Born in Smith Mills, Kentucky, Cooper earned three degrees from the University of Missouri, and lettered in basketball and track between 1932 and 1934. An all-conference choice in 1932 when he led the Tigers in scoring, Cooper is the man nationally recognized for popularizing the jump shot. In fact, his nickname was “Jump Shot Cooper.” He also won a conference championship in the quarter mile on the track. After coaching in the high school ranks, Cooper returned to Mizzou as assistant basketball coach from 1940-42, before beginning a long teaching career on the college level at the University of Southern California and Indiana University. He was one of the nation's leaders in the field of kinesiology and served as president of the 35,000-member American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (AAHPER). He was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1990. His brother, Clay, was inducted into Mizzou’s Hall of Fame in 1991.
