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Bobby Cooper was a Gadsden State institution

Photo: On February 17, 2023, Bobby Cooper was recognized for his 43 years as the voice of Gadsden State athletics. Pictured, from left: GSCC Athletic Director/head baseball coach Blake Lewis, Cooper, Gadsden State President Dr. Kathy Murphy. (Courtesy of Gadsden State)

By Chris McCarthy/Publisher

Longtime local high school and college baseball contest official Robert Nelson “Bobby” Cooper, age 75, passed away on January 11, 2025 after an extended illness.
Known as the “Voice of the Cardinals” for his 43 years as Gadsden State public address announcer, Cooper graduated from Emma Sansom High School in 1968, where he played baseball, basketball, and football for the Rebels. He went on to play basketball at Gadsden State before joining the U.S. Navy in 1969. Assigned to the U.S.S. Bordelon out of Charleston, S.C., Cooper received the Golden Shellback on March 22, 1970, and spent time in the Middle East, Cuba and South America. He later returned to Gadsden State to play baseball. Cooper continued his love for sports by working for five years as a sports columnist for a local newspaper. Throughout his life, Cooper coached youth baseball, and umpired youth, high school, SEC, Conference USA, and Babe Ruth baseball for over 40 years.
“Gadsden State is my school, and I love it,” said in a past interview with The Messenger. “I feel the way about Gadsden State like Alabama and Auburn graduates feel about their schools. I want Gadsden State to be the best at everything. If we had a tiddlywinks team, I’d want us to win. I didn’t go to Auburn, I didn’t go to Alabama [and] I didn’t go to Jacksonville State. Gadsden State is my school, and their sports programs are my sports programs.”
In 1978, Cooper left Gadsden State as a student to take a job at the steel plant, as he needed a full-time job to help support his wife Yvonne and their two children, Bradlie and Patrick. But Cooper still found a way to be involved in Gadsden State athletics.
“I started filling in as the announcer for Ronnie Johnson, who was a Church of Christ pastor and couldn’t call games on Wednesdays because of church services,” he said. “Before long, I took over the announcing, and Ronnie filled in for me when I needed him to.”
In addition to the basketball games, Cooper started calling Gadsden State baseball games around 1980 and moved onto announcing softball games after the baseball team disbanded in 2011.
Cooper said he roots for all of the Gadsden State student-athletes on the court and in the classroom.
“I like to watch them play but I also like to watch them succeed,” he said. “I want them to get their education and go on to do great things.”
Cooper enjoyed working with the coaches at Gadsden State, particularly longtime men’s basketball coaches Stan Cook, Ginn and Hal Davidson and longtime baseball coach Bill Lockridge.
“I can’t thank all of the coaches that I’ve worked with enough,” he said. “My time at Gadsden State has been great. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Starting with the 1980-81 men’s basketball team and picking up the school’s baseball, women’s basketball, volleyball and softball squads along the way, Cooper was an institution in and around Beck Field House.
“It keeps me in the game and helps me stir up the crowd and maybe helps to pick up the [Gadsden State] team in certain situations,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun when you can work a crowd like that.”
In between the action, Cooper was known for his shout-outs to local high school coaches and athletes who are in attendance.
“I try to embarrass the coaches a little bit and keep then on their toes,” he said with a laugh. “A lot of public address announcers at other junior colleges read off the starting lineups and then leave. I try to do a little bit more than that.”
Although he freely admits to being a ‘homer’ during Gadsden State games, Cooper pointed out that it is never at the expense of the visiting team.
“I never say derogatory things about the other teams. It’s disrespectful and there’s no place for it. Also, I’ve probably known the [visiting] coach for years.”
The only time Cooper missed working a home game in any sport was during the 2010-11 season, when he was diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer. Amazingly, it wasn’t his vocal cords that kept Cooper away from the microphone.
“My voice really wasn’t affected; it was that I had no strength after the chemo treatments. Ralph [Muskett] had to finish the basketball season and then did the baseball season for me. But I was ready to go when volleyball started.”
The door opened at Gadsden State for Cooper in 1980, when then Gadsden State public address announcer Ronny Johnson, asked Cooper to fill in for him when the Cardinal men’s basketball team had a Wednesday game in order that Johnson could attend church service. Cooper agreed, and the following season Cooper took over as the full-time public-address announcer while Johnson helped out periodically.
Cooper kept his style simple when working a game, regardless of what sport.
“It’s more important about what not to say rather that what to say. You definitely learn by experience. Since I’ve been doing this, whenever I’m watching a game on TV, I always try to block the play-by-play man and color man out and pick up on what the public-address announcer is saying in the background. Over the years, I’ve picked up certain things and added them to my announcing.”
Cooper played football, basketball and baseball at Emma Sansom. He played basketball at Gadsden State for the 1968-69 season under Riley Whitaker, who went on to serve as GSCC athletic director for more than 25 years. The pre-Beck Field House Cardinals, who qualified for the NJCAA Tournament the following year, did not win a game that season while playing their home contests at the Litchfield Middle School gym. One opposing player Cooper faced was Jeff State’s Hal Davidson, who later became men’s basketball coach at Gadsden State.
“If I had to pick one sport to announce, and that’s hard to do, I’d pick baseball,” he said. “I just love being at the ballpark. There’s nothing like it, unless it’s 90 degrees out and the air conditioning in the Gadsden State press box is broken during a doubleheader.”
Jackie Brehm Edmondson contributed to this article.

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