Baseball-Basketball
Don Cooper grew up i Woodside where he began his baseball and basketball careers at St. Mary’s of Winfield. Don entered McClancy in 1970 and continued to excel in both sports. On the pitchers mound, he helped lead the Crusaders to three straight City Championship appearances (one J.V. and two Varsity). He received numerous awards in both sports during his stay with the Crusaders, including All-City Honors in baseball.
After graduating from McClancy, Don attended the N.Y. Institute of Technology on a baseball/basketball scholarship. After his junior year at Tech, he was offered a contract by the N.Y. Yankees. Don decided to return for his senior year and subsequently signed with the Yankees in 1978. After spending some time in Oneonta and Ft. Lauderdale, Don moved on to pitch in both the Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jay organizations. During his stay with the Jays’ farm team, he received numerous honors, including “Fireman of the Year”. He eventually moved up to the Big Leagues (the first McClancy graduate to do so) with Toronto and in 1985, he returned to his hometown to pitch in the Bronx for the Yankees. During his career, Don also played in the Oakland and Baltimore organizations.
Don has been in the Chicago White Sox organization since 1987 where he has held many different coaching roles. In 2005, Don was the pitching coach for the World Series Champion White Sox, helping to bring the team their first World Series title in almost 90 years.