Lenny Cooke

Cooke was born to Vernon and Alfreda Hendrix (née Cooke): his mother gave birth to him before marrying, so he carried her maiden last name. Cooke has three younger siblings, brothers Vernon and Darius and sister Tierra. Cooke's mother worked as a dealer at the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and he attended middle school there; the family later moved to Bushwick, a neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, where they lived in a poverty-stricken block. Cooke's parents struggled to find employment, and the family lived in poor conditions: they could not afford to pay for heating, so that they had to use boiled water and an open oven to warm their house during winter. == High school career ==

Cooke, who was already in 8th grade, despite having started playing organized basketball only at the age of 16, when he was noticed by a friend while he was playing at a playground in Brooklyn and went to live in an affluent suburb in Old Tappan, Bergen County, New Jersey. That summer he also played in the Rucker League, played at the Rucker Park in New York City, and was the second leading scorer, averaging 23 points along with 12 rebounds per game; during the competition he faced professional players like Stephon Marbury, Ray Allen, Zach Randolph and Omar Cook. ESPN ranked him as the second best senior in his class behind Anthony and before future NBA players like Stoudemire, Raymond Felton and Chris Bosh. One of the featured anecdotes of the biographical movie Lenny Cooke was the 2001 ABCD Camp matchup between Cooke, the NYC area phenom and defending camp MVP, versus the lesser-known phenom from "nowhere" LeBron James, in which LeBron effectively supplanted Cooke as the most highly regarded prospect in the country. At the 2001 ABCD Camp, Cooke averaged 16.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.9 blocks. At the end of the 2001–02 school year, Cooke had a year left to graduate, but had exhausted his high school basketball eligibility. In the 8 games he played in his senior season at Northern Valley, Cooke averaged 31.5 points and 15 rebounds per game. Against the advice of Bortner, he chose to transfer to Mott Adult High School in Flint, Michigan, where he worked to get his equivalency diploma and work on his basketball game. At that point, he was rated #4 High School Player in the United States in the Prep Stars Recruiter's Handbook. ==Professional career==

Brooklyn Kings (2003) At the end of the 2001–02 school year, Cooke had multiple options for basketball: North Carolina, Seton Hall, St. John's, Miami and Ohio State. Amid enticing agent promises that explicitly stated a dozen NBA teams were seriously considering him and at least three guaranteed they would take him in the 1st round if he were available, Cooke chose to bypass college and declare himself eligible for the 2002 NBA draft, a decision that ended his eligibility to play college basketball. during the camp he injured his big toe and this limited his performance at the camp to only one game. Because he was not selected, Cooke became a free agent, eligible to sign with any NBA team that wanted him. That summer, after being bypassed in the NBA Draft, he played in the Rucker Park Summer League in New York for the Terror Squad team. Later in 2002, Cooke was drafted by the Columbus Riverdragons of the NBDL in the 11th round (87th pick) of the 2002 National Basketball Development League draft. In April 2003, he tried out for the Brevard Blue Ducks of the USBL, and in May 2003 was signed by the USBL's Brooklyn Kings. In 15 games, he averaged 28.8 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 2.8 steals per game, winning the USBL Rookie of the Year award, being selected in the All-USBL Second Team and leading the league in points average, offensive rebounds (4.7) and steals per game (2.8). He scored a season-high 53 points against the Adirondack Wildcats on June 22, 2003. but that was the closest he ever came to playing in the NBA. Shanghai Sharks (2003–2004) Cooke then had a stint with the Shanghai Dongfang Sharks, Return to Purefoods (2004) In the 2004–05 basketball season, Cooke returned to the PBA's Purefoods team but tore his Achilles' tendon, ending his season. before blowing out his other Achilles' tendon, ending his career. ==Legacy==

Late in the summer of 2005, the NBA changed its rules to prevent future players from jumping directly from high school to the NBA by requiring all its players to be at least 19 years old and one year removed from their high school graduations. One-time phenoms like Cooke, whose development was stunted by a haste to get to the NBA too quickly, are considered to be the impetus for the change. The film, made by the Safdie Brothers, was entered in the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival. == Personal life ==

Family According to the New York Post, Cooke has seven children, including his eldest son, Anahijae Cook (born March 9, 2000), He has been married and divorced. Additionally, he has worked as an impact specialist at Volunteers of America, helping homeless people and recently released inmates reintegrate into society, and hosts local gun violence awareness events. He has aspirations of going to culinary school and dreams of one day owning his own restaurant and food trucks. ==Notes==