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Cooper's funeral will be held Friday, June 17th, at 2:00 PM at Northside Baptist Church in Valdosta, GA. Visitation for friends and family will be held from 6-8 PM Thursday at Carson McLane Funeral Home in Valdosta.

A memorial service at Piedmont College is currently being planned. The time and date for the service will be announced at a later date.

Piedmont College president Dr. Ray Cleere said that Cooper always made the game about his players, not himself.

"Charles and I have been friends since the early 1970s, and he came out of retirement to join us at Piedmont," said Cleere Monday afternoon. "He produced an outstanding women's basketball program, and it was never about him. It was always about his players. That was the most important thing to him."

During his coaching career, Cooper became one of the biggest winners in state history. He became only the seventh coach to win more than 1,000 games on the high school and college level this winter when he picked up his 1,000th win on Jan. 30th as his Lady Lions knocked off Maryville College 79-66.

Cooper's squad posted a 23-4 record in his final season, putting his career record at 1,009-428. Cooper trails only Ron Bradley, D.B. Carroll, Glenn Cassell, John B. Hawkins, Graham Woodall and Cliff Ranew on the state's all-time list.

In 1997, Cooper was living in Dahlonega with his wife, Jean, when Cleere called needing a basketball coach. Cleere somehow managed to talk Cooper out of retirement and the veteran coach immediately turned the Lady Lions' program around.

"I came reluctantly," said Cooper earlier this year. "I told him I'd come for one year and see how it went. I took the job and I've been here eight years."

Cooper's influence on the program was immediate as his first team won 10 games. Year two through four yielded 15, 17 and 19 wins, respectively. His final team posted the school's best record during his tenure, finishing 23-4 and second in the Great South Athletic Conference tournament.

Cooper started his coaching odyssey in 1956 as the boys and girls coach at Morven High School in South Georgia.

Two years later, Morven was consolidated into Brooks County High School and Cooper served seven years as the boys head coach and an assistant football coach.

He moved on to Live Oak, FL, for two years before being named the boys coach at Lowndes County in 1968.

After his third season at Lowndes County, he became the athletic director at the school. He added the title of girls' coach that year when the previous coach resigned just prior to the season and Cooper coached both teams for three years.

He gave up the boys' job in 1973 and turned the Lowndes girls program into one of the most successful in the country over the next eight years.

Lowndes County won four consecutive region championships and advanced to the state title game in 1976.

But that success was nothing compared to what the team did over the next four years.

The team went 29-0 and won the state championship in 1977. That season was followed by three consecutive 30-0 seasons, all of which ended with the team winning the state championship and being crowned as the mythical national champions as Cooper's team put together an unbelievable 124-game winning streak. The school's gymnasium now bears his name.

With four consecutive state titles in hand, Cooper then took over the Valdosta State program in 1981. During his 13 years at the school, VSU won a pair of Gulf South Conference titles and made one appearance in the Final Four with a 30-3 record in 1983-84 season.

Cooper's basketball philosophy was simple - be fundamentally sound, work extremely hard in practice and have fun during the game.

That philosophy made an impact not only on players, but fellow coaches as well. In a letter to The Northeast Georgian following Cooper's 1,000th win, Piedmont Sports Information Director and Assistant Baseball Coach Richard Drombrowsky wrote about Cooper's impact.

In the letter, Drombrowsky wrote that "it is not about the winning percentage, or the consecutive games won, or the high school state championships, or the Great South Athletic Conference championships. It is about the love of the game that can endure season after season, year after year, and decade after decade, even century after century. Coach Cooper was and still is an enormous competitor who loves the game of basketball."

During his final season, Cooper admitted that his greatest joy in the game had little to do with winning or losing.

"I've been a part of hundreds of young people's lives," said Cooper.. I've had players that have gone on to become doctors, lawyers, teachers and preachers. When they email me or call me and tell me I've had effect on their lives, that's the reward I get. I feel like I have taught them much more than just basketball."