KALAMAZOO, Mich. – After a life time committed to education, amateur sports, and the game of baseball, Joe Cooper passed away on November 13, 2021.  The Greenville, Michigan native, known as "Mr. Baseball" for his dedication and contributions to the game, Cooper was a 1986 inductee into the Western Michigan University Athletics Hall of fame.
 
Following his service time during World War II as a medic in the Army Air Corps, Cooper earned his teaching certificate from Western Michigan University in 1948.  Cooper and his wife Willo relocated to Marshall where he began a 35-year career with the Marshall Public Schools as a teacher, coach, and administrator.  It was during those years that his passion for the game started to make an impact in youth sports and baseball in particular in Marshall, Battle Creek, throughout Michigan and the Midwest. 
 
In 1983, following his retirement from The Marshall Public Schools, Cooper was named President of the American Amateur Baseball Congress (AABC) and moved the home office from Akron, Ohio to Marshall.  From the AABC headquarters in Michigan, Cooper raised the Stan Musial and Connie Mack levels of baseball to an unprecedented level nationally and into Puerto Rico where he laid the ground work for over 1000 teams in Puerto Rico alone which landed him in the Puerto Rico Baseball Hall of Fame.
 
Among his numerous awards, Cooper was named to the Michigan Amateur Sports Hall of Fame, The American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and the Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame.   He received a Service Award from the Detroit Tigers in 1979 and "Joe Cooper Field" in Marshall was named in his honor in 2003. Cooper was also a dedicated college football and basketball official in the MIAA and served as the Supervisor of Officials for the MIAA from 1971 through 2010.
 
Joe Cooper will always be remembered for his contributions to the game and the tens of thousands of lives he touched during his celebrated career in sports and education. 
 
Rest in peace Mr. Baseball.