Cooper, Norman "Shorty"

He was an All-State basketball player, and All- Conference in football, for Lauderdale County High School in 1931-1933. He lettered in both sports at Howard College, which is now Samford University. He was Little All-American in football at Howard College in 1936 and All-Dixie in 1935 and 1936. He was the captain of the team that tied the Alabama Rose Bowl team in 1936. He played center for the Brooklyn Dodgers professional football team in 1936 and 1938. He started his coaching career at Howard College and moved to Vanderbilt as an assistant football coach. While at Vanderbilt, he was head baseball coach in 1941 and 1942. After World War II he returned to Vanderbilt in 1946-47 before going to Kansas in 1948 and LSU 1949-1952. The 1949 LSU team won the Southeastern Conference championship and appeared in the 1950 Sugar Bowl. Cooper started Little League baseball in Birmingham and served as president of softball and baseball leagues in the 1950's. He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1978.