Mark Hooper was an English professional footballer who played for Darlington, Sheffield Wednesday and briefly with Rotherham United in a 16-year career which lasted from 1923 to 1939, although he appeared in 1945 in a few games after World War II.
17 Facts About Mark Hooper
1.
2.
Mark Hooper was brought up in the Rise Carr area and was part of a family of footballers.
3.
Mark Hooper was initially a goalkeeper but switched to an outfield position after being told he was too small to be an effective keeper.
4.
Mark Hooper scored 11 goals from the right wing during that promotion campaign and bettered it with 18 the following year in Division Two.
5.
Mark Hooper knew nothing of this and had to be summoned from a night out at the cinema to be told that he had been sold to Sheffield Wednesday.
6.
Mark Hooper played 15 games in the remainder of that season scoring two goals.
7.
Mark Hooper was a consistent performer and remained injury free for much of his career.
8.
Mark Hooper scored the second goal for the Owls with a shot that went in off the post.
9.
Mark Hooper played as Wednesday won the 1935 FA Charity Shield.
10.
Mark Hooper lost his place in the Wednesday team after suffering relegation from the top division in 1937.
11.
Mark Hooper left Wednesday to join Rotherham United in May 1939 just before the outbreak of World War II, he amassed a total of 423 games for Sheffield Wednesday in all competitions and is tenth on the all-time list of appearances.
12.
Mark Hooper scored 136 goals and is fifth on the all-time list of goalscorers for the club.
13.
Mark Hooper did return after the war and play three FA Cup matches for the club as Rotherham reached the 4th round before losing to Barnsley in January 1946.
14.
Mark Hooper remained at Rotherham until 1958 as a coach.
15.
Mark Hooper opened a tobacconist and confectionery shop on Middlewood Road, just 200 metres from the Sheffield Wednesday ground in the early 1930s whilst still a Wednesday player.
16.
Mark Hooper kept the shop going throughout his coaching time with Rotherham and it remained open until the 1970s.
17.
Mark Hooper died on 9 March 1974 in Sheffield, aged 72.