Meet the Georgetown family who just donated $50 million to athletics

Georgetown has just announced one the largest gifts in Hoya history – a $50 million present to the Athletics Department.

The whopping check, made by Peter and Susan Cooper of Newport Beach, California, will have the dual purpose of expanding a relatively new leadership program for Hoya athletes and upgrading the central-campus field which hosts football, field hockey, lacrosse and other club sports.

Peter and Susan Cooper

But the Coopers’ colossal cash donation to Hoya Athletics has not arrived completely out of the blue.

They have five children, all of whom are Georgetown alumni. Three of the Coopers’ sons played football at Georgetown, while a daughter, Kylie, was co-captain of the swim team.

So what kind of Hoyas were they?

Ryan Cooper – (B’02)

Ryan is the eldest of the Cooper brothers. Despite being physically smaller than his gargantuan brothers, it seems as though speed was his main attribute. Putting in several shifts at Safety for the Hoyas during the ’00,’01 seasons, Ryan came up with a couple of crucial interceptions that justify his inclusion in the Cooper sporting dynasty.

Kylie Cooper – (C’02, L’06)

It seems as though solo sister Kylie was not content to hide in the shadow of her football-playing brothers. Kylie amazingly co-captained the Georgetown women’s swim team as a junior, including a successful ’01 season in which the Hoyas took 10th place at the Big East Championships, finishing with a 7-6 record. If anything Kylie seems to be the star of this ridiculously talented family.

Matt Cooper – (B’07)

Matt entered the team as a backup Tight End. Described as, “a heady player with the ability to make plays” and “a critical member of the offense and special teams,” Matt seemed to have slowly worked his way from a fringe player to an important member on Defense. In his ’05 season he appeared in all 11 games, made three tackles, all solo stops and had two tackles at Cornell and one at Lehigh. His twin brother Kris was also a Defensive End for three years on the same team.

Kris Cooper – (B’10)

From a no-start freshman, Kris became a valuable member of the defensive front four in his latter years. He was said to “possess good quickness” as a Defensive End, in the ’04 season he played in five games and totaled four tackles, including two tackles for loss. He had a season best game with three tackles and one TFL at Duquesne.