Willard Cooper, Coach; 'A Bulldog For All Seasons'
Bill Schenley
Willard Cooper Dies; Steered Central To Victories, Through Integration
FROM: The Palatka (Florida) Daily News ~
By Andy Hall
Willard Cooper, whose coaching career in Palatka schools bridged the
gap from the all-black Central Academy to the integrated Central High
and produced college athletes, professional athletes and educators,
died Friday afternoon in a Green Cove Springs hospital after a long
illness. He was 80.
A Fort Lauderdale native who played for the legendary Jake Gaither at
Florida A&M, Cooper logged 18 seasons as a head football coach in
Putnam County - a period of service second only to Jim McCool's 21
years at Palatka High School.
Cooper was head coach at Central Academy from 1956-68 and after twice
seeing the job go to white men following desegregation in 1969, he
took over the Bulldogs again in 1972 and held the position through
1976, after which Central and South high schools consolidated to
become the present-day PHS.
Notable players at Central Academy included David Daniels, an
offensive tackle who won a scholarship to Florida A&M and went on to
the Oakland Raiders of the old American Football League; and Grady
Smith a wide receiver who later ran on a relay team with Olympic
sprinter and ex-Dallas Cowboys star Bob Hayes at FAMU.
Cooper's players at Central High included Jerome Wilkerson, also a
baseball standout who coached baseball at PHS from 1987-89 and
1997-2005 and now serves as assistant principal at James A. Long
Middle School; and Horace Jefferson, a three-sport star who coached
basketball at St. Johns River Community College from 1994-2005.
Wilkerson's older brother Willie passed for five touchdowns in a 67-46
contest won by North Marion in 1974 - the highest-scoring game in the
57-year history of Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Cooper was twice named coach of the year in the Big 9 East - a
conference of black schools stretching from Daytona Beach to
Pensacola - and boasted impressive records against the Bulldogs'
biggest rivals. In a 2005 interview, he cited records of 15-1 against
St. Augustine Murray, 16-0-1 against Hastings Harris, 14-2 against
Gainesville Lincoln, 10-4 against Daytona Beach Campbell Street
and16-0 against Sanford Crooms.
His Central High teams were less talented than those of Central
Academy, yet Cooper took the Bulldogs from 2-7 to 5-5 in his first two
seasons, and after three straight losses to Palatka South, his 1976
team was a 21-13 winner in the schools' final meeting before
consolidation.
In a 2005 Palatka Daily News feature on Cooper, longtime assistant
David McPherson marveled at Cooper's eye for detail.
"Jim always sent us to scout the toughest games," McPherson said. "He
taught me about watching the secondary - watching the kid the coach
was arguing with. We'd go directly at him."
Beyond wins, losses and strategy, Cooper was the unifying figure that
was expected of football coaches, particularly in the '50s, '60s and
'70s.
"He was an icon with the school," said Palatka Mayor Karl Flagg, a
member of the last Central High graduating class in 1977 and one of
Cooper's physical education students. "On campus or off campus, he was
respected because of the way he carried himself. When you'd see him,
his word would be 'Hey Bulldog!' and you'd say 'Hey Bulldog!'"
When some of Cooper's former Central Academy players threatened to
quit rather than play for another coach after desegregation in 1969,
he counseled them against it. Two years later, when passed over a
second time for the head coaching job, Cooper accepted a position as
an assistant to keep the players involved.
"He never missed a beat. He waited it out," Jefferson said in 2005.
"That had to be tough, but he never showed it. He's a man among men.
"My glass is always half-full because of coach Cooper."
Cooper credited Gaither, his college coach, with helping him endure
the snub that came at the onset of desegregation.
"We went to Tallahassee - all his former players who were coaches,"
Cooper said. "(Gaither) said, 'I know you're having problems, but just
don't worry about that. Do what you can. I know who you are and what
you can do.'"
Billy Bennett, Cooper's counterpart at the predominantly white Palatka
Senior and Palatka South high schools during the 1960s and '70s, spoke
of their mutual respect in the 2005 PDN feature.
"Willard was a great individual," Bennett said. "He was a good coach
because he coached kids, not football. He was firm and straightforward
with them."
In retirement, Cooper was sought out for his experience as a coach and
teacher while serving as a member of the School Board Diversity
Council. The former Teen Town building at the corner of 13th Street
and Crill Avenue was renamed in Cooper's honor in 2004 and serves as a
Red Cross headquarters.
Survivors include his wife Sylvia, daughter Angela Gayle Cooper of
Palatka and stepson Edward Vonallen Mallard of Miami. Funeral
arrangements are to be announced by Karl N. Flagg Serenity Memorial
Chapel.
Brad Ferguson
Schenley <stra...@ma.rr.com> wrote:
> A Bulldog For All Seasons:
> Willard Cooper Dies; Steered Central To Victories, Through Integration
>
> FROM: The Palatka (Florida) Daily News ~
> By Andy Hall
>
> Willard Cooper, whose coaching career in Palatka schools bridged the
> gap from the all-black Central Academy to the integrated Central High
> and produced college athletes, professional athletes and educators,
> died Friday afternoon in a Green Cove Springs hospital after a long
> illness. He was 80.
This has nothing at all to do with Mr. Cooper: When I was a kid I read
a book, "Alas, Babylon," that was set in the pre-Disney central Florida
of 1959-1960. The novel is set in the aftermath of a nuclear war, and
while the town it takes place in (Fort Repose) is fictional, it's
surrounded by real places such as Palatka. Every so often I see one of
those places mentioned, even here, and the first through tenth things I
think of are related to that book.
IIRC the Western Union telegrapher (heh, see other obit) in Fort Repose
hears from the Palatka operator that they can see a mushroom cloud
where Jacksonville used to be.