James Cooney: Scranton native made All-America two times at Princeton
Son of a coal miner led Princeton to the 1906 national title.
James “Jim” Cooney lived a large and legendary life that left even great writers nearly at a loss for words.
Chic Feldman, one of the nation’s leading sports writers, was tasked with writing Cooney’s 1964 obituary.
Feldman, who penned a daily column, titled, “Hatchin’ ’Em Out,” from the 1930s through ’70s in the Scranton Tribune, wrote, “The historians of Sportland will have a difficult time assembling the Jim Cooney story.”
Well, here’s my attempt at it.
Cooney’s parents were Irish immigrants who arrived in the U.S. in 1870. His father, James, was a coal miner. His mother, Mary, was a homemaker. The Cooneys lived on Lord’s Court in Scranton and had one daughter and three sons. James was born sometime around 1880. Draft cards, census reports and obituaries offer conflicting birthdates for Cooney; his death certificate states an 1893 birth year, which would have meant he was playing college football at 10 years old. So, “around 1880” is the best we can do.
Cooney entered the public eye, nationally, in 1903 as a freshman at Princeton University. By this point, Cooney had already played football locally (at the School of Lackawanna and St. Thomas College, now the University of Scranton) and regionally (at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire).
Princeton, however, which had claimed national titles in five of the previous 10 years, was a whole ’nother level.
Cooney found immediate success at Princeton, earning a spot as starting left tackle for the 1903 national champions. Princeton went 11-0 with 10 shutouts, the exception being an 11-6 win at Yale to close the season. Yale went 11-1.
While Cooney, who was about 5-foot-9, 180 pounds, was a supporting player to the three consensus All-Americans on Princeton in 1903, he took on a leadership role in the years that followed.
Cooney was one of two Walter Camp All-American tackles selected in 1904, the other being Yale’s James Hogan. Cooney and Hogan were not only teammates, but roommates, at Phillips Exeter Academy. While Cooney’s Tigers reigned victorious in 1903, Hogan’s Bulldogs won the 1904 matchup, 12-0. Princeton also lost, 10-9, at Navy, settling for an 8-2 record.
Less than a week after losing to Yale in the season finale, Princeton held its team banquet where Cooney was announced as captain for 1905.
“When the banquet was at an end, Cooney walked out of the banquet hall only to be surrounded by hundreds of students who insisted upon raising him on their shoulders,” The Scranton Republican reported. “They carried him around the campus singing ‘Old Nassau’ with all heads bared.
“Never was the election of any captain so enthusiastically received.”
Preseason reports in 1905 suggested Princeton would be a good, but not great, team. Cooney helped the Tigers start 7-0, the seventh win being a 12-0 win at Columbia. Cooney scored a touchdown in the win at Columbia, a game played before 12,000 fans at American League Park, home of the New York Yankees.
Princeton had a meager finish to 1905, however, with Cooney being hobbled by a leg injury as the Tigers went 1-2 with losses against Dartmouth and Yale. The 23-4 defeat at Yale was particularly demoralizing.
“How can you ask me to talk about this game?” Cooney said to reporters. “I won’t discuss it.”
Cooney returned for one final season of college football. He was offered, but declined, the captaincy. Cooney did, however, captain the baseball team. He was a catcher at Princeton and reportedly had numerous offers to turn professional but chose to stay in school. Cooney was also elected the senior class president.
The 1906 Princeton football team was nearly as dominant as the 1903 national champions, starting 9-0 with seven shutouts to set up a Nov. 17 home game against Yale. It was the final game of the season for both teams and both teams were undefeated and untied.
“Princeton is buoyant and confident of defeating Yale,” The Philadelphia Inquirer reported, adding that Princeton was a 5-to-3 betting favorite.
Princeton and Yale played to a 0-0 tie and the teams shared the national championship.
The Philadelphia Inquirer described the split result as generating “bitter disappointment.” However, it also acknowledged the quality of the contest and speed at which it was played.
“Cooney played a brilliant game in spots and showed to better advantage than last year, when he had the cares of a captain on his shoulders,” The New York Tribune said.
Cooney’s college football career ended with the scoreless tie, capping a career that saw him make All-America two times, win national titles two times and wear the honor of Princeton captain once.
Cooney returned to Scranton in his adult life, working many years as an executive in the coal industry.
“As the years moved along, Jim Cooney decided to slow up on his activities,” one report said. “But, as his friends realized, he couldn’t stand being idle and he soon was operating a cigar stand in the Chamber of Commerce Building.”
When Cooney died in 1964, numerous tributes were written, including one by legendary Scranton Times sports writer Joe M. Butler.
Butler outlined Cooney’s professional career. He held top executive positions at International Salt Co., the Scranton Coal Co. and Standard Oil. Cooney never talked about his athletic achievements, Butler wrote, and instead downplayed that he was of a “perhaps forgotten” era. He was truly “Gentleman Jim” and “Modest Jim,” the column stated.
“Memories of this man will linger on and on,” Butler wrote. “His name is somewhat of a trademark or legend in the sports world, in business, in the civic, religious and homey life of our home community.”
Feldman wrote an obituary, too, which touched on all elements of Cooney’s life — his family, football, baseball, career — but also reflected on Cooney’s demeanor.
Cooney, Feldman wrote, was known as “Jolly Jim” and even turned down coaching positions on multiple occasions at Princeton because he “was too busy doing nice things for the world” to be tied down coaching football.
A few days after the obituary appeared in the newspaper, Feldman received a message from a fellow sports writing friend. This friend, he said, complimented Feldman on his tribute but added that it was missing one key detail: Cooney was practically an advertisement for the benefits of physical fitness.
“Jim was a great advocate of walking and even as he approached his 83rd year would walk a minimum of four miles daily. It was good, he said, for his circulation,” the letter stated. “This marvelous man preferred cold shower baths, regardless of how rugged the day outside, and this, also, made me shiver. …
“Indeed Jim Cooney was a grand example and one whom our young should use as a pattern. They loved him at Princeton and he loved Princeton so truly that he returned for every reunion including the last one. Now that he’s gone, I would have to think this was Jim’s last wish and a reminder of the tribute paid him by Woodrow Wilson, then Princeton University president en route to the presidency of the United States.
“‘I can only urge,’ Wilson told an undergraduate class, ‘that you strive to emulate Jim Cooney as a gentleman.’ Could there possibly be a better epitaph for the man whom other Princetonians said was not merely proud to be the son of a coal miner but wore his pride for all to see it.”
Greater Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area All-American roll call
1894: Charles Gelbert, University of Pennsylvania (Hawley native, Scranton public schools)
1895: Alfred E. Bull, University of Pennsylvania (Wilkes-Barre native, Wyoming Seminary); Charles Gelbert, University of Pennsylvania (Hawley native, Scranton public schools)
1896: Charles Gelbert, University of Pennsylvania (Hawley native, Scranton public schools)
1903: Frank Piekarski, University of Pennsylvania (Nanticoke native, Wyoming Seminary)
1904: James Cooney, University of Pennsylvania (Scranton native, School of Lackawanna); Frank Piekarski, University of Pennsylvania (Nanticoke native, Wyoming Seminary)
1906: James Cooney, University of Pennsylvania (Scranton native, School of Lackawanna)