N.B. basketball coach dedicates nearly seven decades to the sport

At just 85 years old and after 68 years on the sidelines, it’s safe to say that basketball coach Ron Hooper has found his happy place.

“I got into the game because I love it and that’s why I’ve continued coaching all these years,” he said.

“Coming to the gym is more than about basketball. Especially as you get older. Once you come through those gym doors, the worries you may have, any problems, the stress, all just leaves your body,” he adds.

His coaching career started in a unique way and from a young age. Hooper stepped up to coach his team when he was a high school senior, since his principal wasn’t available.

“I kept begging him to take on the job and he said, ‘I just can’t,’ but then he offered a proposal. He said, ‘If you’re willing to take on all the responsibilities of coaching, I will attend all your games both at home and away as a supervisor.’ So I jumped at that chance and that was the beginning,” Hooper explained.

Not only was it the beginning of a lifetime of coaching, but also the start of a very successful track record. Hooper says his team won the provincial championships that year.

Since then, Hooper has taught a whole handful of sports, but his accomplishments as a basketball coach speak for themselves.

“It’s always rewarding when people think of you in that way, but I didn’t get there by myself,” he said. “There’s the boys there and there’s been many of them. Many of them.”

Unable to pick out a favourite memory over the last 68 years, Hooper has a lot of accomplishments to choose from.

In 2013, he was inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame. He now has a street, gymnasium and trophy named in his honour and with around 1,700 high school game wins, he just received a lifetime achievement award.

“It’s great to be part of his legacy, you know,” said Grade 10 student Liam Hooper, who has the honour of being coached by his grandfather. “It’s really cool.”

Liam says sometimes his coaching extends past the gym, like at family functions, and although he said it was a little weird to be coached by his grandpa, he says it’s made him a better player.

“Mainly my shooting, I used to be terrible at shooting, I’m a much better shooter now I think,” he said.

Grade 12 student Junei Maruyana has only been training with Coach Hooper for a few months.

“He taught me about shooting forms and how to move,” he said.

Being an international student, he says being on the basketball team has given him the opportunity to practice his English as well as his game.

“Everyone’s so excited in a practice and in Japan, it’s like more serious, like just do the practice,” said Maruyana. “So, that is a difference between my Japanese culture and Mr. Hooper.”

After nearly seven decades, Hooper says it’s a good day if his kids come out a better player, a better student and a better person.

“This past year we’ve became really close and everyone helps each other, doesn’t put anyone down and if we do, our coach is there to remind us what to do and to be nice to each other,” said Grade 11 student Cole MacPhee.

“It’s an honour to be coached by Hooper. He’s been in the gym thousands, or ten of thousands of times coaching different people and it’s pretty cool to be coached by him.”

However, as much as the players get from their coach, it’s a two-way street.

A picture of Coach Hooper with his current team on March 1 during an extra bonus practice.

“Working with this group of young men, perhaps it makes you feel a little bit younger,” said the coach. “You don’t feel quite as old, your body isn’t quite as stiff and so on.”

Humbly, Hooper shares his success with those who have supported him along the way, including his players, the community and his late wife.

“At the very top of that support was my [late] wife, Betty,” he said. “She was a gem and she gave me unconditional support. She wasn’t a sports person, but never once, in those 61 years, did she ever complain about my time in sports.”

Coach Hooper has a long list of accomplishments and memories behind him, from adjusting his plans when he first moved to Petitcodiac and realized his team needed to focus on fundamentals instead of the new system he mapped out, to hundreds of wins and even more practices.

Although he’s definitely fulfilled his coaching duties, Hooper says right now, he has no plans to retire.