Earlier this year, Alice Cook joined fellow members of the 1976 Olympic Team at the 2026 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Saint Louis to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their participation in the Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria.

Although unable to speak because of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease that attacks the nervous system, she was in great spirits enjoying the company of people with whom she had shared an incredible experience.

"The reunion was pretty amazing. … It's one of those moments I'll cherish and hold close to my heart," Tai Babilonia said. "Alice was amazing. She brought some of her memorabilia [including her Polar Sport warmup]. She had photos copied and gave each of us a team photo. She was in great spirits.

"You forgot what she was going through because she was so up, energized and happy to be with her skating family."

That Cook is an Olympian is a somewhat improbable tale. Originally from Michigan, she only took up pairs skating two years prior to the Olympics. Her partnership with Bill Fauver clicked and they made the 1976 U.S. team.

Fauver said teaming with Cook was a no-brainer despite Cook's lack of pairs experience. Although their tryout in Michigan took place over two days, he pretty much decided she would be his partner after 15 minutes.

"She had the brightest outlook in terms of how she projected on the ice," Fauver said. "We moved to Delaware to train with Luddy [Ron Ludington]. It was a big learning curve … but we had a whirlwind skating career. We worked hard. She was a ball of energy with everything that she did."

After the 1976 World Championships, Cook ended her competitive skating days and enrolled at Boston College. She earned a bachelor's in history and speech communication and then embarked on a career in television.

Cook, 70, was diagnosed with ALS in 2023. While the diagnosis was devastating, she adapted and continued to challenge herself, running the Boston Marathon in 2024 and '25.

A possible symptom of ALS is losing the ability to speak. Cook was provided with a device that enabled her to write what she wanted to say and the device then spoke her words. The unique thing about Cook's device is that it actually sounds like her. For 25 years [1985–2010] she was a sports reporter for WBZ, a CBS affiliate station in Boston, and the station provided video of broadcasts. Utilizing artificial intelligence, her voice was replicated, so when the device spoke it was her.  

In fact, Cook blazed a trail for future female sports reporters. Over the course of her career, she covered the NFL, NBA, NHL and other sporting events, such as the Super Bowl and World Series. She first set foot in the New England Patriots' locker room after a league mandate in 1985.

"The PR director of the Patriots just opened the doors and shouted into the locker room, 'There's a woman coming in,'" Cook told the New York Amsterdam News in 2011. "Every player turned and looked at the door. I said to my cameraman, 'I can't do this.'

"He said, 'This is your job, honey, let's go.'"

Although it took time to gain respect — Cook even endured one incident that left her shaking where Patriots players shouted abuse and made obscene gestures — she persevered. In 2008, she told SKATING, "It's in my competitive nature not to let them get the best of me and to stick it out." Her colleagues noted her professionalism and meticulous preparation.

WBZ sports producer Joe Giza worked with Cook from 2004–10, noting that she always came prepared. A sports producer coordinates with a reporter going out on assignment what her or his story is going to be and what the reporter might need. That helps the producer format the sports segment of the news broadcast.

"Alice was always aware of what the storylines were; she would chase down the story of the day very prepared and know what she was looking for," Giza said, who helped gather the archival footage used for Cook's speech device. "If she was going to Fenway Park, she wouldn't just go there and see what happened and make something out of it. She would go with a story she intended to work on and talk to the necessary people. She was not shy about anything, very confident, very go-getter.

"She had such a good personality — always smiling and joking — it helped put the athletes at ease," he added. "At the same time, she wasn't afraid to ask them tough questions."

Having executed carefully timed skating choreography, Cook understood timing and segment length. When she would go into the field, she would send her pieces back ready to air and rarely needing editing.

Cook never did figure skating commentary, but the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano provided a unique opportunity. She both covered the Games for WBZ and worked for Turner Broadcasting as host of "The Cutting Edge," a daily talk show cohosted by Rosalynn Sumners and Peter Carruthers.

"That was one of my most fun things I ever did in television; I don't think Alice and I ever stopped laughing," said Sumners, who was at her first Olympics since she'd competed in 1984. "She definitely taught me a lot. Without telling me what to do, I learned from her because you could tell she was so comfortable."

The hotel rooms in Nagano were small, so Sumners and Cook did sit-ups together in the hallway each morning before heading to the rink. As far as interview technique, Sumners said Cook was incredibly likeable and able to make quick connections with the people she was interviewing. The art of interviewing was relatively new to Sumners, so she tried to soak up the details from Cook.

"We weren't trying to ask difficult questions that people didn't want to answer, but I could tell she knew how to handle an interview and have that rapport with people," Sumners said. "I remember watching and seeing it was a talent. I studied her without thinking I was studying her. I knew I could learn something. I'm teachable and teaching was so natural for her. She was giving me guidance."

Fauver maintained a cordial relationship with Cook over the past five decades and was truly happy to spend time with her at the U.S. Championships.

 "She loved skating; it just wasn't her career," he said.

Cook also loved her family, navigating what were sometimes 14-hour workdays while also being a wife and mother. She is married to attorney Patrick Voke and mother to three children: Kelly, 34, Brendan, 33 and MacKenzie, 30. None skated, but over the years Cook still laced up her skates and took to the ice, her love of the sport never diminished.

It gave her great satisfaction to see the increase of female sports journalists and on-air reporters over the decades.

 "It took a long time for the transition to really take hold with players and management," she said. "Now you look at local and network TV sports and women are everywhere."