Former Green Bay Packers linebacker and Super Bowl XLV champion Brady Poppinga’s son died Wednesday after suffering an asthma attack, the Ventura County Star reported.
Seventeen-year-old Julius Poppinga reportedly suffered a severe asthma attack which resulted in a collapsed lung. He died at the hospital, per the VC Star.
Son of Super Bowl winner dies at 17 https://t.co/opZKVV2Kkw
— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) August 31, 2023
At 6-foot-1 and 220 pounds, Poppinga was a member of Westlake High School’s lacrosse and varsity football teams, the outlet noted. The entire Westlake Community showed up to mourn the loss and celebrate Julius’ life.
We grieve with the Poppinga family and @WestlakeHS_CA as a young athlete, Julius Poppinga lost his life after a severe asthma attack last week. #thoughts #prayers #RIP https://t.co/gLmWqCv47E
— Ventura County Supervisor Jeff Gorell (@vcd2sup) August 31, 2023
Westlake’s coach Mark Serve visited Poppinga in the hospital before his death, he told the LA Times. “He didn’t want to talk about his health. He wanted to talk football,” Serve told the outlet. “We talked about him getting back on the field. I was texting last night letting him know ‘I love you.’” (RELATED: High School Sports Star Dalton Gay Dies Unexpectedly At 17)
Westlake’s football team will face off against Thousand Oaks on Friday. There were talks of cancelling the game to honor Julius’ memory, but his father said Julius would have wanted them to play, Serve told the outlet.
Brady Poppinga spent the first six of his eight NFL years with the Green Bay Packers, where he won Super Bowl XLV in 2011, before finishing his career on one year stints with the St. Louis Rams and Dallas Cowboys.