Carl Cooper was Arizona’s track coach, an assistant football coach for 15 years and a full-time professor before running the U.S Track and Field Federation.

 Jack W. Sheaffer, Arizona Daily Star file photo

Not many have better stories than the son of a Clifton electrician who went on to become the head of the USA Track and Field operation. Cooper was a football and basketball letterman at Arizona from 1935-40, and the head track coach from 1951-68, during which he coached Olympians George Young, Gayle Hopkins and Ed Caruthers. He also worked as a UA assistant football coach for 12 years. 

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