Coach frequently tells us that his experiences with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis have been invaluable to him. After coaching a basketball team that first year, where they won 1 and lost 15, he returned with most of the same players and recorded a 28-1 record and won the City Championship in the division the next year. It is not that they won that second year; it was about the growth, the dedication, the achievements, and the unlocked potential that these young boys attained.

     He was hooked on the potential impact that Boys & Girls Clubs could make in the lives of young kids. He continued to work at the Goodwill Club and started the Goodwill /Phoenix Club Olympics. This event brought all the Phoenix Club members to the Goodwill Club on a Saturday for Olympic type contests like the discus throw with paper plates, the tricycle relay, and other contests involving the younger boys who were 8 to 12 years old. The day always started with all the participants enjoying a lunch of Hobo Stew and ended with smiles. As a result of his work with the Goodwill Club, he received the Mednikow Award for most outstanding member of the Phoenix Club. Coach was soon asked by Bernal Smith to join the Goodwill Boys Club Board of Directors and in 1976 he was elected President of the Goodwill Boys Club Board. At that time, he served under another Boys & Girls Club Hall of Fame member, our Club Director Sidney Boyd. Since Coach always knew we needed funding for our Boys Clubs to be successful, he started the Boys Club Golf Tournament, which he is still chairing today, some 29 years later. The event has now become the Boys & Girls Club Golf Classic and is one of the elite charitable golf tournaments in the city of Memphis. It is a major fundraiser for the organization. For this work with the golf tournament and other activities, Coach received the Ira Samelson Jr. Distinguished Service Award in 1992. In 2019, the tournament was renamed the Coach Cochran Classic. 

     In 2000, Coach was elected to the Boys & Girls Central Board of Directors. In 2005, he was elected Central Board Chairman. Under his watch, he initiated a capital campaign that raised over $15,000,000. With these funds, the Memphis Organization was able to purchase a 6th Club later named the Bernal Smith Boys & Girls Club. Coach also helped to start and promote the Boys & Girls Clubs Technical Training Center, the first of its kind in the United States, to help graduates of our Clubs find a meaningful career. This national award winning program is now named the Juice Plus+ Technical Training Center and has been a fantastic success for the community and continues to secure meaningful jobs for 100% of its graduates.

     In 2005, Coach received the Tennessee Area Council Board Member of the Year Award, and the Phoenix Club “Old Timer of the Year” Award. Following that, in 2008 he received the “Lifetime Achievement Award” and then in 2011 received the Boys & Girls Clubs of America National Silver Medallion Award. Even after 54 years of service, he is still Chairman of our Golf Tournament and an active member of our Central Board of Directors. Coach recently stated in an interview that he is proud to be associated with such a special organization as the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Memphis because it is truly making a difference in the lives of many young men and women in the city of Memphis. Coach Cochran has been supported in his work with the Boys & Girls Clubs by his lovely wife of 52 years, Sylvia. They have their own Boys & Girls Club with 5 adult children, Carole, Bill Jr, Bobby, Michael, and Tommy.