“WHAT THEY’RE SAYING”

My lasting memory of the man will be the fact we couldn’t have done it without him. He saw the big picture, what went into winning championships. I think he made you better at your job, and I know this, he made a lot of memories possible for both the fans and for myself.”

BOBBY BEATHARD, Charger General Manager and Former Redskin GM

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I don’t think there’s any question that when he bought [the Lakers] it was at a really critical time, not only for this franchise but professional sports. This was seemingly his first step in where he was going with his sports empire. First with the Lakers and Kings and then with the Redskins.

JERRY WEST, Laker Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations

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He was one of the most dynamic men I ever met. He was self-made. He started selling Liberty magazine door to door. . . .He was a great man for sports here in Los Angeles.

TOMMY LASORDA, Former Dodger Manager

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JKC was an incredible positivist. He was a man who didn’t believe there was any obstacle in his way that he couldn’t overcome. When the Coliseum Commission told him he couldn’t have preferential dates for the Lakers and Kings, he said, ‘I’ll build my own arena.’ He had that attitude.

TOMMY HAWKINS, Dodger Vice President, Communications

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Jack Kent Cooke made a major contribution to the Southern California sports scene when he built the Forum in 1967. . . .I admired his vision and he will always be remembered for his impact on professional sports.

PETER O’MALLEY, Dodger President

CHRONOLOGY

Oct. 25, 1912--Cooke is born in Hamilton, Ontario.

* 1934--Cooke starts selling encyclopedias across Canada to earn money during the Depression.

* 1937--Cooke is hired by press giant Roy Thomson to manage CJCS, a radio station in Stratford, Ontario, for $25 a week, his first job in the communications industry.

* 1951--In his first sports business venture, Cooke purchases baseball’s Toronto Maple Leafs of the triple-A International league.

* 1960--Cooke moves to California.

* 1965--Cooke buys the Lakers from trucking magnate Bob Short for $5.175 million, a big price tag in its day.

* 1966--Cooke acquires the NHL expansion Kings.

* 1967--Cooke builds the Forum.

* June 9, 1968--Trades with the Philadelphia 76ers for Wilt Chamberlain.

* 1971--Cooke is promoter of the first fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, billed as the “Fight of the Century,” at Madison Square Garden.

* 1974--Cooke becomes majority owner of the Redskins.

* June 6, 1975--Trades with Milwaukee Bucks for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

* 1978--Cooke moves to the Washington area.

* 1979--Lakers draft Magic Johnson.

* 1979--Cooke sells the Lakers and the Kings to Dr. Jerry Buss for $67.5 million, then the largest transaction in sports history.

* 1979--Cooke divorces first wife, the former Jeannie Carnegie. The settlement made the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest at that time ($49 million). The presiding judge was Joseph Wapner of “People’s Court” fame.

* 1980--Cooke takes over day-to-day operation of the Redskins from Edward Bennett Williams.

* Oct. 31, 1980--Cooke marries Las Vegas socialite Jeanne Maxwell Williams. They divorce 10 months later.

* Jan. 13, 1981--Cooke hires San Diego offensive coordinator Joe Gibbs to coach the Redskins.

* Jan. 30, 1983--The Redskins win Super Bowl XVII, beating Miami, 27-17.

* 1985--Cooke buys the Los Angeles Daily News from the Chicago Tribune Co.

* July 24, 1987--Cooke marries third wife, Suzanne Martin. She later claims the marriage was contingent upon her aborting a fetus conceived by Cooke. After the wedding, she decided to have the baby and the marriage was dissolved after 73 days.

* Aug. 28, 1987--Saying the Redskins are losing money, Cooke announces plans for a new stadium.

* Jan. 31, 1988--Redskins win Super Bowl XXII, beating Denver, 42-10.

* May 5, 1990--Cooke marries Marlena Remallo Chalmers, who served 3 1/2 months in federal prison in the 1980s for conspiring to import cocaine into the country. The marriage is declared void 3 1/2 years later because Chalmers’ divorce from a previous husband was ruled invalid.

* Jan. 26, 1992--Redskins win Super Bowl XXVI, beating Buffalo, 37-24.

* Aug. 24, 1992--Redskins move into Redskin Park, Cooke’s new state-of-the-art training facility in Ashburn, Va.

* March 5, 1993--Gibbs resigns, citing personal reasons, ending one of the greatest coaching careers in NFL history.

* July 1995--Cooke remarries Marlena Remallo Chalmers.

* Sept. 11, 1995--Cooke’s eldest son, Ralph Kent Cooke, who ran Cooke’s horse breeding farm in Lexington, Ky., dies at 58.

* March 13, 1996--After eight years of rejection from the District of Columbia and from suburban jurisdictions in Virginia and Maryland, Cooke secures a place to build his new stadium. He signs a contract for a 78,600-seat, $160 million complex on a farm in Landover, Md. He later coined a postmark for the venue--Raljon--after his two sons, John Kent Cooke and the late Ralph Kent Cooke.

* Nov. 10, 1996--Cooke falls ill as he sits in the owner’s box at RFK Stadium during the Redskins-Arizona Cardinals game. He is hospitalized for five days, and starts spending the bulk of his time at his northwest Washington estate rather than his expansive ranch in Middleburg, Va.

* Dec. 22, 1996--Cooke misses Redskins final game at RFK Stadium because of osteoarthritis, the only home game he missed after moving to Washington.

* April 6, 1997--Cooke dies of cardiac arrest after collapsing at his northwest Washington home.

* Sept. 14, 1997--The first home game is scheduled for the Redskins’ new stadium.