Wife of Johnie Cooks shares her favorite memories of the NFL, Mississippi State legend
At 8:20 p.m. on July 5, Maggie Cooks said good night to her husband, Johnie Cooks, before she left his hospital room and returned to a nearby hotel to rest for the night.
“I love you,” she said Johnie Cooks told her. “I appreciate everything that you do for me and my family. I love my children, I love my grandchildren. I love my brothers and sisters and I love all my friends.”
Those were the last words he ever spoke.
At midnight, Maggie Cooks received a call from the hospital and was told that the medical staff had found blood clots in the back and on the left side of his brain. Cooks, 64, died of a massive stroke in the early hours of July 6.
It was not the way anyone envisioned the last days of life for Johnie Cooks. A native of Leland, where he had starred in football at the high school, Cooks went on to earn All-America and All-SEC honors at Mississippi State University, to become a first-round NFL draft pick and to win a Super Bowl during a 10-year professional career
Cooks spent his last 10 months at Baptist East Hospital and then a rehab center, undergoing surgery 20 times. The one constant by his side was his wife of 38 years, Maggie Jo Cooks. He called her "Jo" for short and as a term of endearment.
Their love endured miles on the road, relocating from city to city and making a home while he plied his trade playing linebacker for three teams in the NFL. During the good and bad times, Jo was there. She witnessed his greatest victory as the New York Giants defeated the Buffalo Bills, 20-19, in Super Bowl XXV.
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The biggest honor for Johnie Cooks
At Mississippi State, Cooks led the Bulldogs to what many consider the greatest victory in program history — a 6-3 win over then-No. 1-ranked Alabama on Nov. 1, 1980. That same season, he totaled 24 tackles in a 24-21 victory over Auburn.
Cooks was named SEC Most Valuable Player as a senior in 1981, when for the second consecutive season he was selected first-team All-SEC and All-American. He was selected No. 2 overall in the NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts in 1982, played 10 seasons and earned a Super Bowl ring.
The honors continued after his career. Cooks was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and the Mississippi State Athletic Hall of Fame. He was selected an SEC Legend, an annual award program to honor outstanding former football players in the conference. His No. 99 jersey was placed in the Ring of Honor at MSU's Davis-Wade Stadium in 2011.
“I think that was one of the most important things,” Maggie Cooks said, “when he was inducted into the Ring of Honor. That meant the most to him. The Super Bowl is last after all of the other things.”
The love story of Johnie and Maggie Cooks
Johnie and Maggie Cooks met when she was teaching at Sudduth Elementary School in Starkville and he was doing his student teaching after his second year in the NFL. The couple were married on Christmas Day 1984.
Maggie Cooks said her husband had a heart of gold and never met a stranger. He would never turn down an autograph request and always took time for people, especially kids, who wanted to talk to him.
“I shared him with the whole world,” Maggie Cooks said. “I never complained. When I met him, I knew that he was bigger than life and an outgoing person. I accepted him like that.”
While in the hospital, Cooks would tell the hospital staff that Maggie was the calm in his storm. He would say he had the best wife in the whole world.
Maggie Cooks said her husband was always appreciative of growing up on a plantation as the son of a sharecropper and how he ended up at Mississippi State and playing in the NFL. Maggie Cooks said he never forgot that his mother had to borrow $5 from her "bossman" just so Cooks could play football.
“He loved his family,” Maggie Cooks said. “He bought his mother and father a house with his signing bonus before he did anything for himself.”
The Super Bowl family
In 1988, Cooks was released by the Colts. He was signed quickly by the New York Giants and played with them through the 1990 season, culminating with that Super Bowl championship. His goal had been to play 10 years and win a Super Bowl before he retired. He spent the next season, his 10th in the NFL, with the Cleveland Browns and then retired.
Maggie Cooks said Johnie's coach with the Giants, Bill Parcells, called her when he learned of his death. She said he told her, “Maggie, I just heard what happened and I send my condolences. You know, I love his big butt.”
When the Giants championship team had a reunion in 2022, Johnie Cooks' health issues prevented him from attending. The team sent him a video. In it, Giants Pro Football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor said to Cooks, “JC, get your butt up. You know you can. You know you can. You know I love you and you are one of my best teammates and greatest guys ever.”
JOHNIE COOKS DIES AT AGE 64 Legendary Mississippi State football linebacker Johnie Cooks dies at 64
“Being married to him,” Maggie said, “it was a life I never dreamed of. I never thought of him as an athlete but as my husband, the children’s father and the kids’ grandfather.”
Maggie Cooks said Johnie Cooks did not want a memorial service that was too big or too long, only that it overlook the MSU football field.
The funeral service will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Leo Seal M-Club Center. Its windows offer a panoramic view from the South end zone at Davis Wade Stadium.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: NFL, Mississippi State star Johnie Cooks remembered by wife Maggie
