Eugene Cooper was a graduate of Union Hill High School in Indiana and graduated for the University of Indiana. He re-started the football program at Ardmore after the school had previously dropped the program many years earlier.

His 1958 Tigers finished the season 8-0 and was awarded a State Championship for District 4 by the Birmingham News. Coopers 1961 squad repeated the feat with a 9-0 record. That 1961 team was also named champions by the Birmingham Post Herald.

Cooper remained as the head coach at Ardmore through the 1973 season when he retired as a high school head coach.

His football teams posted an overall record of 130-58-13 with three State Championships and four undefeated seasons.

Coopers basketball teams were 297-203 and he also coached baseball and track. His teams won numerous Wheeler Base Conference Championships in each sport.

The Ardmore football stadium is named in his honor. Coach Eugene Cooper is a member of the Limestone County Hall of Fame and in 1998 was elected to the Alabama High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame.