Category: Coach
Sport: Men's Baseball
Institution: St. Clair College
Inducted: 2023

Dave Cooper was at the helm of the St. Clair Saints men's baseball program for eight seasons beginning in 2012 when St. Clair participated in the Canadian Inter-Collegiate Baseball Association. Dave quickly asserted the Saints as the dominant program in the country winning that fall's national championship. The Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) formed a league that began the following 2013 fall season and Dave wasted no time in controlling the loop winning the first five regular season pennants and provincial championships. Capping that run was another national collegiate championship in 2017.

Between 2014 to 2016 Dave also guided the Saints to a 41-game OCAA win streak across regular season and playoff action. The 2015 season was one of the rare times a team carried an undefeated season through a playoff championship. In 2013 and 2014 the OCAA challenged the Ontario University Athletics for a combined championship tournament where St. Clair added two more titles to Dave's resume.

Dave's storied seven-season OCAA coaching career at St. Clair amassed a 97-15 regular season record (.866 winning percentage) to go with a 37-7 playoff record (.841 winning percentage) which included OCAA, national collegiate championship and OUA/OCAA competition. In OCAA championship play alone Dave's record was an outstanding 18-4 (.818 winning percentage). Including exhibition play Dave's teams held a remarkable 213-49-1 overall record (.810 winning percentage).

Dave was honoured with three OCAA Coach of the Year awards (2014, 2015, 2019) in addition to three St. Clair College Inter-Collegiate Coach of the Year Awards (2013, 2016, 2018). Twenty-two Saints were named OCAA League All-Stars during his time to go with three Batting Champions and five Pitcher of the Year recipients. During championship play Dave helped 33 St. Clair players to Championship All-Star recognition including five Most Valuable Player Awards. Further player accolades during Dave's time included three OCAA Player of the Year Awards and a Rookie of the Year.

Dave was inducted into the Windsor and Essex County Sports Hall of Fame in the fall of 2015 as an athlete and has won numerous provincial and national titles as a head coach with the Tecumseh Thunder Baseball Club. Dave also undertook the managerial role with the St. Clair Green Giants who played in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League. Dave has been named several times to Bob Elliott's annual list of most influential Canadians in baseball.

Dave was a former student-athlete with the men's ice hockey program at St. Clair and later went on to be the head coach of the Saints hockey program.