Born in Americus, Georgia, Hooper attended Henry W. Grady High School (then Boys High School) in Atlanta, Georgia.
[1] He was a law clerk for Judge Walter F. George of the Georgia Court of Appeals from 1917 to 1919.
He was a Judge of the Superior Court of Georgia for the Atlanta Judicial Circuit from 1943 to 1949.
[2] He served as president of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association from 1945 to 1947.
[3] Hooper received a recess appointment from President Harry S. Truman on October 21, 1949, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia vacated by Judge Robert Lee Russell.