Father Figure Missing
Noah recalled traveling with his father on the tennis tour as a young boy and rooting for him to lose in the first round so they could spend time together.
“Debbie tried to do that for Lenny, but he never really had that male figure,” Noah said. “Those are the things Lenny needs to talk about, but if it’s going to be for the benefit of kids he’s also got to have a positive message at the end.”
That is easier said than done when Cooke is still at a crossroads. Last summer, when Cooke was spending time in Atlantic City, and jogging up and down the court in a recreational league, a friend arranged for him to speak to children at a Boys and Girls Club. He arrived by limousine and – as he occasionally still does – spoke of returning to his former playing weight of 200-plus pounds and making a comeback.
Cooke worked for a food distributorship after returning to Virginia but is currently unemployed. Solomon, his girlfriend, commutes about an hour to a hair salon in Richmond and hopes to open her own closer to home. Daleo, his former coach in Rockford and in Minot, said he had been contacted several times in recent years by people interested in doing one project or another on Cooke.