SAN ANTONIO -- Dan Cook, the longtime San Antonio sports writer who popularized the phrase "the opera ain't over till the fat lady sings," has died. He was 81.
The San Antonio Express-News, where Cook worked for 51 years, reported that he died Thursday night after a long illness. Cook was also the sports anchor at San Antonio television station KENS from 1956 to 2000. Most of those years, the station was owned by the Express-News.
Cook first uttered the phrase "the opera ain't over till the fat lady sings" while discussing an NBA playoff series between the San Antonio Spurs and the Washington Bullets on a 1978 newscast. The phrase was widely attributed to Bullets coach Dick Motta, who borrowed it during Washington's successful title run.
The Yale Book of Quotations later concluded it first appeared in print in 1976, attributed to Texas Tech sports information director Ralph Carpenter, and was a variation on an old Southern saying.
Cook worked at the Express-News from 1952 through his retirement in 2003. Between his newspaper and television duties, he wrote six columns a week and delivered two sports telecasts and two radio commentaries each day. He also served as the Express-News' executive sports editor from 1960 to 1975.
A funeral is pending at Sunset Funeral Home. Survivors include his wife, Katy; brother Frank Cook of Houston; daughters Marie Gian of Rockport and Alice Ann Ashton of San Antonio; son Danny Cook of San Antonio; and three grandchildren.
