In 1969, the Bengals had the fifth pick in the common draft between the NFL and American Football League -- the final season before the 1970 merger of the two leagues. Defensive tackle Joe Greene of North Texas went No. 4 to Pittsburgh and became the cornerstone defensive player for the four-time Super Bowl champion Steelers of the '70s. Quarterback Greg Cook of the University of Cincinnati went No. 5 to the Bengals and became the symbol of why the Bengals could never dethrone the Steelers for the next 10 years.

Cook, possibly the single biggest lost talent in NFL history, died Friday of pneumonia. Cincinnati assistant Bill Walsh said in 1997 that Cook was the best quarterback he ever saw. And Bengals owner Mike Brown said Friday: "Greg was the single most talented player we've ever had with the Bengals. Had he been able to stay healthy, I believe he would have been the player of his era in the NFL."

My first sportswriting job out of college was at the Cincinnati Enquirer in 1980, and when I got there, the name "Greg Cook'' was like "Sidd Finch." Cook had been out of football for seven years (really, for a decade by then; he had only a cameo in 1973 after his 1969 injury disaster), and he was a shadowy, almost mythic figure around the Bengals by the time I covered them in 1984. I'd heard of Cook, of course, and when I once mentioned him to Brown, who'd coached him and watched his horrible disappearance, he shook his head and said something like, "A shame.''