Richardson High's Callie Cooper Displaying Greatness On And Off Court

RICHARDSON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - With their playoffs starting Thursday, Feb. 11 against Arlington Sam Houston, the co-district champs from Richardson are practicing what they preach.

Fifth year head coach Kelly Dansby says "every moment counts. Just like in the game every possession counts. Be grateful for it."

No one is more grateful than Callie Cooper. She has scored more than 1,500 points in her career.

Now she knows every game from this point forward be her last.

The senior guard says, "I try to think about what I can do and not what can stop me.  Do I think about crying when I'm leaving or how happy I'm gonna be when I start my next journey."

Set to play college ball in the fall at UC Santa Barbara, Callie's optimism runs in the family.

You'll often find her and her teammates at her mom's nonprofit the Jewel Foundation. There, they feed under privileged children.

Her mother Chancee Smalley explains, "Callie has a great heart. Before I say anything about basketball I would like everyone to know she has one of the biggest hearts."

According to Callie, "it's not I want someone to praise me because I do something good. I do it out of the kindness of my heart because I want someone else to feel good."

A big piece of that heart belongs to her brother, Cassius.

A Richardson High graduate who despite being on the autism spectrum, was a match away from reaching State in wrestling.

She says her pride in her brother stems from the fact that "he's grown up and doing things on his own and he's driving now and he's working. It just makes me life life a lot more."

Before Callie heads to Cali she would love to lead the Lady Eagles to their first state title but no trophy will ever compare to the legacy she's established at Richardson.

Her mom says, "that's the way we all wanna raise our children. Just to be great human beings."

And that's exactly who Callie Cooper is.

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