Legendary sports better and former ESPN sports talk radio host Dave Cokin has died at the age of 71 just a few weeks after revealing his cancer diagnosis.
Cokin was a known professional handicapper for decades, but announced his retirement weeks ago after telling his audience that he had only a few days left to live.
‘Ok the time has come,’ Cokin began a series of posts on June 25. ‘I went to the doc about one year ago for what was supposed to be maybe a 30 minute biopsy. Turned into about an 8 hour procedure.
‘After speaking with the meds and weighing the options, I opted to pass on the chemo and let nature take its course. The original prognosis was weeks, possibly months. I’m already one year in and feel good. I look like s**t but will accept the opinion of many that I looked like s**t anyway.
‘Unfortunately after mostly spinning its wheels and accomplishing surprisingly little, the cancer has now taken dead aim (grim but accurate choice of words) at my carotid artery. One doesn’t have to be a med whiz to know what that means.
Former ESPN Radio betting host Dave Cokin has died after a battle with cancer at age 71
‘Basically you should not count on getting a Christmas present from me. I’ve got days or weeks, perhaps a couple months left and I’ll be going going gone.
‘So the big announcement. I’m retiring. I’ll still be capping each day as that’s what I’ve loved to do for most of [my] years and I’ll still post any really strong opinions @WagerTalk but there will be days off where I just get one more watch of some great flicks with my friends.
‘Sorry about being long winded but it’s my dime. My thanks to my closest friends and especially to those who’ve made repeated trips from Rhode Island just to hang out. My words can’t come close to covering it to Erin who has saved my life twice.
‘I guess that’s about it. I’ve gotten all my ducks in a row, I made enough to leave $$ to those I feel were most loyal and I just want to do something nice for. Replies are open and I’ll do my best to answer as long as I[‘m] able to you. Based on what I know my end will be a mostly painless 10-15 minute bleed out. Really hope it’s not in the middle of a good film noir!
‘Thanks so much who’ve followed my occasionally brilliant but mostly mediocre tweets over the years. You’d be surprised how much I’ve appreciated you guys!’
Fellow radio host Lawrence Prezman announced that Cokin passed away on Tuesday at around 4:00am that morning.
‘Very rarely do we meet a legend in life and me and the entire WagerTalk team were lucky enough to have one in our work family for many, many years,’ said Lawrence.
Cokin announced his retirement weeks ago after his cancer targeted his carotid artery
Born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island, Cokin moved to Las Vegas in the late-1980s and began his broadcast career as a guest on Lee Pete’s sports talk radio show – eventually becoming the co-host of Pete’s Stardust Line, the longest-running sports betting show in the nation.
At ESPN Radio, Cokin co-hosted their Las Vegas Sportsline betting show from 2011-2018 with Matt Youmans. He also hosted Cofield and Cokin on ESPN Radio as well.
In recent years, Cokin shared his picks and predictions on WagerTalk.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk