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As a student at �����������ϳԹ�, Frank Cooper 1926 was an average student who was popular with his classmates. No one would have guessed that “Cowboy Cooper,” as he was known on campus, would change his name to Gary and go on to be a major movie star just a few years later. 

At �����������ϳԹ�, Cooper fell for a local girl, Doris Virden 1923, an accomplished actress and a member of the elite drama club at the College. To spend more time with her, Cooper decided to try out for the drama club as well. His audition was an abysmal failure, and the drama club rejected him.   

After just two years of study at �����������ϳԹ�, Cooper left college and moved to California, where he got work as a horseback-riding extra in low-budget westerns. He earned $10 a day as a stunt man whose specialty was falling off a horse. 

Before long, Cooper was offered larger roles and eventually became an acclaimed actor who won three Academy Awards during his remarkable 35-year career. He won the Oscar for best actor twice: the first in 1941 for his role in Sergeant York; and his second in 1952 for his work in the critically praised High Noon. In 1961, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave Cooper an honorary award for his career achievements.

With 20/20 hindsight, the �����������ϳԹ� drama club regretted the decision to blackball Cooper. When he visited campus in 1929 after achieving a degree of movie stardom, the drama club offered him an honorary membership. 

Cooper replied politely in his trademark cowboy drawl, “But no, you were right the first time.”