John Miller Cooper

John Miller Cooper (1912–2010) was an American educator. He is also regarded as one of the early innovators of the basketball jump shot and as a pioneer in the field of biomechanics and human movement.

Cooper was born in Smith Mills, Kentucky in 1912. He was the oldest of six children born to Clay Calhoun Cooper, a cattleman, and Martha Barrett Randolph, a homemaker and boarding house operator.

He attended Corydon High School (now closed) in Henderson County, Kentucky, transferring to Hopkinsville High School in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, in his senior year.

Cooper received his Bachelor's in physics from the University of Missouri (MU). He later received his Masters' and Doctorate degrees in Education from that same institution.

Cooper's doctoral studies were interrupted in 1940, when he joined the U.S. Army Air Forces. Cooper served 40 months in the military, achieving the rank of Captain, before being honorably discharged so that he might resume his studies.

Cooper earned varsity letters in three separate sports at MU, including basketball. He is recognized by some basketball scholars as an early innovators of the jump shot, being perhaps the first college basketball player to use the technique as his primary offensive weapon.

According to journalist Bill Pennington, writing in the New York Times in 2011, the origins of the "jumper" are a matter of significant scholarly dispute:

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