NFL Helmet UseD By QB Greg Cook Stolen

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“This is a valuable piece of Ross County Chillicothe sports history” Bruce Caplinger wrote in a posting on Facebook Monday evening.

Caplinger, a local sports memorabilia collector, has thousands of items in his collection much of which is connected to athletes who’ve gone on to college or to play professionally.

The missing item is a helmet used by Greg Cook, a Chillicothe alumnus and charter member of the CHS Athletic Hall of Fame. Cook was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1969 out of the University of Cincinnati and was named the American Football League’s Rookie of the Year. Cook died in 2012.

Caplinger says the helmet was stolen from his car while at work Monday along with various other items valued between $3,000 to $5,000. But the key item is the helmet.

“This helmet I searched for my whole adult life for something of Cook” Caplinger told Litter Media via text. “A needle in a haystack one of a kind (item).”

Caplinger says he’s reported the missing items to the Chillicothe Police Department and pawn shops nationwide will be alerted.