Setting the Record Straight on Cooke

I worked for Jack Kent Cooke from the summer of 1967 (before the Forum opened) until he sold out to Jerry Buss in 1979.

It was ironic that Bob Oates wrote one of The Times stories after Cooke’s death. It was Oates who wrote a feature story in The Times on June 10, 1969, that Cooke was in financial trouble and was looking to sell his teams and the Forum. History proved Oates and The Times wrong. There was never a follow-up story in The Times.

Cooke built the Forum because the Coliseum Commission would not give him a lease for the Kings, because it favored Dan Reeves, who owned the minor league Blades.

DON FRASER

North Hollywood

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I knew Jack Kent Cooke and he was no Mother Teresa. It should be noted that during the early ‘60s Cooke purchased and operated KRLA radio, despite the fact he was not an American citizen.

I testified against Cooke during the FCC revocation hearings at which he lost his operating license. Later, thanks to special legislation, he claimed retroactive citizenship.

Jack Kent Cooke. Unforgettable? A gross understatement.

PERRY ALLEN

Carlsbad