RIPON, Wis. - Ashley Cooper '82 was a two-sport star at Ripon College, excelling on a national level in both basketball and tennis. Remembered just as much for winning, as for his individual accomplishments, Cooper was a four-time conference champion in tennis, while helping the Redmen win three consecutive MWC Team Tennis Championships from 1979-81, more than doubling the amount of conference titles the program had won prior to Cooper's arrival. On the basketball court, Cooper helped Ripon win the 1980 MWC Championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in program history. He was inducted into Ripon's Athletics Hall of Fame in 1992, the first year he was eligible.
One of the premier scorers in Ripon's storied basketball program, Cooper graduated with the second-highest point total in school history and still ranks ninth with 1,363 career points, 39 years after his graduation. A First-Team All-Conference selection in each of his final two seasons, Cooper scored a whopping 1,029 points during those two years combined. He's one of just four players in program history to score more than 600 points in a single season, recording 601 during a senior year that saw him lead NCAA Division-III in scoring with 27.3 points per game, en route to Third Team All-America honors.
"The other guys on the team used to tease Ashley about being the last one out of the locker room because his hair always had to be just perfect, but the one thing I never worried about when we got out there on the court was Ashley's offensive game, which helped us win a lot," said legendary basketball coach Bob Gillespie, who served as Ripon's head coach during Cooper's final two seasons.
"Coach Gillespie also once told me that I think an assist is a turnover, which is debatable," Cooper said.
During his four years on the basketball team, Cooper helped Ripon compile a 67-24 record, winning at least 15 games each season. A sophomore on legendary coach "Doc" Weiske's final basketball team in 1980, Cooper was the team's third-leading scorer that season as he helped Ripon advance to the NCAA Tournament, where they lost in the First Round to eventual three-peat National Champion North Park University. Ripon then notched their first NCAA Tournament win in program history with a 10-point victory against Central (Iowa) in the Regional Consolation Round.
"Athletics was everything to me at Ripon College," Cooper said. "My coaches "Doc" Weiske '50 and (legendary tennis coach) Chuck Larson '65 were mentors and friends who made the whole experience incredible."
Larson was just as happy to have Cooper on his team as Weiske, as Cooper played a major role in both programs' winning ways, including Larson winning his third, fourth, and fifth of 19 Midwest Conference championships with Ripon's men's tennis team. In addition to that, Cooper was a two-time singles conference champion at the number three flight, while winning two conference doubles champions along with partner Carl Veenendaal at the number one flight. The second of those conference doubles titles propelled the duo to Division-III Nationals at Ponoma-Pitzer in Claremont, Calif.
"Ashley was far from the most talented tennis player I ever coached, but when a match had to be won, I wanted Coop in that match," Larson said. "Ashley loved pressure and played his best when we had to win. His confidence rubbed off on the rest of the team, and with him and (fellow Ripon Athletics Hall of Famer) Bill Fiedler '82 on the court, there was never a dull moment at practice."
Although he excelled Nationally in both sports, there wasn't a clear-cut "favorite sport" for Cooper. He loved both sports, and both coaches that recruited him, whom couldn't have been more different.
"We won a lot of championships in tennis and had a really good time with a great group of guys on those teams," Cooper said. "Chuck and Doc are totally different guys. Doc was this big, huge bear of a guy. I respected Chuck, but it also felt like he was just one of the guys."
A native of Oconomowoc, Wis., Cooper earned a Bachelor's in Economics from Ripon, which he has put to good use over the course of his life. Upon graduation, Cooper began a career on Wall Street.
"I got hired to go into Solomon Brothers' training program in New York (right out of college), which was a huge opportunity for me," Cooper said. "I was too ignorant to be scared. I didn't know what I was getting into."
Eventually, Cooper was offered a partnership at Montgomery Securities, which was sold for $1.2 billion to NationsBank in 1997. A merger with Bank of America followed in 1998.
"That was a very, very good thing for me and my partners," Cooper said of the financial windfall. "I was 38 and retired."
He dabbled in high-end real estate and bought the DeLorean Estate out of bankruptcy in 2000 for $17.5 million along with partner Jim Downs, in hopes to develop real estate and a golf course on the 500-acre site in affluent Bedmister, N.J. That's when he received a call from an unexpected source - future President of the United States, Donald Trump.
"A close friend of mine knows Donald well, and lo and behold I get a call out of right field from Donald. He said, 'I hear you have a great project; I'd like to come check it out.' He came out on a Sunday morning, called me Monday, and said, 'Let's do a deal.' He bought the project from us with the caveat that I stay on and run it. That morphed into me becoming one of the executive vice presidents of the Trump organization."
Cooper was in charge of brand expansion of the Trump Golf and residential components of the company, among other things. One of Trump's trusted advisors at the time, Cooper appeared on season three of Trump's reality show, "The Apprentice." Cooper and his wife, Linda were invited to attend Trump's wedding to third wife and future First Lady, Melania.
After parting ways with The Trump Organization in 2007, Cooper has served as President at Oak Ridge Asset Management, Managing Director at Seaport Global Holdings, and co-founder of both Commonality Real Estate and 2120 All Clear, which is a new comprehensive vaccine management solution.
Cooper and his wife Linda have been married for 37 years and currently reside in North Palm Beach, Fla. They have three children, Lauren, Katie, and Griffin, and two grandchildren, who were both born this year.
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