Ronald (Bud) Cooper

RONALD R. (BUD) COOPER, 80, the father of Lake Superior State University athletics, died peacefully November 29, 2009 under the care of Hospice of the Eastern Upper Peninsula at Hearthside Assisted Living in Sault Ste. Marie. Bud was born September 4, 1929 in Sault Ste. Marie. He is survived by his loving wife of 60 years, Muriel (Papineau), his high school sweetheart, whom he married Sept. 3, 1949 in the Sault. Also surviving are sons Rick (Robin) Cooper of Mill Creek, Washington, David (Lynn) Cooper of Coppell, Texas, Dr. Kevin (Pam) Cooper of the Sault and Kurt in Trout Lake. Other survivors are grandsons Patrick and Benjamin of Mill Creek, Washington, Bradley of Coppell, Texas and Craig and Brian of the Sault; brother, James (Anna) Cooper of the Sault , their daughters Cassandra Cooper, her children Mitchell and Kaitlyn Brown, all of Kingsley; and Dawn (Ray) Molonari and their son, Jacob, of Traverse City; along with Bud''s sister Evelyn (Henry) Magalski of Saginaw, and her five children: Joseph and Andy Magalski, and Carol Lechel, Janice Zolinski and Mary Jo Huff. Also surviving are Muriel''s brothers Pat, in Connecticut, and Mike (Phyllis) in Arizona and a cousin Wanda Johnson of St. Petersburg, Florida. Bud was predeceased by a sister, Barbara, whose children Dale Brown, Connie Wixted and Nancy Klein, all of Saginaw, survive. Bud''s younger brother, Billy, died in 1972, and Billy''s children Steve, Jimmy, Scott, Cindy and Brent Cooper all survive. For 26 years, until his retirement in 1986, Bud Cooper served as Director of Athletics at the Sault Branch of Michigan Tech/Lake Superior State College. During that tenure, he was a founder of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (GLIAC) of which LSSC/LSSU is a charter member. LSSC joined the Central Collegiate Hockey Association in 1972, in its second year of existence. Bud combined with Dr. Kenneth Shouldice, then president at LSSC, to begin hockey as a sponsored sport in 1966. He hired Ron Mason as the first coach of the varsity program. The Lakers won National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) championships in 1972 and 1974, the first under Mason and the second with Rick Comley as head coach. Bud was responsible for hiring dozens of coaches over the years at Soo Tech and LSSC, including Mason, Rick Comley, Rick Yeo, Bill Selman, Frank Anzalone, Jack Brighton, Tom Ludwig, Ed Douma, Gunille Myers, Bob Taylor, Deb McPherson, Jerry Cheynet, Jim Fallis, Joe Poisson, Jim Hanley and many others. The late Shirley Patton Mancuso worked for years as Bud''s secretary/assistant. Ever the competitor, Bud was a star athlete at Sault High from which he graduated in 1947. He played basketball, football and ran track at then-Sault Tech in the late 1940s, and earned his bachelor''s degree at Central Michigan University in 1951. While at CMU, Bud played basketball and baseball. He was headed for a professional baseball career until he suffered a badly-broken leg while CMU''s second baseman in a 1950 game at Tiger Stadium. After graduating at CMU, Bud began coaching and teaching in Mount Pleasant. He returned to the Sault shortly thereafter, where he coached the Sault Tech Hornets'' basketball teams from 1954 until 1959. He also coached football at Loretto Catholic Central High School during this period, and began a football/basketball officiating stint that ran for 15 years. He also helped coach Sault High basketball in the early 1960s, after taking over as A.D. at the Sault Branch, and he returned to CMU to earn his Master''s degree in Education. Bud started the Cager Club at LSSC in the 1970s, was a life-long member of the Soo BlueLiners, was the driving force behind the LSSU Athletics Hall of Fame, of which he is a charter member, and oversaw the annual fall golf tournament that bears his name and from which women''s athletics at LSSU benefit. His endowed scholarship will mean financial support for Laker female athletes well into the future. He had a weekly sports coaching/officiating program on then CJIC-TV in the Canadian Sault during the 1960s, a show that often featured Soo Tech coaches and other sports officials from the twin Saults. Bud had many friends and supporters from both sides of the St. Mary''s River, and was a part-time radio broadcaster of Lake Superior State College athletics in the late 1960s and early ''70s. He often traveled with the Laker basketball and hockey teams during that period, and has been a strong and vocal supporter of the Lakers since his retirement. It was during Bud''s tenure that two great Laker hockey traditions began: LSSC was the first collegiate institution to employ a ship''s horn after goals and victories; and ringing the Hoholik Victory Bell outside the Norris Center. Bud Cooper Gymnasium is named for the patriarch of Laker athletics, and Bud was often there for practices and games in recent years, as he was at Abel Arena for hockey practices and games. He met some life goals in the last several months: his 80th birthday September 4, his 60th wedding anniversary September 3 and seeing his grandsons Brad and Brian both on the ice for the Lakers in October. He was a life member of the Elks Lodge in Sault Ste. Marie, the Sault Country Club and many organizations and associations at LSSU. He is a past recipient of the Donahue Award (1992) for service to the GLIAC and has been recognized as a founder of the CCHA. He was inducted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in 1981 and won the Sault Ste. Marie Sportsman of the Year Award in 1992. Private family services for the late Ronald "Bud" Cooper will be held in the Sault, with Clark Bailey Newhouse Funeral Home assisting. A memorial service will be conducted in the late spring or summer, 2010, on campus at Lake Superior State. Donations in Bud''s name may be made to Hospice of the EUP.

Tributes

Ronald (Bud) Cooper

September 4, 1929 - November 29, 2009