NFL Star Stephen Cooper Returning to Wareham High to Inspire Next Generation

It's been a minute since Stephen Cooper walked the halls of Wareham High School.

Scott Palladino, the principal at Wareham High, believes the NFL star hasn't been at his alma mater since he graduated in 1997.

That will change next week when Cooper arrives to give a motivational speech to benefit the Wareham High School Booster Club.

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The theme of the speech will be encouraging young people to find their "you."  Cooper will urge his audience to look inward to figure out what they want to do with the lives they've been gifted. He wants them to recognize their calling.

Not surprisingly, the retired San Diego Chargers linebacker was an incredible player for the Wareham Vikings in the mid '90s. Cooper led his team as quarterback to a 1995 Division 4A Super Bowl win.  After graduating from Wareham, he played one season for the Naval Academy Prep School in Newport, but decided to transfer to the University of Maine to play football there instead.

Cooper tallied more than 500 tackles for the Chargers in his NFL career, playing in regular-season and playoff games against names like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.

No tickets are being sold to the motivational speech at Wareham High, but donations are encouraged to Wareham's Booster Club and the Simply You Foundation.  The speech, open to the public, is set for Thursday, Feb. 16, 6:30 p.m., at Wareham High School, 7 Viking Drive.

Cooper's son will enter high school in San Diego this fall, and Cooper plans on coaching his boy's high school football team.