Prior to 1997, Cook Park looked very different than it does today - when you drove down into the park, there were fields only on the right side of 98th Avenue. The left side was completely undeveloped and much of it had been a dairy farm in the past. The land to the left was owned by Charles Lamb and Bob Gray - Mr. Gray approached the city about selling the land in order to make a much larger park but at the time, development plans couldn't be agreed and no sale could be agreed.

At this time, Tigard Little League and Tigard Soccer Club (now Southside Soccer Club or SSC) used baseball fields Cook 1 and 2 and soccer fields 1, 2 and 3 but they very much needed additional field space.

In 1997, Dave and Jim Nicoli architected an agreement between Mr. Gray/Mr. Lamb, Tigard Little League/SSC and the City of Tigard where:

The City of Tigard and TLL/SSC would each pay $150,000 to purchase the land from Mr. Gray/Mr. Lamb (for a total of $300,000)

The land would be used to develop fields that would be used by TLL /SSC during their season but would be available for use by the City of Tigard for large events (e.g., the Balloon Festival)

Original 1998 Agreement Document