Mr. Harold A. Cooley was born to the parents of Atlas Cooley and Lillian Cooley on May 23, 1940 in Laurel. He passed away on Aug. 12, 2018 in Texas.
The funeral will be at noon Saturday at Community Missionary Baptist Church of Cedar Hill (820 East Winter Green Road, Cedar Hill, Texas).
He attended Oak Park High School in Laurel and played football as an guard/linebacker for the Oak Park Dragons. As a football player, Harold Cooley was awesome. He was an important part of Coach Frye era at Oak Park and made four consecutive appearances at the State of Mississippi Big 8 Championship game, which Oak Park won in 1955 and again in 1956. He graduated in 1959. He made “All Big 8” honors all four years.
Mr. Cooley went on to attend Jackson State College, where he played offensive guard and lettered in football all four years and started all four years and was selected to the “All SWAC” team from his sophomore through his senior year. He never miss not one game. He was picked as team captain his junior and senior years. The highlight of his senior year was being selected Outstanding Lineman for the 1962 Orange Bowl Classic, the JSU national championship team of 1962. Cooley graduated from JSU with a B.S. degree in industrial technology.
Soon after his collegiate career, Cooley went on to play professionally for the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL — the first Jackson State player to play in the Canadian Football League. While playing for Montreal, he was selected Outstanding Rookie of the Year for a linebacker in 1964.
After an awesome playing career, Mr. Cooley went on to Willow Run High School in Ypsilanti, Mich., to teach and coach as an assistant football coach from 1966 to 1968. Soon after leaving the public schools, he started working for the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Mich., as a supervisor of engineering from 1968 to 1981. While working for Ford Co., he earned a master’s degree from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti in 1978.
After leaving Ford Motor Company, he picked up his coaching hat again and became the head football coach at Coahoma Junior College in Clarksdale from 1981 to 1984. He hung up his coaching hat and came to Texas to teach in the Dallas Independent School District from 1984 to 2001. In 2002, Mr. Cooley became a Dallas police officer. He retired from the sheriff’s department in 2005.
In 2011, Harold Cooley was enshrined and was given the highest honor as Jackson State University “Player Of The Century.” Soon after in 2014, Harold Cooley was inducted to the Jackson State University Hall of Fame, which soon after that he was inducted to the Oak Park High School Hall of Fame in 2016.
He and his wife resided in Cedar Hill, Texas. Mr. Cooley passed on to glory on Aug. 12, 2018. His wife passed earlier this year in June. Now surviving are his two sons, Harold Michael and Gerald Atlas Cooley, and three grandchildren.
The Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas is in charge of arrangements.
All cards and flowers can be send to the house 315 Spring Hollow Dr. Cedar Hill, TX 75104. On the day of the funeral, please bring them by the church and give them to us there, family members requested.
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