Basketball 1948-'52
Every winning basketball team needs a leader on the court. From 1948-1952 that floor general was Jim Cook – nicknamed “Cookie” for his relentless efforts to get something cooking in a game. A strong shooting forward, Jim led his conference championship team in scoring three of his four seasons. His teammates welcomed his leadership, naming him captain two seasons and voting him Most Valuable Player twice. Jim’s leadership at Northwestern extended beyond sports, through involvements in music, missions, preaching, and student government.
For most, basketball is merely a game. For Jim, basketball became God’s tool for ministry. After college, Jim was chosen to play for the Venture for Victory team in Asia and later in a Philippine semi-professional league. As missionaries with the Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society, he and wife, Shirley, sued basketball as an outreach tool while establishing and encouraging churches in the Philippines. Later as a church planter in Sri Lanka, Jim coached the University of Ceylon basketball team, winners of three national championships, and the Sri Lanka national team.
Like basketball, successful ministries need a leader growing and developing a vision. With the aid of a round ball and a God-given dynamism, Jim has planted churches in three countries, pastored congregations in Hawaii and San Jose, and founded the International College and Graduate School of Theology. The son of missionaries in the frontiers of India, “Tiger” early on grew an unquenchable passion for training and preaching – a passion that keeps him pushing the ball up the court as a missionary statesman and church leader for International Ministries, Inc.
Inducted October 4, 2002
