Joe Popp

Year Inducted: 2019

Joe Popp was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania and was a stellar athlete, quarterbacking his high school football program to its first undefeated season. He received numerous college athletic scholarship offers and chose Catawba College on a football and basketball scholarship. He excelled and lettered in both sports.

After graduating in 1952, he became the Head Football Coach at Jonesville High School (now Starmount), where he coached for four seasons winning 35 of 39 games. He was then named the Head Coach at Southwest High School in Winston-Salem and led the school to win Conference Championships both seasons. Thereafter, he became the Head Coach at Mooresville High School in Mooresville, where the school had endured a 32-game losing streak. In just two years, Coach Popp led the Mooresville Blue Devils to an undefeated regular season. The following year, in 1961, Coach Popp led the school to win its first and only State Football Championship title. The high school stadium bears his name, Coach Joe Popp Stadium.

Coach Popp’s college and professional coaching career was equally impressive and spanned four decades. He coached at UNC, George Washington and Defensive Coordinator at both Wake Forest and Georgia Tech during the 1960s and 1970s, coaching in several bowl games. He coached in the World Football League for the Chicago Winds in the 1970s and joined the Cleveland Browns coaching staff in the 1980s. He retired with the Browns in the early 1990s. He has been inducted into three Halls of Fame – Catawba College, Pennsylvania’s Cambria County and Mooresville High School’s inaugural class.