William Cook:
CLASS OF 1956
Fairview Elementary SchoolClass of 1956
Cincinnati, OH
William's Story
I am the author of numerous nonfiction books, including nine on baseball history and two on true crime. My most recently published title in The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping, published by Sunbury Press in April 2014. Among my other published titles are "Pete Rose - Baeball's All Time Hit King" and "The 1919 World Series - What Really Happened." My most recent published book is "Diamond Madness - Classic Episodes of Rowdyism, Violence and Racism in Major League Baseball" published by Sunbury Press in May 2013. My most popular title "King of the Bootleggers - A Biography of Geroge Remus" has been noticed by several screen writers and noted historians, including Ken Burns. In fact, I was an unpaid advisor to the 2011 Burns' PBS presentation on prohibition. The book is published by McFarland & Co. Inc.
My book "Big Klu - The Baseball Life of Ted Kluszewski," was published in October 2012 by McFarland & Co.,Inc. This work was a very special effort as the "Sleeveless Slugger" was so speical to so many kids growing up in Cincinnati in the early and mid 1950's, including myself. I remember meeting Kluszewski when I was ten years old. He was signing autographs with teammate Bobby Adams at J. C. Penny's in downtown Cincinnati. My mother, knowing that Big Klu was a hero of mine took me to meet him. I remember approaching Klu with a piece of paper in my hand and timidly handing it to him. It was like meeting Zeus.
All of my works are available on barnesandnoble and amazon websites as well as from the publishers, McFarland & Co., Pubublishers, Inc. and Sunbury Press.
As for some notes on my education and career. I attended Hughes Junior and High School starting in 1956 and dropped out in 1960 and began working full time. However, I went to night school at Hughes Evening High School and graduated in 1964. In fact, I was president of the class of 64 and editor of "The Voice." The oldest evening high school paper in the USA.
Later I graduated from the University of Cincinnat, AA, BS and went on to graduate school earning an MA from the Universtiy of Illinois at Chicago.
I am a semi-retired health care administrator. After leaving Cincinnati, my career took me to Chicago and Minneapolis for several years, before coming to New Jersey 26 years ago.
I am also a former policitian and have served one term as a township councilman in North Brunswick, NJ 1991-1993, I am also proud to say that among my political activities, I worked in the O'Grady for Sheriff campaign in Cook County Illinois in 1986. Mr. O'Grady won the race becoming the first Republican to win a major office in the county in over twenty years. Also, I was ...Expand for more
an unsuccessful candidate for Freeholder in Middlesex County, New Jersey in 1995.
I was maried for 14 years to a wonderful lady from New Jersey who has passed away. Currently, I am very lucky to be in a great relationship with a very sweet lady who is the grandmother of six who lives in Manalapan, NJ.
My memories of attending the mid-evil castle like edifce that was Fairview Public School are vivid and fresh in my mind. Some of the teacher's at Fairview were the best in the world, such as the matronly Miss Hunter and the boastful, but interesting, Mr. Fink.
On the other hand, I thought that Mr. Schmidt was insane. I mean, come on, who in their right mind, would give a name to a paddle (Roscoe) and thresten to "tune" students into learning math. Still we enabled this crazyness and many a "tuned" student, proudly signed the board of education after receiving swats on the fanny. Give me a break!
Fairview Public School sat in a great neighborhood too, that I look back on, with more than just a little nostalgia. I remember that, I had to pass two bakeries on my way to school in the morning and still can smell the wonderful aroma of fresh baked bread seeping out of the shops. Then there was the noon time rush across the street at Pop's deli for those rubber hot dogs. Of course, Pop Awad would on occaision, have to put on his Sunday best suit and come across the street and visit Mr. Schnider (the stately principal) after a kid got sick and pointed an accusing finger in the direction of the deli. Of course these intermitten allegations were without foundaiton.
I'm still amazed at that the madness of the playgrounds; (boys and girls) would become silent in the morning when the bell rang at 9:00 a.m. Then we would all line up and march into the building with military precision to our class rooms, say the pledge of allegiance, and open our books. It was all buisness, but in the end it was all painless and we got a great elementary education.
However the thing that made Fariview so memorable for me were the kids. I have never in my lifetime, ever again, experienced such a collection of rich and colorful characters. We kids that lived on the hilltop had a little more financial resources than our classmates from down the hill in Mohawk and lower Klotter Avenue, but that didn't seem to matter. We bounded just fine. Each one of my grade school classmates was unique and now, years later, I understand how special they were. I only hope that they have got as much fun out of life as I have. To say that, I would like to see them again is an understatement. I feel very lucky to have been part of the Fairview School experience.
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