Leaders We Lost in 2023: Carroll Cookson

Editor’s note: As part of a year-in-review series, the Southeast Missourian is remembering some of the notable community leaders or public servants who died in 2023.

Carroll Cookson

The Southeast Missouri region lost a legendary basketball coach May 1 when Carroll Cookson died at the age of 88.

Cookson, known as "Coach" by most who knew him, played on two state championship teams at Puxico in 1951 and 1952. He also played college basketball at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Arkansas.

As a coach, he won 524 games and lost just 128. His accolades include state titles at Advance in 1972 and 1975. His team was a state runner-up in 1973 and finished in fourth in 1974. He was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1997. He served in administrative roles in Advance, East Carter, Twin Rivers and Zalma schools in Missouri, according to his obituary.

"It was hard not to see that he had an impact," Carroll's son, Steve Cookson, said in an article on semoball.com. "He was a ferocious coach back in the day, he and my uncle Ronnie, both. They were intense, but once the game was over, they'd bend over backward to be nice to people."