Had it not been for his high school coach, Lawrence Cook says his life would be very different.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be sitting in this spot,” the 57-year-old chief school business official at Homewood-Flossmoor High School said. “I’m in a good spot.” After 24 years in education, Cook retires in June.

As a student in Milwaukee Public Schools, Cook was in his senior year thinking he’d join…


