Bobby Cook made an impact on the basketball court, a KHSAA Hall of Famer as well as an inductee into the Warren Central and Glasgow Athletic Hall of Fame.

But it was the impact off the court that his former player Cedric Gumm remembers the longtime coach for. Cook passed away earlier this week at 77 at his home in Louisville.

Cook coached at Glasgow, Adair County and Shelbyville but is perhaps best known in this area for his eight-year stint at Warren Central from 1988-96.

Gumm was part of his first team in 1988-89 that finished Region 4 runner-up to Warren East.

“Coach Cook was an outstanding motivator, an outstanding leader, a great mentor,” Gumm said. “He taught us a lot about basketball and life. He cared about us being the best that we could be, both on and off the court and in the classroom. He cared about our success in life more so than basketball.”

That first season began a successful run for Cook, which included one district title (1993), four Region 4 tournament appearances (1989, 1993, 1995, 1996) and a region title in 1993. In 1993-94 his Dragons finished 26-4 – at the time a school record for most wins in a season and the best winning percentage in a season.

He left Warren Central as the winningest coach in program history with a record of 142-91. That record would be passed by Tim Riley and current coach William Unseld, who played for Cook.

Unseld remembers him as a disciplinarian who really cared about his players.

“Coach worked us,” Unseld said. “He worked us and was a really good coach. We lost a lot of kids that first year when we split with Greenwood – my junior year. He lost a lot of players but was a really good coach.”

The split with Greenwood wasn’t the only obstacle during his time – Unseld remembers several teams that didn’t make the region because of the luck of the draw in the district tournament.

“Back when I played for coach Cook we didn’t seed, we drew,” Unseld said. “It was tough. I think we played Franklin-Simpson four or five years in a row and they had a good run. Our district was hard, but he made a couple of runs which is all you could do.”

Unseld and Gumm both said they had lost touch with Cook in recent years, but Gumm remembers seeing him in 2024 when he was inducted in the Warren Central Hall of Fame.

“I hadn’t seen him in probably 30 years and it seemed like it was yesterday,” Gumm said. “He had the same smile. He hugged me like he always did and dapped me up. He was proud of the man I had become. I was so glad he had a part in that success in my life.”

And it’s that care for molding his players into young men that Gumm said he hopes coach Cook is most remembered for.

“He cared about the people that we had become,” Gumm said. “The little things he taught us – it was way bigger than basketball. I hope that when everybody reflects back on coach Cook’s life they remember that above all he was a great person and a great human being. That’s what you want in life.”