Chuck Cooper Legacy Celebrated, Campus Building Dedicated in His Honor

Late Duquesne alumnus Chuck Cooper, who helped break racial barriers in national sports as the first African-American drafted into the NBA, will be honored through a series of events held in conjunction with the second annual Chuck Cooper Classic Weekend.

Cooper, who played for the Dukes in the late 1940s, was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1950. He played four years with the Celtics and finished his NBA career with the Fort Wayne Pistons.

The event will kick off on Friday, Feb. 11, with a special luncheon on campus, where the University will officially dedicate the Chuck Cooper Building. Located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Chatham Square, the building houses a branch of PNC Bank as well as offices for computing and technology services, energy management, environmental health and safety, and WDUQ. In addition, the inaugural Chuck Cooper Award will be presented to legendary Pittsburgh Steelers scout and former Pittsburgh Courier journalist Bill Nunn Jr.

A passionate advocate for education, Cooper earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Minnesota. To perpetuate his memory, the family has launched the Chuck Cooper Foundation, which will present an annual graduate-level scholarship to a deserving student of limited financial means.

Cooper had a lifelong relationship with Duquesne. “He was very proud to be a Duke and often wore the varsity T-shirt with the big ‘D,’” said Irva Cooper about her late husband. She fondly remembers the frequent visits from the Rev. Henry McAnulty, C.S.Sp., during Cooper’s final months of life.

Aside from being an outstanding athlete and a trailblazer in a time of severe civil inequalities, Cooper is remembered as an intelligent, creative and caring man who would check out international cookbooks from the library and take his wife on culinary trips around the world.

She hopes that seeing the Cooper Building inspires children, especially African-American ones, to study hard and to believe that good things can happen to them. When asked how her husband would feel about having a Duquesne building named after him, she replied, “He would be overjoyed.”

The series of events also includes Synthesis, an urban soul and jazz showcase and tribute to Chuck Cooper, that will be held on Friday at 7 p.m.  in the August Wilson Center for African American Culture.

The weekend will conclude with the Chuck Cooper Classic, during which the Dukes will square off against the Xavier Musketeers at the CONSOL Energy Center at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 13.

The Chuck Cooper Classic Weekend is presented by PNC Bank.