Chris Cooper was born and raised here in Columbus. Carleen Fry grew up in Champaign, Illinois.
Cooper works in a high profile job. Fry is in more of a behind-the-scenes operation.
While their backgrounds and occupations couldn’t be much different, Cooper and Fry now share a prestigious honor. They were selected earlier this week as this year’s male and female winners of the Jack Cramer Ideals of Athletic Competition Award.
Cooper, 39, has built Columbus East into a state wrestling power. He took over as head coach in the 2003-04 season after two years as an assistant. He led the Olympians to the first Hoosier Hills Conference title in school history in 2011 and has added three more HHC championships the past three years.
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Cooper also has led East to six sectional titles, including the past four, and the past three regional crowns. His teams have finished 11th at state in 2016, seventh in 2017, third at in 2018 and fifth this year.
In 2018, Cooper was named state Coach of the Year by both the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association and the National Wrestling Coaches Association.
“He took over a program that was in real need of an infusion of a get-after-it-type attitude,” said Eric Wohlford, who nominated Cooper for the award. “When he started, they were pretty low on the totem pole, and they were losing continually to Columbus North. It’s got to a point where they’re perennial state contenders.”
Cooper was an All-Conference offensive lineman in football and did not start wrestling until his junior year of high school.
“He was very quiet, unassuming, never heard a word out of him,” Wohlford said. “He led by example and was just a great guy. His whole family is that way.”
Cooper attended Purdue and graduated in 2001 with a degree in flight technology.
“I was in the hiring pool at Chautauqua Airlines, and then 9/11 really put a lot of strain on that market,” Cooper said.
So Cooper worked at Cummins Data Center for four years, and in the meantime, went back and earned a math degree from Indiana University after beginning his coaching career. He landed a teaching job at Central Middle School in 2008, then moved over to East High School two years later.
Cooper learned of his selection while in Orlando, Florida, coaching the Olympians in the Disney Duals. They returned home on Thursday.
“It’s nice to be recognized, but it’s not something necessarily that you expect,” Cooper said. “I’m from Columbus. My entire family is from Columbus. It’s nice to have other people recognize what we’re doing. We work pretty hard, and we’re here trying to build our program for the community, and it’s nice to be recognized for that.”
Meanwhile, Fry, the rink manager at Hamilton Community Center and Ice Arena, found out about her selection a little earlier.
Moments after the selection process took place in the arena’s conference room on Tuesday, Fry’s bosses with Columbus Parks and Recreation, Mark Jones and Nikki Murphy, walked across the lobby to give her the news.
“I was very surprised,” Fry said. “This doesn’t feel like a job to me. It’s just something I really love to do. I have a passion for this rink. I think it’s great, so to me, it’s something I do. I don’t look at it like a job. I look it as a passion that I love to do. I love working with the kids and the adults and helping the kids with the skating and everything.”
Fry, 57, grew up in Champaign, Illinois, and went to Patricia Stevens College in St. Louis when it was an All-Girls school. She moved to Columbus in 1987.
Fry has been the rink manager for eight years. Prior to that, she was a stay-at-home mom to her three kids, who are now grown.
“Hamilton is like a family to all of us,” Fry said. “We kind of all grew up here.”
Murphy nominated Fry for the award.
“I think if you look at the ideals for the Jack Cramer Award, she may not be the traditional nomination in the sense that it is not her necessarily performing athletic feats, but she spends every minute of her day preparing young and adult athletes to go out and live those ideals,” Murphy said.
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Name: Chris Cooper
Age: 39
High school: Columbus East
Colleges: Purdue, Indiana University
Residence: Columbus
Occupation: Math teacher and head wrestling coach at Columbus East
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Name: Carleen Fry
Age: 57
Hometown: Champaign, Illinois
College: Patricia Stevens All-Girls College in St. Louis
Residence: Columbus
Occupation: Rink manager at Hamilton Community Center and Ice Arena
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