Daequan Cook Drops 40 on Colonel White in Rare 2004 Dayton Dunbar Footage

Before Ohio State. Before the NBA. Before the national spotlight.

Daequan Cook was already putting on shows in the city, Dayton Ohio.

This rare footage from 2004 takes us back to a Dayton City League matchup between rivals Dayton Dunbar and Colonel White, with Cook delivering a 40 ball. For those who remember that era of Dayton basketball, performances like this were part of what made Cook one of the most talked about young players in the city.

WATCH: Daequan Cook’s 40-Point Performance

These extended clips show a young Daequan Cook showing his advanced game for a sophomore out there creating offense and showing the scoring ability that would eventually take him far beyond Dayton.

An Era of Dayton Basketball Worth Preserving

That's part of what makes footage like this special.

These weren't games played in the age of iPhones, livestreams and social media clips appearing online minutes after the final buzzer.

A lot of this history still exists on old tapes, newspaper pages, photographs and in the memories of the people who were there.

As those tapes are recovered and digitized, we're working to make sure those moments don't disappear.

The Dunbar & Colonel White matchup is another piece of that history.

For younger basketball fans who only know Cook from Ohio State or the NBA, this footage provides a chance to see what the journey looked like before he reached those stages.

For people from Dayton who watched that era firsthand, it's a chance to experience it again.

937 To The League

This footage is part of the growing 937 To The League archive.

We're digging through rare game tapes, newspaper archives, photographs and stories to document an era of Dayton basketball that produced some incredible players and unforgettable moments.

And Daequan Cook's story is one of the biggest.

937 To The League: The Daequan Cook Story will take a deeper look at his journey from Dayton to Dunbar, Ohio State and ultimately the NBA.

Until then, we'll continue opening the archive.

More tapes are coming.

More stories are coming.

And there's a lot of Dayton basketball history left to uncover.