Cooper's Town: Hundreds attend Warren Central baseball game to support Cooper Jamison - The Vicksburg Post

Cooper’s Town: Hundreds attend Warren Central baseball game to support Cooper Jamison

Published 9:54 pm Monday, April 10, 2023

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Warren Central baseball coach Derrick DeWald gets his head shaved by Cooper Jamison before Monday's eighth- and ninth-grade games against Clinton. The Vikings were getting their heads shaved in honor of Jamison, the team manager, who will have surgery later this week to treat a brain tumor. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central baseball player Tristan Jamison gets his head shaved by Angela LaBarre before Monday's eighth- and ninth-grade games against Clinton. The Vikings were getting their heads shaved in honor of team manager Cooper Jamison, who will have surgery later this week to treat a brain tumor. Tristan is Cooper's older brother. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central baseball player Noah Oldenburg gets his head shaved by Mary Grace jamison before Monday's eighth- and ninth-grade games against Clinton. The Vikings were getting their heads shaved in honor of team manager Cooper Jamison, who will have surgery later this week to treat a brain tumor. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central baseball players, from left, Landon Hasty, Tristan Jamison, Justin Greer and Braxton Scallions pose for a photo before Monday's freshman team doubleheader against Clinton. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Cooper Jamison warms up his arm before Monday's Warren Central freshman baseball doubleheader vs. Clinton. Jamison, who will have surgery later this week to treat a brain tumor, was honored before the game and threw out the first pitch. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central baseball coach Jace Leachmann shows off a wristband with the "#supercooper" logo in honor of Cooper Jamison.. Jamison, who will have surgery later this week to treat a brain tumor, was honored before the game and threw out the first pitch. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Cooper Jamison gets the baseball and some tips from Warren Central player Thomas Antwine before throwing out the first pitch for Monday's freshman doubleheader against Clinton. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Cooper Jamison sits in the dugout before Monday's Warren Central freshman baseball doubleheader vs. Clinton. Jamison, who will have surgery later this week to treat a brain tumor, was honored before the game and threw out the first pitch. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central baseball players Holt Pownall and Trace Hood hold a signed team photo banner that was given to Cooper Jamison before Monday's freshman game vs. Clinton. Jamison, a team manager, is battling brain cancer. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Cooper Jamison passes Warren Central baseball players Holt Pownall and Trace Hood, and assistant principal Crystal Hood, on his way to the mound to throw out the first pitch for Monday's freshman doubleheader against Clinton. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Cooper Jamison throws out the first pitch before Monday's Warren Central freshman baseball doubleheader vs. Clinton. Jamison, who will have surgery later this week to treat a brain tumor, was honored at the game. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Trace Hood watches a pitch cross the plate during Monday's freshman baseball game against Clinton. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Justin Greer takes a lead off first base as Clinton's Ryan Saxton (19) covers the bag during Monday's freshman baseball game at Viking Field. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Holt Pownall throws a pitch during Monday's freshman baseball doubleheader against Clinton. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Tristan Jamison takes a pitch duing Monday's freshman baseball doubleheader against Clinton. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

A large crowd watches Monday's freshman baseball doubleheader between Warren Central and Clinton at Viking Field. The game served as both a benefit and tribute for WC team manager Cooper Jamison, who will have surgery this week to treat a brain tumor. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central’s Viking Field was transformed into a different iconic baseball setting on Monday.

It became Cooper’s Town.

A large crowd of about 400 people — more than twice the normal attendance — showed up for a doubleheader featuring the freshmen teams from Warren Central and Clinton. They were there to support not only the players, but Cooper Jamison.

Jamison, a 13-year-old team manager for Warren Central, will undergo surgery Wednesday at University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson to treat a brain tumor.

The seventh-grader at Academy of Innovation is also on Warren Central’s golf team. He shot 111 at a tournament last week at Vicksburg Country Club.

Proceeds from concession stand sales at Monday’s baseball game went to the Jamison family, and donation buckets were also available for those who wanted to contribute.

The buckets will be available at Warren Central’s varsity home games Tuesday vs. Pearl and Wednesday vs. Northwest Rankin as well. Both varsity games begin at 7 p.m.

Randy Wright and Goldie’s Trail BBQ donated food for a postgame team meal, while both Clinton High School and Northwest Rankin High School made financial contributions.

A few hours before the game, a number of Warren Central players gathered behind the first base dugout to shave their heads in support of Cooper, who has had his shaved in preparation for the surgery. During the game, they wore wristbands with “#supercooper” printed on them, and signed both a team photo banner and a baseball for Cooper.

Several fans wore T-shirts with the slogan on it as well, and gray balloons — the color for brain brain cancer — were tied to the bleachers.

Before the first game of the doubleheader, Cooper threw out the first pitch to his older brother Tristan, a center fielder for Warren Central’s freshman team.
Cooper admitted to being a bit nervous before taking the mound, but threw a strike.

“I haven’t thrown a baseball in a while, so I was trying to do my best, really. I just lobbed it over,” Cooper said.

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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