John Kear: The mentor who delivered famous Hull FC triumph, remembered by Paul Cooke
Paul Cooke has expressed his gratitude to John Kear for giving him the greatest day of his rugby league career after being rocked by the death of his former Hull FC head coach.
Kear, who teamed up with Cooke to deliver Challenge Cup glory for the Black and Whites in 2005, died suddenly on Sunday at the age of 71.
Cooke woke up through the night to what he thought was a text from his mentor before realising it was Kear's wife passing on the devastating news.
"I had a message on my phone from John Kear," said Cooke. "It must have been bad because John doesn't text at that time of night. It was 2.15am and it was Dawn telling me that he'd passed.
"It's not the news you want to wake up to but the outpouring of tributes has been heartwarming. He probably didn't realise how universally loved he was.
"He never judged anyone. He was always very welcoming. Most of all, his passion for the game was second to none.
"It's fitting for me that he got to commentate at the place where arguably his biggest triumph was on Saturday. There must be some solace or divine intervention in that because he was doing what he loved to do still.
"To coin his phrase, it was always a great day for rugby league."
Kear, who was at Wembley working for the BBC, twice won the Challenge Cup as a coach.
After masterminding Sheffield Eagles' famous 1998 triumph, he then gave Hull the belief to stun Leeds Rhinos seven years later thanks to Cooke's late winner.
"If there was one thing John could do, it was make everyone run through a brick wall thinking you could make the other side," said Cooke.
"I'm not sure how he did that. It was a unique quality to be able to galvanise and unite a group of players, whether over a long period or at Wakefield when he did it in seven weeks to avoid relegation.
"He made us believe that we could win that cup. Each round we played against Super League opposition, he made us believe that little bit more. By the semi-final, there was nobody else's name on the cup but ours, in our opinion.
"That was very much down to John and his way of motivating a team. He gave me the greatest day of my rugby league career and I'll forever be indebted to him for that."
Cooke also shared a series of personal memories that, for him, summed up Kear’s character.
"My abiding memory is of him falling over the advertising hoarding at full-time," added Cooke with a smile. "He looked like a turtle upside down and it makes me laugh every time I see it.
"I watched his interview with Danny Brough afterwards this morning where he talks about being a little bit excited. He didn't take any credit himself.
"It was just the way he managed me. I'll always remember our chats. I took him into Featherstone last year to speak before the 1895 Cup final and called him when the club went under.
"I told him I was disillusioned with it. He encouraged me not to give up on being a coach because he thought I was a really good coach. He gave me a slap on the backside and told me to stop feeling sorry for myself.
"He just championed me and was a good friend."