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A former Tiger beat Sailors by over a decade
Posted on: June 8, 2020 at 16:18:11 CT
FIJItiger MU
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John Cooper
Letterman - 1932, 1933, 1934
In terms of basketball, rare are the true innovators or those who bring even somewhat revolutionary change to the game. MU had one such player in 5'11 Cooper from Smith Mills, Kentucky. Cooper is credited as the first player in college basketball to successfully use the jump shot. Initially a center despite his small size, Cooper was able to leap and put both hands in the basket and he coupled that with superior quickness to other post players to elevate or go around them. Nicknamed “Jump Shot” Cooper because of his unorthodox shooting method, Cooper exploded onto the scene in his second game by scoring 5 points in the final 40 seconds of game time (MU only scored 25 points the entire game) to lift the Tigers to a victory over SLU. He would continue at that pace to lead the entire conference in scoring as a sophomore, and earn first team All Conference honors. Cooper would follow that up with another All Conference season (4th in conference in scoring) the next year despite his effectiveness being limited due to the successful whining of ku coach Phog Allen that led to conference’s adoption of the 3 second in the lane rule. Thus, stripped of his advantage over taller players, Cooper moved to the perimeter and became MU's first long range jump shooter. But as impactful as his game was on the court (he also lettered in track at MU and won a conference championship in the quarter mile), it was his contributions to academia where he made his biggest mark. After serving as an assistant coach at MU for 2 seasons, he moved on to USC and Indiana as one of the nation's leaders in the field of kinesiology, and as president of the 35,000-member American Association for Health.
Letterman - 1932, 1933, 1934
In terms of basketball, rare are the true innovators or those who bring even somewhat revolutionary change to the game. MU had one such player in 5'11 Cooper from Smith Mills, Kentucky. Cooper is credited as the first player in college basketball to successfully use the jump shot. Initially a center despite his small size, Cooper was able to leap and put both hands in the basket and he coupled that with superior quickness to other post players to elevate or go around them. Nicknamed “Jump Shot” Cooper because of his unorthodox shooting method, Cooper exploded onto the scene in his second game by scoring 5 points in the final 40 seconds of game time (MU only scored 25 points the entire game) to lift the Tigers to a victory over SLU. He would continue at that pace to lead the entire conference in scoring as a sophomore, and earn first team All Conference honors. Cooper would follow that up with another All Conference season (4th in conference in scoring) the next year despite his effectiveness being limited due to the successful whining of ku coach Phog Allen that led to conference’s adoption of the 3 second in the lane rule. Thus, stripped of his advantage over taller players, Cooper moved to the perimeter and became MU's first long range jump shooter. But as impactful as his game was on the court (he also lettered in track at MU and won a conference championship in the quarter mile), it was his contributions to academia where he made his biggest mark. After serving as an assistant coach at MU for 2 seasons, he moved on to USC and Indiana as one of the nation's leaders in the field of kinesiology, and as president of the 35,000-member American Association for Health.
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A former Tiger beat Sailors by over a decade - FIJItiger MU - 6/8 16:18:11