Tom Cooper (cyclist)

Tom Cooper (1874–1906) was an 1890s champion bicycle racer and early auto racing driver. He is best known for his rivalry with Major Taylor as well as his later work with Henry Ford and Barney Oldfield.

Early years

Tom Cooper began his cycling career in Detroit, where he was the star of the Detroit Athletic Club's bicycle racing team. His talent and athletic ability soon made him a national celebrity in the US as he climbed to the top of the sport. As a champion bicycle racer, Cooper was a contemporary of Barney Oldfield, Carl G. Fisher, Johnny Johnson, Arthur Gardiner, "Plugger Bill" Martin and Eddie Bald.

At the 1898 League of American Wheelmen championship race on the Newby Oval in Indianapolis, Cooper won the half-mile professional event. He went on to win the Bicycle Championship of America for the 1899 season. Cooper was instrumental in the formation of the American Racing Cyclists Union in 1898, a rival to the League of American Wheelmen.

Cooper, like many bicycle racers at the time such as Fisher and Oldfield, was drawn to the nascent automobile industry in the early 1900s. The gears and chains of bicycles were the heart of the powertrains of the earliest automobiles.

Thomas Cooper

Thomas Cooper may refer to:

Tom Cooper (footballer)

Thomas "Tom" Cooper (9 April 1904 – 25 June 1940) was an England international footballer who played for Port Vale, Derby County, and Liverpool. He won 15 caps, and played 430 league games in a 16-year career in the Football League. He helped Derby to finish second in the Second Division in 1925–26 and second in the First Division in 1929–30.

Playing career

Born in Stoke-on-Trent, Cooper played for Longton and then Trentham, before being bought by Port Vale for £20 in August 1924. He played 21 Second Division matches in the 1924–25 season, but featured just 11 times in the 1925–26 campaign.

Cooper was sold to George Jobey's Derby County for a £2,500 fee in March 1926. He settled straight into the "Rams" line-up and became an integral member of the team that secured promotion out of the Second Division with a second-place finish in 1925–26. County went on to finish 12th in the First Division in 1926–27, before rising to fourth place in 1927–28. After a sixth-place finish in 1928–29, County finished second in the league in 1929–30 – though they ended up some ten points behind champions The Wednesday. They secured a sixth-place finish again in 1930–31. Cooper was made skipper at the Baseball Ground in 1931, and led the club to 15th in 1931–32, seventh in 1932–33, and fourth again in 1933–34.

Tom Cooper (cricketer)

Tom Lexely William Cooper (born 26 November 1986) is an Australian-born Netherlands cricketer who also plays for South Australia. He is a right-handed middle order batsman and a right-arm off-spinner, has represented Australia Under-19s and is nicknamed Coops. He is the older brother of fellow Netherlands cricketer Ben Cooper.

Career

Cooper first played for South Australia in a Sheffield Shield match against Western Australia at Adelaide Oval, scoring 10 in South Australia's only innings. He then made his one-day debut for South Australia against Western Australia in a Ford Ranger Cup match at Adelaide Oval, scoring 53 from 67 deliveries. In his fourth one day match he scored his first century against New South Wales for South Australia which he made 101 from only 108 deliveries.

Cooper qualified to play for the Netherlands as his mother was born in Dutch New Guinea. After playing for the Netherlands during their 2010 Clydesdale Bank 40 campaign in England, he made his One Day International debut for the Netherlands in a match against Scotland, in which he scored an unbeaten 80 to help his side to a six-wicket victory in Rotterdam.