Joe Popp, a former assistant coach for the Cleveland Browns and a legendary high school coach in North Carolina, passed away at his Mooresville, N.C. home on Thursday. He was 82.
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Popp joined the Browns' coaching staff in 1989 when Bud Carson took over for Marty Schottenheimer, who had left the team to go coach the Kansas City Chiefs. Popp remained an assistant on the Browns' staff through the 1990 season.
Popp's lasting legacy is as the head coach of the only state championship football team in Mooresville (N.C.) High School history in 1961. Following that championship, Popp jumped to the college ranks as an assistant for the University of North Carolina, George Washington, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech. In 1974, Popp entered the pro game as an assistant coach for the Chicago Fire of the World Football League.
The state championship earned Popp the honor of being an inaugural member of the Mooresville High Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005, as well as the high school football stadium being renamed Coach Joe Popp Stadium. Popp is also a member of the Catawba College Sports Hall of Fame. Popp played football and basketball at Catawba, winning seven letters before graduating in 1952.
Popp's son, Jim, is the general manager of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.