Industry News:

Dave Cooper Returns
Inline trailblazer to serve as director for skate merchant
By Planet staff
posted Monday, Dec. 18, 2006

One of the seminal figures in the history of inline skating is returning to the sport as a director for a large online skate merchant.

David Cooper, the first person to win the Athens to Atlanta Road Skate on inline skates, will serve on the board of directors of Skates on Haight, Inc.

Skates on Haight is the parent company of Skates.com, SkatesonHaight.com and AkagiUSA.com.

Company founder Lee Cole said he asked Cooper to join the board due to his extensive background in internet communications technology.

Cooper, who lives in San Diego, is a technology consultant and the former advanced web technology manager for the web for Ford Motors.

He started roller skating in the mid-1980s and soon started competing in outdoor races. He finished second in the a2a in 1987. Then after switching to inline skates, he won the ultramarathon in 1989.

His victory in the 100K Malibu Classic in 1990 is considered one of the seminal moments in the development of inline racing.

Among the competition that day were the world champion Muse brothers (Tony and Dante) who, like most world-class skaters of the time, raced on roller skates.

During the race, the brothers began kicking the back of Cooper's skates. That irritated Cooper, who responded by sprinting ahead of the field and winning the race by seven minutes.

Cooper's victory over the roller skaters forced the indoor racing establishment to take notice of inline skates, which soon replaced roller skates in national and international competition.

Cooper retired from racing in 1993. But he stayed active in the skate world as member of the board of the now-defunct International Inline Skating Association. In that role, he helped create the instructors certification program.

He says he is looking forward to the opportunity to work with Cole.

"He's one of the right people to work with," he said. "He knows the business well, and he embraces technology more than anyone else in the industry."

Go to the News Archive for a week by week index of news from the Inline Planet.