Born in
Los Angeles, Cottle grew up in nearby
Inglewood, where he attended Andrew Bennett Elementary School and
Morningside High School. After Cottle was placed in foster care at the age of 14, his foster parents encouraged his athleticism, and he became a three-sport athlete at Morningside, playing on the school's
baseball,
basketball, and
football teams. He was also student body president and served as the president of the California Association of Student Body Presidents. Cottle entered the
University of California, Berkeley in 1958, but after attending for one day, he realized the school was a poor fit and transferred to
Stanford University in time to start the fall quarter, as Fall Semester at Berkeley started one month before Fall Quarter at Stanford. After his transfer was approved but before classes began, he worked for the construction company building
Stanford Hospital. Awarded a football scholarship, Cottle was a
linebacker and
center. A three-year
letterman, he eventually became captain of the
Stanford football team that defeated Cottle's former school (
Cal) in the 1961
Big Game. He was a
pre-medical student at Stanford, but during his senior year, he decided he did not want go into medicine and did not apply to
medical school. After earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Stanford in June 1962, Cottle worked for the university as a fundraiser and freshman football coach. The following year, he enrolled at the
University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Working his way through law school, Cottle worked as a counselor for the probation department and a janitor at Hastings, where he earned his
Juris Doctor in June 1966. ==Legal career==