By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
Looking back, Zeb Cope '04, sees no lightbulb moment that made him realize he wanted to be a doctor. Yet there are two anecdotes from when he was 5 years old that might have at least nudged him in that direction.
 
His father, a large and proud Army man, was giving blood one day but couldn't bring himself to look at the needle … or the blood. Another time, he turned away from the TV when a surgical procedure came on the screen.
 
Each time, Zeb was unfazed. More than that, he was intrigued.
 
"Maybe I thought it was cool at the time," Cope said. "Whatever it was, once it was there, I never wavered. I never thought about anything else until maybe high school when I got a little better in basketball. But the doctor part was there before."
 
Cope ended up doing both. He played four seasons at William & Mary, where he was the Tribe's third-leading scorer and rebounder as a senior. He played six years in Europe, where he was able to see much of the world and make pretty good coin.
 
Then came medical school, which Cope began at the age of 29. Today, he is a fellow physician specializing in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery (FPMRS) at the University of Louisville.
 
"I thought it was interesting he even went overseas to play because I knew he wanted to be a doctor so badly," said Adam Hess '04, a William & Mary Athletics Hall of Famer and one of Cope's teammates. "Then, when he did, I was more surprised that he gave up a really lucrative playing career for medical school.
 
"That discipline he had carried over. He stopped playing at the peak of his career to go medical school so he wouldn't be 50 by the time he finished. He was able to follow both of his dreams — which is pretty neat."
 
Growing up in mostly in Germany, where his father, Demetrius, was stationed, Cope was constantly busy. Demetrius never liked the idea of idle hands, so he got his son interested in basketball, track, soccer, taekwondo, you name it.
 
Naturally, Zeb also was a gifted student. Which, looking back, could have been another factor in his career path.
 
"I could read well at 5 years old and I responded well to positive encouragement," Cope said. "And most time when you have a kid who does well, the follow-up is always 'You could be a doctor or a lawyer.'"
 
In his senior year at Hammond School in Columbia, South Carolina, Cope averaged 23 points and 13.5 points a game, which earned him Adidas All-America status. Although listed at 6-foot-8 and 235 pounds, Cope was agile and had a shooting range that extended to the 3-point arc. He was a "stretch four" before the phrase was coined.
 
When Cope signed with William & Mary, Charlie Woollum was the head coach. He retired shortly after the 1999-2000 season, and former Ohio State assistant Rick Boyages was hired. Boyages saw Cope, liked his size, and made him a center.
 
In Cope's first three seasons, he averaged 3.5 points and 3.1 rebounds a game. As much as he loved to shoot the 3, he attempted only four (making one).
 
After Cope' junior season, there was a coaching change — Boyages left, Tony Shaver arrived. That left Cope with a clean slate.
 
"He basically had a tryout for us," Cope said, referring to Shaver. "He rolled the balls out to see what we could do. I was like, 'Well, I might as well shoot and dribble like I used to.' When he saw that, he moved me back to a position that was more natural for me."
 
As a starter, Cope flourished by averaging 12 points and 6 rebounds a game. He went 39-of-103 from deep to lead the team at 38 percent.
 
"He could always shoot," Hess said. "He had confidence his senior year, and (Shaver) gave him confidence to shoot the ball. It was fun to watch."
 
After getting his B.S. in psychology, Cope faced a choice: (a) enroll in medical school, the first step toward his dream career, or (b) give professional basketball a shot. He went with (c) both, which meant basketball would come first.
 
After attending pre-draft camps, Cope received several offers from overseas. His first team was in Calpe, a beauty of a town on Spain's Mediterranean coast. He played three games and was cut.
 
Then came a team in Fribourg, Switzerland. He was cut again — strangely enough, right after a 30-point, 12-rebound performance.
 
Cope decided to give basketball one more shot. And fate came calling.
 
That opponent he had torched for 30 and 12, BC Boncourt Red Team, was interested. Cope signed with the Swiss team for two weeks, which became four, which became six, which became the entire season.
 
The following year, 2005-06, Cope averaged 18.8 points and 9.6 rebounds a game and was named the league's MVP. He would play four more seasons in Europe, all in France, and had a blast.
 
But he was approaching 30. It was time for Chapter 2.
 
In 2010, Cope enrolled in graduate school at Duquesne University, which had a linkage program with Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine — the largest med school in the country. LECOM has mandatory attendance, assigned seating, and a dress code.
 
"You literally go through more reading in one day of medical school than an entire semester in college," Cope said. "It's no joke."
 
After graduating in 2015, Cope became an Obstetrics & Gynecology (OBGYN) resident at Spectrum Health/Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. He had found his field.
 
"They say about Obstetrics & Gynecology, like with general surgery, if you like anything equally to this specialty, you should do that other thing," Cope said. "The long days, the hard nature, it'll make you question yourself.
 
"But I didn't love anything else. I was all in."
 
Cope became fascinated with robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery, in which doctors perform intricate procedures with more precision than conventional methods. Seated at a computer console near the operating table, the surgeon controls mechanical arms and sees high-definition 3D images of the surgical site.
 
Cope, 38, began a three-year fellowship in FPMRS, also known as urogynecology, in 2019. He does complex procedures that can last upwards of six hours.
 
Most surgeries are to relieve the somewhat taboo conditions of female pelvic organ prolapse, urinary and fecal incontinence, and chronic pelvic pain in women. It isn't uncommon to perform multiple robotic assisted procedures called sacralcolpopexies, which requires suspension of soft tissues to the spine, in one day.
 
"Those conditions are extremely prevalent, some affecting one in three women within their lifetime," Cope said. "However, often due to embarrassment, the issues go undiscussed and millions of women are left without realizing that there are many options to help them — options that come well before surgery."
 
If Cope sounds passionate about what he does, it's because he is. Not everyone gets to live their dream. Zeb Cope has done it twice — playing the game he has always loved and helping people improve their lives.
 
"I think one of the things that I have come to appreciate about dreams realized is that they take a tremendous amount of work to become so," Cope said. "It has been so important for me to constantly remain thankful and take inventory of myself and station, realizing that this work is a blessing and the method to manifesting a dream.
 
"I'm thankful that the work that I put in at W&M allowed me to continue my journey towards the dream come true and the dream becoming true."