Alton Minor Coppage (February 9, 1916 – January 9, 1992) was a professional American footballend who played five seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and All-America Football Conference (AAFC), mostly for the Chicago Cardinals. Coppage grew up in Oklahoma and attended the University of Oklahoma, where he was part of the 1938 football team that won the school's first Big Six Conference championship. He was drafted by the NFL's Cardinals in 1940. He played in Chicago for three seasons before leaving to serve in World War II. He signed with the Cleveland Browns in the AAFC after his discharge from the military and played one season for the team, moving to the Buffalo Bills in 1947. After leaving football, Coppage settled in Oklahoma and worked in lumber and banking. He died in 1992.
After retiring from football, Coppage worked in the lumber business and subsequently in banking, spending 20 years as first vice president of First State Bank of Gould, Oklahoma for 20 years.[9] The bank was robbed in 1975 when Coppage was working there with his wife Lillian, an assistant cashier.[10] Two bearded men entered the bank and pistol-whipped Coppage and another bank executive. They stole $300 and abducted two female employees, took them to an abandoned garage and shot both in the head and face; one of them died.[11] Two men were apprehended and charged with the crime.[11]
Coppage died in 1992 at Jackson County Memorial Hospital in Altus, Oklahoma.[9]
References
^ ab"Conkright Leaves Rams For Post With Browns". Cleveland Plain Dealer. February 16, 1946. p. 18. The Browns yesterday announced the acquisition of another National League veteran, Alton Coppage of the Chicago Cardinals ... Coppage, from Oklahoma, is 26, stands six-one and weighs 209. A regular with the Cardinals for three years before the war, he was a corporal with the 20th Air Force and last fall played in the all-star service game in Honolulu. He was released recently. His home is in Hollis, Okla.
^"Alton Coppage". Soonerstats.com. Archived from the original on June 28, 2011. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
^Dietrich, John (November 16, 1945). "Jacobs Rejoins Rams Here, Will Oppose Chicago Cardinals Sunday". Cleveland Plain Dealer. p. 17. Returning also this week are Alton Coppage, a star end, to the Chicago Cardinals, and several others.