Mark Hooper
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mark Hooper | ||
| Date of birth | 14 July 1901 | ||
| Place of birth | Darlington, England | ||
| Date of death | 9 March 1974 (aged 72) | ||
| Place of death | Sheffield, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | ||
| Playing position | Right Wing | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1924 | Cockfield | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1924–1928 | Darlington | 116 | (43) |
| 1928–1938 | Sheffield Wednesday | 384 | (125) |
| 1938–1939 | Rotherham United | 0 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Mark Hooper was a professional footballer who played for Darlington F.C., Sheffield Wednesday F.C. and briefly with Rotherham United in a 16-year career which lasted from 1923 to 1939 although he appeared in 1945 in a few games after World War II . In total he played 500 League games (550 including cup games) in that time, scoring 168 League goals with 11 more in the FA Cup. Hooper was a diminutive right winger who was only 5 ft 6 in (1.67 m) tall, weighed under 10 stone (64 kg) and wearing only size 4 boots.
Mark Hooper was born in Darlington on 14 July 1901 into a footballing family; his brother Bill had an eight-year-long professional career while other brothers Chas and Danny had brief periods in the paid ranks. His uncle Charlie Roberts captained Manchester United and England while his sisters Sarah and Betty were members of the Darlington Quaker Ladies team. His father worked in the local rolling mill. Hooper was brought up in the Rise Carr area of Darlington, he was initially a goalkeeper but switched to an outfield position after being told he was too small to be an effective keeper.
Hooper played as an amateur for Cockfield reaching the FA Amateur Cup semi-final in the 1922–23 season where they lost to Evesham Town 4–2.
He signed professionally for local club Darlington for the 1923–24 season, joining his brother Bill, who was already a Quakers player. The pair were key members of the team which won the Third Division North Championship in the 1924–25 season to put Darlington in the Second Division for the first time in their history. Mark Hooper scored 11 goals from the right wing during that promotion campaign and bettered it with 18 the following year in Division Two. On 27 March 1926 of that season Darlington beat Second Division Champions elect Sheffield Wednesday 5–1 at Feethams with Mark Hooper having an exceptional match, a performance which undoubtedly influenced the future direction of his career.
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