A two-sport Clark standout from 1939-1942, Shopes was a four-year starter in basketball and soccer. He captained the soccer team as a junior and the basketball squad his senior season.
Shopes’ talents on the basketball court earned him selection to play on the Worcester Irish American team in the New England Professional Basketball League. On that squad, he was paired with two previous Clark Athletic Hall of Fame inductees, Ziggy Strzelecki ‘43 (one of Clark’s inaugural inductees in 1984) and Ray Manarel ‘41 (1995 inductee).
While an undergraduate, Shopes was vice president of both the Student Body Organization and Gryphon Honor Society. His undergraduate education was interrupted when he left to serve in the U.S. Navy, but he returned to campus in 1946 and earned his degree in economics. He was selected to Who’s Who in American Universities and Colleges.
Shopes took on coaching responsibilities for Clark’s junior varsity soccer and basketball teams from 1946-1947. In addition, he served as assistant athletic director and intramural coordinator, while also teaching classes in the physical education program. Shopes also contributed to the sports world as a long-time high school official for the sports of track and field (40 years), basketball (27 years), and soccer (27 years).
Professionally, Shopes worked for the Kodak Company in Rochester, N.Y. He taught and coached in Hillsboro, N.H. (1947-1953), while earning a master’s degree from Columbia University.
In 1953, he returned to Rochester where he spent the next 26 years teaching business courses and coaching at the high school level.
Louis and his wife Jean have two children; Nancy and Alan.
PRESENTER:
Bob Jordan '47 (former teammate)
