Here’s an ESPN piece on Beano Cook talking about football.

Ivan Maisel who did a weekly podcast with Beano, has his own thoughts. There are plenty of other ones out there. Lots of good ones. Touching ones. If you watch the tribute video above, the change in his body is startling. He looks so much older and smaller. Not at all the image from my memories.

For a lot of Pitt fans, though, it isn’t that simple. Over the last twenty years it has been a bit of a love-hate feeling towards Cook.

He was a Pittsburgh guy. He stayed tied to his hometown. He had no wife and kids. Could have easily lived anywhere else. Would have been much better for his career with ABC and ESPN if he had moved to New York or Connecticut. Had a bigger presence. More appearances. In studio much more frequently — especially in the last five to ten years.

Instead he stayed in Pittsburgh. When ESPN wanted to use him, he would presumably go to the Pittsburgh ABC affiliate (WTAE) where he would do his piece with the stock image of the Pittsburgh skyline in the background.

Beano Cook had a lot of traditionalist in him. He loved college football. He loved the traditional powers of Michigan, Alabama, USC, Penn State and Notre Dame.

The Pittsburgh native came up in a time of identifying a lot stronger with his ethnic roots, so as Irish-Catholic he had a strong affinity, affection and at times love for Notre Dame. This despite graduating from Pit and being the Sports Information Director for many years at Pitt. Which of course made this comment mind-boggling to most Pitt fans.

“He used to make me roll on the floor laughing with some of his one-liners,” said Roger Valdiserri, the former sports information director at Notre Dame. “He once said if Notre Dame was playing Russia, he’d root for Russia. He was anti-Notre Dame. I don’t know if it was genuine, but I didn’t care because we were friends.”

[Emphasis added.]

To which — well anyone — would say, “WHAT?”

Cook regularly predicted Notre Dame to win at least 9 or 10 games. If it was a bad year, he’d drop to 8. He spoke lovingly of the Irish, and the devotion to the traditional powers was a mark of time and era in which he lived.

Another team he would regularly predict big win totals was Penn State. If you really want to cite why many Pitt fans have a bit of conflict regarding Beano Cook, it really begins and ends with Penn State and Joe Paterno. Cook was a leading public cheerleader for Penn State and Paterno’s “grand experiment.”

To say it grated on Pitt fans to here him proclaim great things for Penn State and Notre Dame every year on ESPN is putting it mildly. When the Pete opened and the working media room was named for Beano Cook, there was no universal cheering for the move. There was a fair amount of teeth-gnashing and message board complaining.

Perhaps that split is because there was a difference between what he did in the media — what we and everyone else saw — and what he may have actually been doing for many years.

Mr. Cook did not work for Pitt in an official capacity after 1966, but he remained a champion of the university and has the working media room at the Petersen Events Center named in his honor.

A plaque with Mr. Cook’s picture and this inscription hangs in the workroom: “This media room is dedicated to Beano’s legendary contributions to the field of sports journalism and unyielding dedication to his profession. Beano brought the national spotlight to Pittsburgh as he became a college sports icon.”

“Beano left a legacy never to be matched,” Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson said in statement issued by the university Thursday. “Not matched in accomplishment, wit or loyalty to Pitt and his friends. … He loved the University of Pittsburgh and his name is synonymous with all good things at Pitt.”

“He was special,” said Mike Ditka, an All-American tight end at Pitt in 1960 who is enshrined in the college and pro football halls of fame. “We became really good friends the years I was in school at Pitt. I don’t know that anybody loved that job and loved Pitt more than he did.”

I would love to know some of those things. It’s obvious that he kept close ties to Pitt. Up until the end. The tribute video with Cook prominently has much of the recent discussion footage filmed at Pitt.

Ultimately, he was a Pitt guy. A well-respected figure in college football and amongst the media. Saturdays will be a little grayer for a while.