Biography
By Jim Hague
Robin Pearce-Cook’s long association with Rutgers-Newark began purely by accident.
While the then-Robin Pearce was a senior at Village Christian High School in Shadow Hills, California in 2000, the Rutgers-Newark men’s volleyball team went on a California road trip.
“I was being recruited by a lot of California schools,” Pearce-Cook said. “But I wanted a change. If I went to school in California, I would be playing against the same girls that I faced in high school. I thought it would be like going to high school again.”
So the Rutgers-Newark men’s coach Ron Larsen, a California native, decided to do a little recruiting for the women’s team as well. At the time, Larsen coached both the men and the women at R-N.
“He asked if he could swing by my house while the men’s team was out here,” Pearce-Cook said. “I decided that I would give Rutgers-Newark a look.”
On her recruiting visit, Pearce-Cook fell in love with R-N and decided to make it her home for the next few years.
“I enjoyed the girls when I went on the visit,” Pearce-Cook said. “It was a lot of fun right away. Most of the girls on the team then were not from New Jersey. There were some from California, others from Virginia, girls that were transplanted there as well. I figured it was only four years and I’d give it a try.”
When Cook arrived in Newark in August of 2001, it was definitely a bit of a shock for a California beach girl, who basically grew up in rural California, to be introduced to the hectic pace of New Jersey’s biggest city.
“It was a huge culture change,” Pearce-Cook said. “I’m not a city person at all. I am a beach girl who turned into a country girl after I married a guy from the South (Mississippi). I’ve never been a fan of the urban lifestyle. This was my first opportunity to experience it.”
Within a month of Pearce-Cook arriving in Newark, the nation’s biggest tragedy took place, when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
“Everything was a little crazy,” Pearce-Cook said. “We could see the New York skyline from our dormitory in Woodward Hall. We had a couple of the men’s players who worked in the World Trade Center, but just happened to not go to work that day. I had two uncles who were pilots for American and United Airlines that could have been on those planes. It was almost surreal. At the time, I was 17 years old, away from home for the first time and I really didn’t understand what was truly going on.”
Pearce-Cook also recalled the Golden Dome on the R-N campus being turned into an emergency triage center.
“We had games that were cancelled,” Pearce-Cook said. “It was really a tough time for all of us. It was definitely a different experience, not just for me, but for all of us.”
Soon after, life went back to its regular pace.
“I think we all wanted to get back to normalcy and that meant playing,” Pearce-Cook said. “I was fortunate to get along so well with my teammates. We lived together, ate together, did everything together. It formed a bond that is still there today.”
Pearce-Cook never imagined that she would eventually become one of the finest all-around volleyball players in the school’s history.
“I never thought of that while it was happening,” Pearce-Cook said. “I just played. I took pride in doing what was right and pushing myself to the fullest. I tried hard all the time, but I never imagined I’d get to that level. It just happened to work out that way.”
As an outside hitter with the Scarlet Raiders from 2001 through 2005, Pearce-Cook was a three-time First Team All-New Jersey Athletic Conference honoree. She was a three-time Division II Academic All-American, was twice named the Rutgers-Newark top scholar-athlete and in 2003, was named the top female athlete in the school’s athletic program. She earned Scarlet Raider Academic Achievement for maintaining at least a 3.0 grade point average in each of her 10 active semesters as a student-athlete at R-N.
When Pearce-Cook was done playing at R-N, she was the career leader in digs and service aces and second all-time in points and kills.
Upon graduating from Rutgers-Newark with a Bachelor’s degree in business and economics, Pearce-Cook enrolled in the Master’s program at Seton Hall University in sports management.
“I knew I liked sports and I knew it was something that I always wanted to do,” Pearce-Cook said. “At that time, the program was still relatively new and not a lot of schools offered it.”
While she was attending graduate school, Pearce-Cook was also working as a volleyball coach, both with the men’s and women’s teams at R-N, as well as the women’s team at Manhattan College.
“After a few years, I decided that it was time to go back home to California,” Pearce-Cook said.
When she got back to California, she took a job working with the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL, working with the team’s game presentation.
“I did a lot of the behind-the-scenes things with promotions and commercial spots,” Pearce-Cook said.
She then went to work at the new Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California, also owned by Anshutz Entertainment Group, the organization that owns the Kings, the Los Angeles Lakers and the L.A. Galaxy of Major League Soccer.
“AEG opened that arena in 2008 and it was a great move for me,” Pearce-Cook said.
She now serves as the manager of guest services at the new arena, handling all the different staff that works in the arena’s operations, from ticket takers, parking personnel and security.
“I really enjoy it,” Pearce-Cook said. “I handle all different kinds of events, from rodeo to boxing to concerts to Disney ice shows.”
As Pearce-Cook was giving the interview for this feature, she was preparing for the Los Angeles Lakers’ preseason game that was being held at the Citizens Business Bank Arena later that night.
“I am very lucky to have a job that I enjoy going to every day,” Pearce-Cook said. “I could never see myself doing a 9-to-5 job. I’d get too bored sitting behind a desk, so this is perfect for me, even if I do work crazy hours.”
She also added another part to her life. In 2011, Robin Pearce became Robin Pearce-Cook after marrying her husband, Tim, who is a corporal in the United States Marine Corps and has already done two tours of duty in Afghanistan.
“My father and brother were both in the Marine Corps,” Pearce-Cook said. “In fact, my brother did an infantry training with Tim and brought him home one time. Little did I know I’d get a husband out of it.”
Tim Cook is currently home with Robin in California, but his commitment to the military isn’t completed, so he could be called again if needed.
Robin Pearce-Cook is fortunate to have decided to take a chance to come all the way East to attend Rutgers-Newark.
“I really made a great decision,” Pearce-Cook said. “I got a chance to travel throughout the United States because of volleyball. I made friends that I have for life, some truly amazing people.”
As for her volleyball career, which culminated in her induction into the Rutgers-Newark Athletic Hall of Fame last year?
“When I went to the Hall of Fame induction, I brought one of my teammates and friends, Domini Lanzone (a 2008 R-N Athletic Hall of Fame honoree) as my guest,” Pearce-Cook said. “We were sitting there and they were going through my list of accomplishments and I just said to Domini, ‘Wow,’ because I couldn’t believe it all. At the time, I never paid attention to stats and numbers. I just played. I never worried if I had this many kills or this many aces. I just played. But it was amazing and I’m definitely proud of it.
Added Pearce-Cook, “Everything worked out so well for me. I couldn’t be happier.”
