The Passion to Play Drives Jason Cooper

He could have been part of an actual "crime scene investigator" or maybe a teacher...but passion brought him to where he is now. Jason Cooper at age 27, is a baseball player for the Buffalo Bisons. He started to play when he was merely 5 years old and has been playing in the out field for the Bisons for 5 seasons. All his hard work paid off because on April 17th Cooper hit his first dinger...a homerun!

Baseball doesn't take up all of Cooper's life. He has a wife named Suzanne and a dog named Tucker. Sometimes Cooper will bring Tucker to the field and let him run around. Cooper has a musical talent too. He plays a little guitar in his free time. He also enjoys playing Guitar Hero; especially when the players set it up in the locker room!

What makes him love baseball...what is his favorite part? Cooper says that just being able to call himself a baseball player and putting on the uniform is what is most special to him. Now that is PASSION for the game!

See that passion in person...go watch Jason Cooper and the rest of the Bisons this season. Who knows...maybe you will even run into Tucker running the bases!

The following is a profile written by 6th grader, C. Dean from Amherst Middle School who was one of over 2,500 WNY students chosen by the Bisons and The Buffalo News' Newspapers in Education to meet a player on the field prior to a game earlier this year.