Penn-Trafford sidelines to look a little different after longtime athletic trainer Larry Cooper’s retirement

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, August 2, 2018 | 10:54 PM

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It is the end of an era at Penn-Trafford.

A familiar face will be absent from the Warriors’ sideline moving forward. Larry Cooper retired as an athletic trainer and educator at the conclusion of the 2017-18 school year. Cooper was with Penn-Trafford for 27 years.

“It never felt like I was going to work,” Cooper said. “The students, staff, coaches and administration were great. To be honest, I am not sure if it has set in. I am still in summer mode. I am sure it is going to be hard in August.”

While he didn’t intend to retire at the beginning of the year, he felt it was the right decision as the school year progressed. Cooper said several factors went into his decision, but the most important one was family.

“I wanted to spend more time with my family,” Cooper said. “I wanted to do some traveling with my wife and spend time with my parents. I have three daughters and wanted to do more with them. I am going to be a grandpa in January, which I didn’t know at the time.”

Cooper started his career as a trainer for the Duquesne women’s basketball team before moving to Virginia and working as an athletic trainer at two high schools. He moved back to the area in the early 1990s to be the head athletic trainer at East Suburban Sports Medicine Center in Monroeville.

He eventually found a home at Penn-Trafford.

“The community is a gem,” Cooper said. “People don’t know how it is here. The parents are supportive. And the administration always had the well-being and safety of the students in mind. They always gave me the support and the ability to do the right thing.”

This focus on athletic training allowed Penn-Trafford to receive a major honor. In 2013, the school become the first school in Pennsylvania to receive the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Safe Sports School Award.

“Larry Cooper is clearly an outstanding professional, teacher and colleague, and I believe one of the top in his profession,” Penn-Trafford athletic director Kerry Hetrick said. “ ‘Coop’ was known by all when it came to P-T athletics, and it will be very strange for all of us to not see him on the sidelines. Coop was always ahead of the game, and he helped to make P-T one of the top programs in the WPIAL.”

Cooper said during his 27 years at Penn-Trafford, he watched athletes win 136 section titles, 15 PIAA titles, 14 WPIAL team titles and nine WPIAL individual titles.

For his work in the athletic training field, Cooper has been honored with numerous awards. He was given the Most Valuable Athletic Trainer Award by Training & Conditioning Magazine in 2016 and inducted to the Pennsylvania Athletic Trainer’s Society Hall of Fame in 2014. This past May, he was honored by the Korey Stringer Institute with its Lifesaving Service Award.

While the list of awards is impressive, Cooper is just as proud of the relationships he built with the student-athletes. His role in their athletic career and beyond was evident when his wife threw a retirement party for him.

“I kind of bucked against (the party),” Cooper said. “That’s just not my style. But a ton of former student-athletes and athletic trainers came, even from when I first started in Virginia. It blew me away. The relationships don’t end when they graduate. They carry on the rest of your life.”

Nathan Smith is a freelance writer.

Tags: Penn-Trafford