Cooper goes long once again

“Mustang Sally, guess you better slow your mustang down
Mustang Sally , baby, I guess you better slow your mustang down
You been a runnin' all over town, I guess I'll better put your big feet on the ground, oh yes, I will
“All you wanna do is ride around, Sally Ride Sally ride
All you wanna do is ride around, Sally Ride Sally ride
All you wanna do is ride around, Sally Ride Sally ride
All you wanna do is ride around, Sally Ride Sally ride”
~Buddy Guy
Lyrics to Mustang Sally (1965)

It just seemed appropriate to start this column with some of the words from the song he loved so much to perform. The song will never sound the same again now that Sidney Cooper will not be performing it for us.
Sidney Cooper, as most of you are well aware, died last week, ending a battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) – more commonly known as “Lou Gerhig’s Disease.” He will be missed by many, especially his loved ones – his wife Becky, daughters Courtney and Cassie, sons Cory and Cameron and his mother Ann.
Sidney Cooper was a character, as we like to refer to unusual people in the South who had great character. By referring to him as a “character,” I’m trying to say he had some unusual traits – the most outstanding of which was that he had a gift that allowed him to be a friend to every person he met. And by saying he had “great character,” I’m trying to say he had special traits that made him the kind of person every person could look up to. Understand? If you do not, you didn’t know Sidney Cooper.
I can still remember when I first became aware of Sidney Cooper. My first remembrances are the tall tales – most of which were probably true – of Sidney Cooper as an athlete. He was, in his teens, Smiths Station High’s greatest athlete. He was especially adept at playing football. He held the record for the longest return of an interception in the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s North-South All-Star Game until about three years ago. Big Sid returned an interception 98 yards for a touchdown in the game. The record held for nearly 40 years.
Later, during my late teens and early 20s, I had the pleasure – or misfortune if you prefer – to play on a softball team that had to play a team that had Sidney Cooper in its line-up. I can only thank the good Lord that I played first base and that Sid liked to hit the ball out in center. I’m not real sure there are stopwatches that could have clocked how fast a Sidney-hit softball could leave a ballpark. I think I have seen comets that traveled at a slower rate of speed than some of the shots Sidney hit against the team I played for at the old Airport Fields.
I also had the opportunity, during my career with The Citizen, to write a few stories about Sidney Cooper as a softball player. I wrote a story about him being named to the Alabama Amateur Softball Association’s Hall of Fame a couple of years ago. Last year, I wrote a “Beyond the Glory Days” feature about Sid. It was by far my favorite story that I wrote about Sidney Cooper. The story was well-received by others and they made that known to me. Because it was so well-received, and because many who read the story when it was published in January 2008 have asked for it to be re-published, it appears again in the sports section of today’s newspaper.
There is also a story I found to be more difficult to write in the sports section this week as well. It is a story about his passing from this life. It was very difficult for me to contact people for comments about Sidney Cooper. It was just as difficult for the people I contacted for comment to talk about Sidney Cooper without getting emotional. But, we all made it through the interviews even through our choked voices and tears.
I suspect there was at least one person for every home run Sidney Cooper hit in his lifetime playing softball standing in line last week for a final visit with him at Lakewood Baptist Church – that would be in the thousands. Every person who stopped by to say “good-bye” counted Sidney Cooper as a personal friend, not an acquaintance. I’m sure he felt the same about those people too.I hope someday in the future that we will all be able to fill a big softball stadium in heaven to watch Sidney Cooper play the sport he loved once more. Until then, just watch the night sky for falling stars. When one falls, you can rest assured Big Sid has gone long one more time. And listen close, you may be able to hear the angels singing “Mustang Sally” along with him as he rounds the bases.