Don Cooper was pioneer in the sport

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http://www.denverpost.com/catchingupwith/ci_4649222

Pole vaulter was pioneer in the sport
Ex-coach was first collegian to clear 15 feet
By Irv Moss
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 11/12/2006 11:36:54 PM MST


Don Cooper (Post / Hyoung Chang)
Editor's note: In the Colorado Classics series, The Denver Post takes a weekly look at individuals who made their mark on the Colorado sports landscape and what they are doing now.
Under the circumstances, everyone would have done as Don Cooper did, proving that pole vaulters have good sense.
Cooper was competing in an international meet in Sweden in the early 1950s. This was before the modern-day landing pits that allow vaulters to land as if on a big pillow. What Cooper saw when he looked at the competition site was a little much even in those days.
"They had spaded up the ground for a landing area," Cooper said. "We asked them to at least bring in some sand, and they did."
Cooper has many memories as he looks back on nearly 60 years of competition, coaching at Wheat Ridge and Cherry Creek high schools, and family members continuing a sport that some might consider dangerous or only for fools.
"I haven't kept as close to track and field over the last 20 years," Cooper said. "But I haven't missed too many district championship meets since I retired 20 years ago."
But it doesn't take long for Cooper to warm up to tracing his résumé in track and field and, in particular, the pole vault. He might begin with the fact he was the first collegian to clear 15 feet, that coming at the 1951 Kansas Relays. He was an All-American in college and was ranked among the top three vaulters in the world as qualifying began for the 1952 Olympics. An ankle injury hampered his qualifying attempt, and missing the Olympic team is the lone regret he has from his competition days.
"We didn't have foam-rubber landing pits in those days," Cooper said. "We had sawdust. It was a long way down, and you had to land on your feet. We were always getting injured because of the landing pits."
Cooper's chief opponent in those days was Bob Richards, who went on to be a two-time Olympic champion. His teammates on international tours were the who's who of track and field, including Richards and shot-putter Parry O'Brien.
Cooper developed an interest in the pole vault as he grew up in York, Neb., and later competed for the University of Nebraska.
"I started with a bamboo fishing pole," Cooper said. "I'd run down a runway in the yard and I'd get just a little ways off the ground. I advanced to the wooden rod that furniture rugs were wrapped around."
While Cooper coached track and field in all events at Wheat Ridge and Cherry Creek, the pole vault became a family tradition. His son Mark Cooper took up the sport and competed for Wheat Ridge. He's now the coach at Smoky Hill High School, where his students have won 15 state pole vault championships.
Mark Cooper's son Kirk Cooper was the state champion in 2005 and 2006 and his younger son, Chase Cooper, is a sophomore and aiming at his first state title.
"He passed the sport on to me and I've passed it on to Kirk and Chase," Mark Cooper said. "It has brought us all a lot closer together. It's a connection between all of us."
The Coopers have the qualities to excel in the pole vault.
"You have to be acrobatic, with strong shoulders and arms," Don Cooper said. "The metal poles we used in my day were heavy and you could get tired out after a few times down the runway."
Mark Cooper lists qualities of sprinter speed down the runway, determination and having a reckless abandon about doing things.
"People might look at pole vaulters as being a little crazy or nuts, I don't know," he said.
Don Cooper is being reunited Saturday with some of his tracksters from Wheat Ridge and Cherry Creek. He hasn't seen some of them for 40 years and wonders if they'll recognize each other. He's expecting to see pole vaulter John Weigel, his first state champion at Cherry Creek, and Terry Ten Eyck and Bobby Mitchell, two talented field event performers, from Wheat Ridge.
"We had some great teams at both Wheat Ridge and Cherry Creek," Cooper said. "We always were in the thick of things. Our big opponents were Manual and coach Gib Gardner and Denver East with Jack Molton."
Cooper's last vault was part of a clinic at the University of Denver a few years after he retired from competition. Cooper and Olympic long jump champion Jerome Biffle were part of the clinic staff. Biffle was a Denver native and also a track and field coach at Denver East.
"I think I cleared about 10 feet," Cooper said. "That was my last vault. After I moved four or five times, I threw my pole away. My career was over."
Cooper, at 80, is still connected to bamboo poles, but as a fisherman. But he likes to talk about pole vaulting.
"Today's pole vaulters aren't as goofy as they used to be," Cooper said. "The light poles, the all-weather tracks and the soft landing pits make a difference. But they're a little goofy."