Career
His habit of wearing his socks knee high earned him his nickname. Cooper, originally from the Albany district, started his career in the West Australian Football League. After 49 games, he sought and received a clearance to Carlton and had a good debut season.
He broke into the strong Carlton side in round five and was part of nine successive wins as the club made it all the way to the Grand Final.
Cooper played in a forward pocket in the Grand Final loss to Richmond and despite appearing in further finals in subsequent years he never made another decider. Despite missing the finals series it was his most prolific season in front of goals, with 30 majors.
In 1936 he returned to Western Australia and was appointed playing coach of South Fremantle, but returned to the Eastern States before the season started. "Socks" Cooper crossed to North Melbourne in 1943 but only played the one season.
He spent the rest of the decade at VFA club Prahran.