Ron Cook helped create Hawthorn's creed of austerity and selflessness.
 
For six decades, Ron Cook, in various capacities, was the driving force behind Hawthorn, writes Jake Niall.

Ron Cook wasn't simply a Hawthorn president who presided over a Hawk hegemony in the 1980s. He was one a handful of people who, through their no-nonsense methods and beliefs, defined what Hawthorn meant.

Cook, who died on Saturday aged 74, was devoted to Hawthorn in various capacities - recruiter, club secretary, selector, committeeman, under-19s player, vice-president, president, VFL vice-president, VFL club delegate and organiser of sausage sizzles - in an association that stretched over six decades.

In more recent times, he retained the unofficial title of club "elder" and guardian of the Hawthorn way. He remained a figure of considerable influence long after he generously handed the presidency to Trevor Coote before the flags of 1988-89.

Cook recruited goalkicking genius Peter Hudson from Tasmania in the mid-1960s, beating Carlton to the punch. More than a decade later, he was the driving force behind the appointment of coaching legend Allan Jeans, the architect of the brown and gold '80s boom.

"He said 'this is the guy I want to get'," club stalwart and long-time chairman of selectors Brian Coleman recalled of Cook's insistence on hiring Jeans. "And he got him."

In 1996, nine years after he'd quit the presidency, Cook was instrumental in getting president Ian Dicker to spearhead the successful campaign against the "Melbourne Hawks". As his son and current Hawthorn board member Greg Cook recounted yesterday, Dicker, whose wife was a cousin of Ron's wife Dorothy, rang Cook senior from Aspen, asking, "What can I do to help the club?"

In his 1960s stint as club secretary, Cook literally recruited half of what was to become the 1971 premiership team, including Leigh Matthews, Peter Knights, Don Scott, Peter Crimmins, Kelvin Moore, Terry Gay, Des Meagher and Ray Wilson.

His desire to bring the best to Hawthorn remained until the end. In the midst of his struggle against cancer this year, Cook phoned Terry Wallace, urging the former triple premiership centreman to come "home".

Cook brought not only great players and officials to Glenferrie, he was also one of the astute businessmen who saw that the club purchased the freehold on the social club at Linda Crescent and he was among those who established Hawthorn's ongoing tradition of robust solvency.

His legacy was also spiritual, in that he - along with fellow "elders" John Kennedy senior, Sandy Ferguson and Phil Ryan - created Hawthorn's creed of austerity and selflessness. Cook's Hawthorn was unpretentious and frowned upon flashiness, greed and other modern vices that have since engulfed the game.

Greg Cook said his father, while conservative in his political orientation, was also an egalitarian "'socialist" where his Hawks were concerned. "He was very proud of the fact that if you went to Hawthorn Football Club, whether you were the governor of Victoria or club bootstudder, you were as important to the club. Everyone was treated equally."

Cook's Hawks held sausage sizzles rather than glitzy corporate events, although they were among the corporate pioneers. He made money in the bingo business and organised the appeal for the Children's Hospital during the '70s. He was a successful racehorse owner, too.

If he didn't like the "me" generation of footballers, the Hawthorn tradition dearest to Cook was success. Like Ferguson, Ryan and Kennedy, he had lived through the dark times and didn't want to see their return. "He gave us the resources, but he demanded results," said Jeans. "He loved to win." In Cook's term as president, the Hawks appeared in five of what became seven consecutive grand finals.

It is not clear whether Cook invented the term "family club", though he was among those who popularised the phrase. For the Hawthorn family, even in its current state of dysfunctionality, Cook's induction into the Hawthorn Hall of Fame late last month was a moment of unifying emotion.

As ever, Cook used plain, lucid language. "He said (at the induction) his greatest loves were his family, followed closely by the Hawthorn Football Club," said Greg Cook.

Cook is survived by his wife Dorothy, his four children and 11 grandchildren.