Jan/Feb 2024 (Volume 16, Issue 1)

 

By Jeff Stein

 

Iowans are proud of their heritage, and that spirit is typified in our state’s community celebrations. This is especially true when marking a special event, such as a centennial.

 

But no town likely ever made as big a name for itself and its centennial celebration as the Greene County town of Cooper did in the summer of 1981.

 

Cooper was founded in 1881 with the arrival of the railroad, and was named after Des Moines railroad executive F.M. Hubbell’s father-in-law, Isaac Cooper. Its population peaked at around 250 in 1900.

 

By the time of its 100th birthday, the town — located 50 miles northwest of Des Moines and boasting 50 residents — decided it needed star power to attract attention for the July centennial event. 

 

“We’re too small to ever have anyone famous from Cooper,” area farmer Gerald Lawton, publicity chairman of the Cooper centennial, said at the time. “So we decided to have a contest to see who we could adopt for a day.”

 

The centennial organizer was Terry Rich, who was then 28 years old and a cable television executive who was dubbed Cooper’s most famous resident to that point due to his work in Iowa radio and television.

 

“If I’m the most famous, then we’d better find somebody else,” Rich told his fellow residents as the contest was being discussed. He said the goal was to put Cooper “back on the map.”

 

So celebration organizers decided to hold a contest to find “Cooper’s 51st Resident,” a celebrity who would be adopted as one of Cooper’s own.

 

A detailed application form was sent to more than 200 stars, including relevant questions such as “Have you ever milked a cow?,” “Have you ever hunted snipe?,” “Have you ever owned a pair of bib overalls?,” and “Have you ever chewed tobacco?”

 

The uniqueness of the effort led to national publicity in newspapers including the Miami Herald, Kansas City Star, Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, Milwaukee Sentinel, Boston Herald American and Sacramento Bee. 

 

Nearly 100 applications were returned, including from actor Henry “Fonzie” Winkler, pro football hall of famer Fran Tarkenton, Iowa State University men’s basketball coach Johnny Orr, Princess Grace of Monaco, entertainer Danny Thomas, legendary Disney character Mickey Mouse, bandleader Lawrence Welk and Iowa Gov. Robert D. Ray.

 

One applicant, however, went beyond simply submitting the application. Iowa native Johnny Carson, then at the height of his fame as legendary host of “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” on NBC, invited a delegation from Cooper to travel to Hollywood and interview him in person on his network television program. Carson was born in Corning on Oct. 23, 1925, and lived in Avoca, Clarinda and Red Oak before his family moved to Nebraska when young Johnny was eight years old.

 

TO READ THE ENTIRE STORY AND OTHER FASCINATING STORIES ABOUT IOWA HISTORY, subscribe to Iowa History Journal.