James Lawrence Cooney (February 3, 1878 – October 27, 1964) was an All-American football player, baseball player and businessman. He played tackle for

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

football team and was selected as an All-American in 1904. He also was a star catcher for Princeton's baseball team from 1903–1906. Cooney was 5 feet, 10 inches in height and weighed 195 pounds. The son of a coal miner who grew up in

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...

, Cooney enrolled at

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

, where he played both football and baseball. Cooney was a coveted blue-chip player who was initially committed to enroll at Harvard. A Princeton alumnus, Charles Patterson, recruited Cooney to attend Princeton with offers of scholarships and opportunities to earn money. He became the manager of an eating club at Princeton and was granted exclusive rights to sell scorecards at Princeton baseball games. In his freshman year, he played left tackle for Princeton's championship team that defeated Yale 11–6. In November 1904, Cooney scored all of Princeton's points, consisting of two touchdowns and two goals, in a 12–6 win over West Point. Cooney was selected as captain of the Princeton football team for 1905 and president of the senior class of 1907. Cooney later went into a business career. He became superintendent of International Salt Co. in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...

, and later headed the Scranton Coal Company. In his later years, he operated a newsstand until he was taken to the hospital three weeks before his death. Cooney died of pneumonia in October 1964 at Scranton State General Hospital.

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooney, James Year of birth uncertain 1878 births 1964 deaths American football tackles Princeton Tigers baseball players Princeton Tigers football players All-American college football players Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Sportspeople from Scranton, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania Baseball players from Pennsylvania Deaths from pneumonia in Pennsylvania