Even in failing health, Bob Cooper gave no inch.

When a visitor suggested that the lifelong Cardinals fan jump ship in favor of the rival Cubs, Cooper — bed-ridden and too weak for conversation — snapped his eyes open and set things straight.

“Nooo waaay.”

It wound up being one of the final times the longtime Mendota High School principal spoke.

Son Mark Cooper laughed as he shared the story, noting that his father, also an avid Bears fan, mustered a similar response to an overture about the Packers.

It’s an anecdote that likely strikes a chord with those who knew Bob Cooper.

He loved sports.

He was a man of conviction.

And he could say very much by saying very little.

Cooper, the principal at Mendota from 1969 until 1994, died late Thanksgiving Day at an Ottawa nursing facility. He was 81.

His passing sent former students, peers and friends flocking to social media, where he was remembered as a caring soul who wished success for everyone.

In announcing his father’s death via Facebook, Mike Cooper, the older of Bob and Donna Cooper’s two sons, said his father placed utmost importance on academics and how students and staff conducted themselves.

“He stood up for the little guy and challenged the highly skilled,” the post said. “I am sure some of my friends as well as Mark’s would consider him a second father.”

Those descriptions resonated on Tuesday:

• “He had more impact on my life than anyone.” 

— Former MHS teacher Randy Weibel

• “To this day, he’s the best administrator I’ve worked for in 30 years.”

 — Former MHS teacher Phil Bodine

• “If you go to the dictionary and look up ‘role model,’ that’s him.” 

— Retired MHS teacher Mike Kilmartin

• “He could lead any kind of group you could put in front of him.”  

— Former MHS student and La Salle-Peru teacher Bill Booker

• “The successes of the NCIC Conference had great foundation in Bob Cooper.”

— Retired Geneseo High School principal Ted McAvoy

Tall, strong and stoic, Cooper led MHS for 25 years, a tenure relatively unheard of today, if not then. He did so, several former colleagues said, with a leadership style not easily defined. Thoughtful and soft-spoken, Cooper wasn’t one for pep rallies or rah-rah speeches.

“He had a great way of being able to tell people very quickly what was right and what was wrong,” former student Mike Turk said. “There were two sides to him from my perspective. On one side you’d see him as the principal, walking the halls, and he just had this very big presence. It wasn’t that he was mean, it’s just how he carried himself. Yet, once you began to talk with him, he was very soft-spoken and so sincere.” 

Turk, a 1980 MHS graduate, said Cooper mentored him throughout high school and facilitated his entry into Monmouth College after Turk had been rejected by other schools. He later graduated from his original school of choice, Augustana.

Today, Turk is head track and field coach at the University of Illinois; he’s been with the Illini for 11 years in a career spanning three decades as a college track coach.

“It’s very cliche because you hear it a lot, but I can honestly, wholeheartedly say that I wouldn’t be where I am without Bob Cooper,” Turk said. “He knew my bottom. He pulled me out of it.” 

Jeri Atherton, a longtime English and Psychology teacher at MHS, and a relative contemporary of Cooper’s, described the principal as a mentor and an engaged listener.

“He helped students communicate with each other,” Atherton said. “Many times, two students sat in front of him during or after conflicts and he was the facilitator — and a great one. He always tried to find a reasonable, effective settlement. And sometimes nobody got in trouble, but the conflict was solved.”

Atherton for years advised the school newspaper, one of many standout MHS extracurriculars during Cooper’s time.

Most visible were unprecedented state tournament runs in volleyball, boys’ and girls’ basketball, football, and track and field, but individual and team victories also came in wrestling, golf, mathematics and journalism, among others.

“He believed that everything we did, whether it be the band with Mr. (Rex) Benson or the school newspaper or athletics, it was important, and it was one of the legs that made your school successful,” Bodine said.

Bodine (baseball) is one of five Illinois High School Hall of Fame coaches with roots leading to Cooper. The others: Booker (baseball), his son Mike Cooper (basketball), Kilmartin (basketball) and Weibel (basketball).

Cooper collected plenty of his own accolades. He, too, is a member of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He received the Illinois Music Educator's Association Outstanding Administrator Award. The North Central Illinois Conference renamed its annual citizenship award as the "Robert Cooper NCIC Sportsmanship Award.” And Mendota's longtime gymnasium was rededicated as Cooper Gym.

Like Cooper Gym, which was demolished when MHS moved to a new building, the NCIC is long gone, but it’s possible that Cooper helped hold off the conference’s demise.

McAvoy taught at Geneseo for more than 30 years and served as principal there from 1990-99. He understood better than most the challenges the NCIC faced in disparate geography and school enrollments. His Henry County school was an outlier both in geography and its unusually consistent athletic success.

“When you have 12 schools, not everyone is going to agree on officials or sites for events or whatever the issue might be,” McAvoy said. “Bob was the guy that, quite frankly, every school looked to to set the tone for how everything was going to go. And he was only interested in what was for the good of everybody.” 

That theme seemed to carry out in Cooper’s personal life, where he was a longtime volunteer in community service. He was involved with Elks Club, Lions Club, Knights of Columbus, Mendota Golf Club, Mendota Hospital Volunteer Services, YMCA Executive Board, Mendota Museum and Historical Board and Meals On Wheels, among others.

“I worked with Bob for 25 or 26 years, and I don’t know of anybody that didn’t like or respect him,” longtime Hall athletic director Frank Colmone said. “And that’s hard to do both. Sometimes you might like a person but don’t respect them, or vice versa. Everyone liked and respected Bob.”

(Editor’s note: Elsesser is a lifelong friend of the Cooper family currently living in Omaha, Neb. He is a 1985 graduate of Mendota High School.)