Inductees

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, girls soccer was not yet a varsity sport at Springfield’s Glendale High School, but Cook caught on with a club team out of St. Louis. Which meant her parents, Jim and Rosalie, would drive the 3 ½ hours every weekend – at 55 mph – to make sure she played.

“They were committed to giving me every opportunity,” Cook says. “I had grown up with one of the (boys) teams my dad was coaching. … I didn’t know other girls even played soccer. For me, it was partly love for the game and it was kind of a curiosity to see what else was out there.”

Cook went on to star at William & Mary University in Virginia, after being heavily recruited by soccer powers Duke and Notre Dame. She also played on the 1998 U.S National Team and was among the final cuts for the 1999 U.S. team that won the World Cup on Brandi Chastain’s kick.

Cook played professionally in the Women’s United States Soccer Association and has enjoyed a tremendous collegiate coaching career, which has its roots in Springfield at Drury University and Missouri State University.

Cook is your classic feel-good story. Of never, ever quitting. Of always soldiering ahead. In many ways, soccer was her calling.

She played in the first women’s pro league, the WUSA, with the San Jose CyberRays and Washington Freedom of WUSA.

In between college and the pro league, she coached at Drury thanks to Dr. Bruce Harger giving her an opportunity.

After the WUSA folded and she retired, Cook rose to become one of the most respected college coaches in the country. After two years at Missouri State and two more at Nebraska, Cook has spent the past eight seasons at Penn State, where she is the associate head coach.

The Nittany Lions won the NCAA national championship in 2012, when Penn State won its sixth consecutive Big Ten championship. The team reached the Elite Eight in 2014, its 20^th consecutive year of reaching the NCAA Tournament.