UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
Steve Cooley may be the greatest pass receiver who never made the All-Conference team. Cooley ranked among the top five receivers in the WSUC during the 1969, 1970, 1972 and 1973 seasons but was accorded only Honorable Mention in the All-Conference balloting each year. When he concluded his conference career, he ranked second in receiving yards, just two yards shy of the league record. As a Blugold, he set game, season and career records for receptions; season and career records for yards receiving; and the career record for TD catches. While all of his school marks have since been broken, at the time of his induction, he was second in career receptions with 147 and in career yards with 2,200 and fourth in career TD catches with 14. Cooley, a Second Team All-State defensive back at La Crosse Central in 1968, missed the 1971 Blugold season while he studied in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Following his UWEC graduation in 1974, he was hired by the state of Wisconsin as an adjudicator in the Unemployment Compensation Division in 1975. He remained in that position until 1986 when he became an auditor in the Quality Control Unit for the state. From 1974 through 1977, Cooley played with the nationally-recognized She-Nannigans fastpitch softball team, headquartered in Eau Claire.
