Quinn Alexander Cook was born March 23, 1993, in Washington, D.C., the son of Ted and Janet Cook, both graduates of Howard University who met while attending the school. Ted Cook was a former star basketball player at Glenville High School in the late 1970s who became an entrepreneur in the restaurant business. Ted and Janet ran 4th and Goal, a sports bar on 11th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in D.C. Quinn’s earliest childhood memories are of that bar — shooting on a miniature Fisher-Price hoop inside at age four while his parents worked.
Ted was a lifelong Los Angeles Lakers fan who instilled in his son a love for basketball from the beginning. Quinn had his own basketball as a toddler and was playing organized ball by age ten. But tragedy struck early: Ted Cook died of a heart attack in 2008, when Quinn was just fourteen and had only recently begun playing at DeMatha Catholic High School. The loss was devastating. Quinn missed games. It took time to escape the trauma. After Ted’s death, Janet supported the family by working two jobs in security and event staffing.
At DeMatha — the same school that produced Danny Ferry — Cook played three seasons. The Stags went 85–18 and were ranked No. 1 in Maryland during his junior year. He was named the Washington Post All-Met Player of the Year as a junior, the first junior to receive that honor in 30 years. His teammates included future NBA players Jerami Grant, Jerian Grant, and Victor Oladipo.
Cook transferred to Oak Hill Academy for his senior year, leading the Warriors to a 31–4 record while averaging 19.1 points, 10.9 assists, and 2.5 steals. McDonald’s All-American. He chose Duke over Villanova, UCLA, and North Carolina. When asked why: ‘The reason I chose Duke is because of Coach K.’