Jack Kent Cooke

Headlines in yesterday's Sports section incorrectly characterized the status of the Cooke family's ownership of the Washington Redskins as a result of Jack Kent Cooke's death. There are no plans to sell the team.The Sun regrets the errors.Pub Date: 4/09/97

Headlines in yesterday's Sports section incorrectly characterized the status of the Cooke family's ownership of the Washington Redskins as a result of Jack Kent Cooke's death. There are no plans to sell the team.The Sun regrets the errors.Jack Kent Cooke's legacy of achievement ranges from blockbuster real estate deals to Super Bowls, but for his heirs, one of his most momentous feats may simply be keeping the Washington Redskins in the family after his death.Sports franchises have grown so valuable so quickly that heirs may not have enough money to pay the estate taxes.

Most everything this ostentatious man with three names wanted he got money, fame and an empire. Jack Kent Cooke was a genius. Erratic at times. An eccentric. He was the momentous personification of the American success story. No, make that the Canadian success story, the land of his birth, but he renounced his citizenship to take up residence in the United States because he wanted a new land to conquer -- and did.Cooke died at age 84 yesterday from heart failure and no doubt was surprised, because he frequently qualified his mortality by saying "if I die."

ONLY ONCE DID success elude mega-millionaire Jack Kent Cooke.He struck it rich with radio and TV stations, newspapers and cable television. He reaped rewards from a large racing stable and Kentucky horse-breeding farm, a fabled West Coast sports arena, pro basketball and hockey teams and, of course, the Washington Redskins. But "The Squire" never achieved his final dream: Attending the fall opening of his $200 million football stadium in Landover that now is almost certain to bear his name.

Jack Kent Cooke, the courtly but iron-willed owner of the Washington Redskins, who amassed a vast fortune from a humble start peddling encyclopedias in his native Canada, died yesterday. He was 84.Paramedics were called to Cooke's Washington residence at 10: 45 a.m. yesterday, and they rushed him to George Washington University Hospital. He died about 30 minutes after arrival and was pronounced dead at 12: 09 p.m., hospital spokeswoman Merle Goldberg said.A statement from the team attributed the death to congestive heart failure resulting from heart disease.

LIQUOR, LIKE BLUE smoke and mirrors, is a staple of politics.Liquor licenses, that is. Licenses for bars, for restaurants, for clubs, for package stores and even for mega-million-dollar sports stadiums -- all are grist for the petty mills of self- aggrandizement, patronage and jockeying for position.Last week, for example, at Prince George's County's House delegation meeting, an application from Jack Kent Cooke was on the agenda.Cooke wants a license that would allow him to serve alcoholic beverages at his new Redskins Stadium in Landover seven days a week.

When you see the Ravens take the field in their new uniforms, the NFL wants you to think of two things: Baltimore and football.In that order.The designs unveiled yesterday feature several local touches, from bits of the Maryland flag to a giant "B" at the center of the primary logo. The only thing missing is a "From Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and the Citizens of Baltimore" stencil on each helmet.This is a team, after all, hemmed in by competitors to the north and south, and playing in a city intimately aware of how fragile the connection is between a team and its zip code.

The other night, as he watched a television news report on the Arizona presidential primary, Nicholas, the 5-year-old who lives in my house, asked an important and, I think, trenchant question: "Dad, is Bob Dole still alive?"The rich get richerStadium supporters don't understand why stadium opponents don't appreciate the economic and spiritual riches about to rain on Maryland through the magic hands of Art Modell and Jack Kent Cooke.I'll try to explain. But before I do, please note: What I'm writing here is an end paper because this battle is over.

The governor of Maryland is said to be perplexed at the depth of opposition to the state's financial support for professional football. What was he expecting, a group hug? There's been public opposition to a lot of things -- Oriole Park at Camden Yards comes to mind -- but it didn't matter. And it won't matter this time. But here's my guess on why six out of 10 Marylanders turned against state funding: The Jack Kent Cooke deal in Prince George's County.Most taxpayers had resigned themselves to a couple of hundred mill for a Baltimore stadium.

In a move that could boost Maryland's football fortunes in both the NFL and the General Assembly, Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke has apparently agreed to support the shift of the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore.Mr. Cooke has notified Gov. Parris N. Glendening that the Redskins, who as recently as November vehemently opposed the move of the Browns to Baltimore, would vote for it Friday when the National Football League owners take up the issue at their meeting in Chicago, State House sources said yesterday.