third-round draft pick who was roommates with Cook at the Blue-Gray Game. The Cardinals cut Cook ahead of the league's 60-player-limit deadline.

Later life After football, Cook became a social science teacher and golf coach at Chaparral High School in Temecula, California.