Member of the last BU team to make the Final Four celebrates

WACO, Texas (KWTX) -There’s a special fan that didn’t see the game in Indianapolis or at McLane, but watched intently from Houston.

Dr. Gerald Cobb was a member of the last Baylor team that made it to the National Championship Game in 1948, which the Bears lost to Kentucky 58-42, and to the Final Four in 1950, in which the Bears lost to Bradley 68-66 in the semifinal round.

Cobb, a 2009 Wall of Honor recipient, lettered for coach Bill Henderson’s basketball teams in 1947-48, 1948-49 and 1949-50, all seasons in which Baylor won Southwest Conference titles.

“They were good people and respectable people,” Cobb said.

His son has heard all the stories.

“He went to Baylor on a full scholarship, it was the turning point in his life,” his son Gerald Cobb said.

“My dad was from East Texas and he was a country boy so they asked him, ‘Well, what do you think about going to New York?’ He said, ‘I’ve never been to New York’. It was a big moment in his life.”

Cobb says once a Baylor Bear, always a Baylor Bear.

“It’s always been a part of my life,” Cobb said.

“Once you go through and be a part of it, then you continue to follow it for the rest of your life.”

Cobb has been following this year’s team very closely, not missing a single game.

“It’s been quite a time for us at Baylor,” his son Gerald Cobb said.

“I, of course, went to Baylor, my sister went to Baylor, all of my children went to Baylor, we are a Baylor family.”

And seeing their number 22 watch Baylor make history now holds a special place in their hearts.

“It’s great, I’ve enjoyed it tremendously,” Cobb said.

Copyright 2021 KWTX. All rights reserved.