Harvard’s Adam Cooke brings the heat

A fire burns in the belly of a firefighter’s son.

Determination rages.

Adam Cooke cooks when playing sports for Harvard. His versatility as an athlete and as a person has no bounds, apparently.

“Growing up, I used to go to the firehouse a lot,” said Cooke, whose access came thanks to his dad, DeAngelo, who’s a Woodstock firefighter. “Seeing what he does and how he helps people really pushed me to become a better person. I want to push people to become better persons, too.”

In the meantime, the curly-haired senior, the youngest of six children of DeAngelo and Mary, who’s an assistant principal at Harvard, works on keeping his high school competitive every time he puts on a Hornets black-and-gold jersey.

Heat is coming.

Cooke recently scored the 1,000th point of his three-year varsity basketball career, after a football season that saw the quarterback and team captain rush for 16 touchdowns, pass for six TDs and punt 17 times for a 41.2-yard average. Mind you, it was only his second year playing the sport.

Cooke has played baseball “since I could walk,” he said. He teed it up in varsity golf matches as a sophomore.

This basketball season, the 6-foot-2, 185-pounder is averaging 17.9 points and 10 rebounds per game. Cooke, who plays center on a height-challenged Hornets team, also has made 17 3-pointers and taken six charges. In a 60-45 home loss to North Boone on Thursday, the effort of the firefighter’s son was blazing hot: 12 points, 17 rebounds, four blocked shots and three steals.

Two nights earlier, he scored a season-high 30 points in a 67-65 home loss to Big Foot.

“I wish I had five Adam Cookes out on the floor at all times. [He has] the energy, the drive, the determination. Nobody works harder.”

—  Brian Heidtke, Harvard boys basketball coach

There is almost zero that Harvard’s No. 0 can’t do on the court.

“He’s an exceptional athlete,” said coach Brian Heidtke, whose 4-15 Hornets host Sandwich in a Kishwaukee River Conference game Wednesday night. “Most nights he’s going up against guys who are three, four, five inches taller than him. They’ll double-team him, but he battles.”

Cooke relishes playing on the defensive end, where his athleticism flashes.

“I like to make an impact on defense because it translate to the offense, and that helps us get set up,” Cooke said. “If I can get the ball, rebound and push it up the floor, that really helps us create success.”

Cooke’s super-successful Harvard career included a milestone moment Jan. 22 at Plano when he drained a free throw for his 1,000th point in a Hornets jersey.

“It was pretty big,” Cooke said. “I wouldn’t have been able to get there without my teammates giving me the ball where I needed it to be and without all of their support on offense.”

Plano stopped the game to congratulate Harvard’s star and even gave him the game ball afterward.

“I was surprised,” said an appreciative Cooke, who received a certificate from his school when Harvard played its next home game against Johnsburg.

“I wish I had five Adam Cookes out on the floor at all times,” Heidtke said. “[He has] the energy, the drive, the determination. Nobody works harder. He’s an example of when you put in the work, it pays off in the end. He’s very coachable, knows the game and is really smart within the game.”

Heidtke, coincidentally, also is the son of a firefighter. His retired dad, Roger, had his own plumbing and heating business and was a volunteer fireman in Woodstock for 30 years.

Like the leader of his basketball team, Heidtke enjoyed hanging out at the fire department as a kid.

“That was really exciting,” he said.

Now, thrills come from watching his senior, who’s beginning the final month of his Harvard basketball career. Cooke, an honor roll regular in the classroom, said he’s looking to play football and study business in college, before becoming a fireman.

His father gave him more than his desire to help people.

“My dad gave me the curls,” Cooke said with a wide smile of his hair.

Good hair day or not, Cooke is hard not to notice.