Cole once held Jamestown High School basketball records for most points in a game (36), most points in a season (428), most rebounds in a season (250) and most points in a career (603). As a senior in 1964, he averaged 23.1 points per game and led the Red Raiders to a Section VI Class AAA title. In that contest, he made all 10 of his field-goal attempts and his only free throw as Jamestown defeated Amherst, 79-71, for the school's first sectional crown since 1946.
At Jamestown CC, he continued his success on the hardwood, averaging 16 points per game as a freshman and 22.6 as a sophomore, the latter mark placing him fourth in the NJCAA scoring list. He was also a standout on the golf team and ultimately was voted one of the school's 50 greatest athletes in 2000.
Cole's passion for golf, born on the municipal course upon where Jamestown CC now sits, has resulted in numerous accomplishments, dating from the early 1960s to the present. His highlights on the links include: two-time winner of the Western New York Amateur; nine-time winner of the Conewango Forks GC championship; 11-time winner of the Conewango Valley CC championship; four-time winner of the Jim Riggs Post-Journal Champions; two-time winner of the Italian-American Charity Classic with partner Phil Camarata; course records at Conewango Forks GC (63) and the Jamestown Municipal GC (63); Chautauqua County Amateur champion (1974); 11 holes-in-one; and one double-eagle.
And that's only a portion of Cole's golf highlights.
One that was not mentioned above came in 2002 when he won the National Senior Club Champions Tournament on the Ocean Course in Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
The late Jim Riggs, former longtime sports editor of The Post-Journal, described Cole's experience in an article from November 2002, which appears below:
KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — Dick Cole was five shots behind after the opening round of the Adams National Senior Club Champions Tournament on the Ocean Course on Monday, but he didn't let that bother him.
Cole, the senior club champion from Conewango Valley Country Club, bounced back from a 10-over-par 82 on Monday with a 3-over 75 Tuesday that put him in a three-way tie for the title.
In the playoff, Cole claimed the championship with a par on the first hole. Bill Brooks had a bogey to finish second and Nick Cole had double-bogey to finish third.
Cole's 75 on Tuesday was the second-lowest round. The best round was an even-par 72 by Bill McBride, who won the Adams Senior Championship by seven shots.
that Adams Senior Championship, Cole tied for fourth with his 157 total.
"I never played in a national tournament. I thought it would be fun," Cole said was the reason he entered the event.
And he had never played a top-grade national tournament course.
"It was the most intimidating golf course I've ever seen," he said about Kiawah, which was the site of the 1993 Ryder Cup.
So he wasn't surprised he got off to a rough start.
"I dug myself a hole the first day," said Cole, who is the defending champion of The Post-Journal Champions tournament.
A triple-bogey, thanks to a lost ball, on No. 10, helped lead to the opening-round 82.
However, on Tuesday the Jamestown native opened with a birdie and was 1 under for the next two holes before he three-putted Nos. 4 through 6. However, Cole still finished even on the front side, but he noted, "The backside is three strokes tougher than the front."
Cole started with a bogey on 10, but erased it with a birdie at No. 11.
The turning point on the backside was a bogey at the par 5 16th hole.
"I made a 6 that could have been an 8," Cole said about putting his fifth shot from the waste area less than 2 feet from the cup.
Then he parred out for a 75 and a tie for the lead.
"I parred the famous 17th hole both days," Cole said.
