ABOUT THE ROOSTER
John J. “Big Rooster” Cornell Jr.
Before there was a Big Rooster Golf Classic, there was Big John.
John J. Cornell Jr. was a husband, father, grandfather, friend, race fan and race car owner. At 6-foot-6, the name Big John certainly fit him, but his size was only part of it. He had a presence that filled a room, a personality people remembered, and a tendency to give everything he had to whatever he decided to do.
The story of how Big John became Big Rooster says a lot about him. After this city boy moved to the country, some friends gave him a few baby chicks as a gag. Instead of simply keeping a few chickens, John went all in. He researched everything, became an expert, built a state-of-the-art chicken coop and eventually had so many hens, roosters and eggs that he started giving the eggs away. Somewhere along the way, Big John became Big Rooster — and he loved the nickname.
To his son, Johnny, though, he was simply Dad — his best friend, buddy, race car owner, biggest supporter and, in Johnny's words, his everything.
Racing Was Us
Racing wasn't just something Dad and Johnny did together. It was their life together. From Johnny's earliest years racing quarter midgets through his years competing in Northeast dirt modified racing, their lives revolved around race cars and racetracks. They missed parties, weddings and plenty of other events because if there was a race, that's where they were going.
There were countless nights in the garage, long drives, victories, wrecked race cars, disappointments, arguments, celebrations and memories. Together they chased one of their biggest dreams, and in 2014 Johnny won the Sportsman Championship at New Egypt Speedway — a championship that belonged every bit as much to Dad as it did to him.
Less than a year later, on June 12, 2015, Big John suffered a massive heart attack and passed away unexpectedly while watching Johnny race at Bridgeport Speedway. The racetrack — the place where father and son had shared so much of their lives — became the place where Johnny lost his dad.
After several years of learning how to live with that loss, Johnny decided to do what he believed his father would have done: make something good happen out of something horrible.
Somehow, It Became Golf
The irony of the Big Rooster Golf Classic is that Big Rooster didn't particularly like playing golf. His most memorable golf story came in 1973, when he accidentally sent a golf club sailing through a third-floor window at Rahway High School. That was about as close to a legendary golf career as he ever got.
Yet on June 12, 2020, exactly five years after Dad passed away, Johnny booked several tee times at Morgan Hill Golf Course in Easton, Pennsylvania, and invited 16 close friends to play golf in his memory. A friend made Rooster stickers, the winners received a Rooster club cover and trophy, and everyone spent the day laughing, telling stories and remembering Dad.
Pictures from that day made their way onto Facebook, and the response was overwhelming. Family, friends, racing buddies, coworkers and even childhood friends of Big John's wanted to be part of the next one. Those 16 friends had unknowingly started what would become the Big Rooster Golf Classic.
Today, people who never had the opportunity to meet Big Rooster know his name and his story. They wear the Rooster, gather every June in his memory and have helped turn one family's loss into something capable of helping others through the American Heart Association.