Cooper Kupp, the 69th pick in the 3rd round of the 2017 NFL draft, comes from a family that needs little to no introduction to the world of American football. This is because, in addition to him, his dad Craig and grandfather Jake played in the NFL.
There are only five families in the history of the NFL who have had three generations selected in the NFL draft, and Cooper Kupp’s family is proudly one of the five. This lofty accolade began with Cooper’s grandfather, Jake Kupp, and was then followed by his father Craig Kupp. Read on to learn all you need about the two men in Cooper Kupp’s family who blazed the NFL trail for him.
Three Generations of Cooper Kupp’s Family Played in the NFL
Born Cooper Douglas Kupp on June 15, 1993, the 6 feet 2 inches Los Angeles Rams wide receiver is the oldest of four children born to Craig and Karin Kupp. Cooper, whose career highlights and awards include being a Super Bowl champion, after winning NFL’s premier championship with the Rams at Super Bowl LVI, is regarded as one of the best wide receivers in the National Football League (NFL) at present.
2021 has undoubtedly been Cooper Kupp’s best year in the NFL because, in addition to being a Super Bowl Champion, he was also named Super Bowl MVP.
A cursory glance at the list of his career achievements will also uncover the fact that he was named NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 2021, and in the 2021 First-team All-Pro, while also picking up recognitions as the NFL receptions leader, NFL receiving yards leader, and NFL receiving touchdowns leader, all in 2021.
Prior to those achievements, the 30 year-old star was named in the 2017 PFWA All-Rookie Team, a recognition he got in his rookie year in the NFL after being drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in the 2017 NFL draft.
Kupp also won the Jerry Rice Award in 2013, in a career that is shaping up to be one of the greatest in the NFL. While his career has been no less impressive, Cooper has had to climb on the shoulders of two generations of Kupp’s family NFL legacy to get to where he is.
The ball on that legacy was set rolling by his grandfather Jake Kupp, an American football guard who displayed his football playing abilities with several NFL teams most notably with the Dallas Cowboys from 1964 to 1965, as well as the New Orleans Saints from 1968 to 1975.
Cooper’s father Craig Kupp, a quarterback, might have spent less time in the NFL compared to his grandfather but his impressive college football career was enough to convince the New York Giants to make him their 5th-round pick in the 1990 NFL draft. He didn’t stay long with the Giants, and from 1990 to 1992 he ended up appearing in the colors of four other NFL teams including the Phoenix Cardinals and the Dallas Cowboys.
Cooper Kupp’s meteoric rise to fame only served to underline the impressive NFL legacy he inherited from his father and grandfather. It also resurrected interest in what their lives before and after football had been like.
Cooper Kupp’s Grandfather, Jake Kupp, was Born in California
- Date of Birth: March 12, 1941
- Age: 83 years old
- Active Years: 1964 – 1975
First on the list is Cooper’s grandfather, Jake Kupp. The former American football guard was born Jacob Ralph Kupp on March 12, 1941, in Pasadena, California, United States. We have next to no information on the identity of Jake Kupp’s birth family members, particularly those of his parents. However, he has a younger brother named Jeff, who was an O-lineman at Eastern from 1982 to 1984.
We can confirm that the 83-year-old moved to a farm in Sunnyside, Washington, with his grandparents in 1950 when he was about nine years old. Reports suggest that he lived with them on the farm for just a year before his parents moved their family into the more urban area of the town.
Nevertheless, Jake, who confirmed the absence of child labor laws in those days, still helped on the farm and remained quite close to his grandparents. Jake Kupp was raised in a devout presbyterian Christian family. During an interview, he revealed that the values of that Christian community were instilled into him and his siblings from a very young age.
He points out that growing up with those values helped shape his identity in the world. Cooper Kupp’s grandfather attended Sunnyside High School, and it was during his time there that he began to exhibit his athletic abilities. Several sources confirm that he was a three-sport athlete who was active on the football, basketball, and baseball teams.
Jake revealed to the New York Post that he dreamed about being a baseball player in fifth grade. He talked about his fondness for the New York Yankees and how he would lay under a peach tree in front of his family’s yard and dream about what it would be like to be a New York Yankee.
As fate would have it, the former offensive guard permanently turned his attention to football during his senior year in high school. This decision to focus his energies on one sport during his senior year paid dividends, as he was granted a football scholarship by the University of Washington.
While there, he honed his football skills as an offensive tackle, offensive end, and defensive end, to devastating effect. He was a starter until his senior season, and his impressive college record includes 6 offensive receptions for 126 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Jake Kupp’s college athletic achievements include being part of two Rose Bowl teams as well as occasionally being a pitcher for the baseball team.
Jake Kupp Began His NFL Career in 1964
Jake Kupp’s playing qualities were enough for him to enter the 1964 NFL draft as a tight end. By the end of the draft, Cooper Kupp’s grandpa had become the 116th overall pick in the 9th round of the draft. The Dallas Cowboys, who had made the selection, converted him to an offensive guard during training camp.
Even though he started 10 games at left guard, he also turned out for the Cowboys in the offensive guard position in his rookie season and ended up being named in the NFL All-Rookie team of the year.
Jake Kupp confirmed that his coach at the Cowboys, Tom Landry, was probably the smartest, brightest coach he had ever played for in his career and that he was fun to play for. Jake started all 14 games of his second year with the Cowboys at left guard.
Ultimately, he spent just two years with the Dallas Cowboys, and on August 30, 1966, at the end of the 1965 season, he was traded to the Washington Redskins alongside Mitch Johnson and Brig Owens in exchange for Jim Steffen and Willie Parker.
During his time with the Redskins, Jake Kupp again reverted to playing in the tight end position because the coaching staff felt he did not have the size required to play in the offensive guard position. He played 14 games in the 1966 season as a backup behind Jerry Smith. He made two receptions for 28 yards.
The 1967 expansion draft saw an unprotected Jake Kupp make the switch to the New Orleans Saints, where he became one of the original members of the team. He played five regular season games as a starter at left guard before he was released. He then moved to the Atlanta Falcons, where he only played six games, five of which he started at the left guard position.
Jake Kupp returned to the New Orleans Saints for a second stint, which led to making the Pro Bowl as an offensive guard in 1969. He was also named one of the team’s offensive captains in 1969.
Kupp initially retired in 1973, but he changed his mind, played for another couple of years, and then officially retired after the 1975 season. Though devoid of a winning season, his achievements with the Saints ensured that he was inducted into the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame in 1991.
He was also named in their 25, 40, and 50-Year All-Time Team to underline his status as a legend of the game in the New Orleans Saints colors. In total, Jake Kupp played 154 games across just over a decade he spent as a player in the NFL with four different teams.
Jake Kupp was 34 years old when he called time on his playing career, and he was still young enough to move on to something else. However, we have no clue about what the former football player did after he ended his playing time, although he appeared in the film Number One.
Jake Kupp Has Been Married To Carla Kupp For Around 6 Decades Now
Jake Kupp currently resides in Yakima, Washington, with his 81 year-old wife Carla Kupp nee Marion. Carla Kupp was born Carla Marion, in Sunnyside, Washington, in 1943 to a former Sunnyside High School football player and small business owner named Carl Marion. Not much is known about Jake’s mother-in-law at this time.
Jake Kupp’s wife was by his side from the beginning of his playing career. The couple reportedly began dating officially at the end of Jake’s senior year in high school and the beginning of Carla’s sophomore year. Since Carla still had two years left of high school, the early years of their relationship were long-distance.
The absence of an affordable means of communication meant that Jake, who was playing at UW during that time, was a regular home visitor. They eventually got engaged at Carla’s high school graduation and married the following summer in 1963.
Jake and Carla Kupp have been married for about six decades and have had three children together. Not much is known about their first son Randy Kupp, but we know a bit about Cooper’s father, Craig Kupp, and a now-deceased son named Kyle Kupp.
Kyle was born on February 23, 1969, in Sunnyside, Washington, but died on June 5, 2008. In Selah, Yakima, Washington, after a long battle with cancer. He was 39 years old at the time of his death.
The Kupps moved around quite a bit during Jake’s playing days for obvious reasons. In 1976, however, just a year on from the end of his professional football playing career, Jake and his family moved to Selah, Yakima, Washington.
The former offensive guard then spent most of the time with his family, particularly with his late son Kyle in his final days, a period he confirmed was quite challenging for him and his wife. Jake has lived long enough to watch his son Craig and grandson Cooper tow the NFL path, and he couldn’t be more proud.
Cooper Kupp’s Dad, Craig Kupp, Grew Up in Sunnyside, Washington
- Date of Birth: April 14, 1967
- Age: 57 years old
- Active Years: 1990 – 1992
Craig Kupp was born Craig Marion Kupp on April 14, 1967, in Sunnyside, Washington, United States. He is the oldest of three children born to Jake and Carla Kupp. He grew up with an older brother named Randy Kupp and a younger brother named Kyle Kupp. Kyle was born two years after Craig in 1969 but would later succumb to a difficult battle against cancer in 2008 at 39.
He was raised in a devout Christian family that sought to instill the core values of Christianity in him and his younger brother. It is a faith that has remained in the Kupp family and has been passed down from generation to generation since the days of his paternal grandparents, who brought the religion into the family.
For the first nine years of his life, Craig Kupp and his family moved around a bit due to his father’s NFL career. He was almost 10 years old when his family moved to Selah, Yakima, Washington, and he spent most of his formative years there.
Like his dad, Craig was a three-sport athlete as a high school student at Selah High School. He competed in tennis, basketball, and of course, football, a fact that has somewhat become a tradition for the Kupp family.
Unlike his dad though, Craig’s high school football career was not that eventful and this led to him not being in high demand by colleges. In the end, he managed to snap up a football scholarship from Montana Technological University. His time there as a quarterback and a punter yielded All-Frontier Conference honors in 1986.
After his freshman season at Montanna Technological, Craig Kupp transferred to Pacific Lutheran University just to be closer to home. A sophomore season where he was backup to Jeff Yarnell ended with him being part of a team crowned NAIA Division II national champions.
In 1988, Craig, then a junior in college, started the season as QB1 but ended with a disappointing loss to Oregon Institute of Technology in an NAIA Division II playoff game.
The comeback by Oregon is still considered the biggest comeback in school history, considering that Craig led his team to a halftime advantage of 35 – 7 with a career-high 272 passing yards and 16-of-21 completions, 2 passing touchdowns, and one rushing touchdown.
Craig’s absence in the second half due to an ankle injury he suffered with just two minutes of the first half left inspired a 49-point comeback by Oregon to end the game 35 – 56 and leave their opponents disappointed and stunned.
In 1989, Craig Kupp returned with renewed vigor in his senior year. His impressive record of 185-of-286 pass completion for 2,398 yards remains a school record. His 25 touchdowns in that year is also currently third in the school’s history. Craig Kupp also had 3 interceptions, set the record for passing yards in a season, and registered an NAIA Division II record for interception rate with a 1.04% mark.
His most impressive outing of the season came in the game against Southern Oregon University when he set school records for passing yards and touchdowns in a single game with his 411 passing yard figure, and 6 touchdown throws. Those figures helped his team earn a 52 – 50 win over Southern Oregon.
Craig Kupp’s impressive 1989 season earned him All-Columbia Football Association honors at the end of that season. In 2003, the 57-year old was inducted into the Pacific Lutheran Athletic Hall of Fame.
His college career stats make for impressive perusal and give unparalleled insight into why he was bestowed with the aforementioned honor. He ended his college career with 300-of-499 completions for 3,921 yards and 41 touchdowns. Both records are presently fourth in the history of the school. He also recorded 11 interceptions.
Craig Kupp Only Spent a Single Year in the NFL
Considering the promise that his college career offered, many believe that Craig Kupp’s NFL career was visibly underwhelming. It appears even more so when analyzed side-by-side with those of his father Jake and son Cooper, the latter of whom is currently tearing up the NFL with his eye-catching displays.
Craig Kupp’s 1-year-long NFL career began with being the 135th overall pick in the 5th round of the 1990 NFL draft after he was selected by the New York Giants. He was the ninth quarterback selected in the draft but ended up being only a practice squad member for the Giants and was released before the season began on September 3 after failing to move past Matt Cavanaugh on the depth chart.
His next stop on his NFL journey was as a member of the Phoenix Cardinals where he spent the rest of the year on the practice squad after signing with them in September 1990.
A slice of fortune, for Craig, and perhaps, misfortune for starting quarterback Timm Rosenbach, in the form of a training camp knee injury to the latter, gave Kupp the opportunity to play in his only professional football game against the Washington Redskins in Week 3 of the 1991 season.
The Cardinals lost the game 34 – 0 despite Kupp’s completion of 3-of-7 attempts for 23 yards in the game’s fourth quarter. Cooper Kupp’s dad was released by the Phoenix Cardinals on November 6, 1991, to create space for quarterback Chris Chandler.
The very next day, on November 7, 1991, he was claimed off waivers by the Dallas Cowboys. QB1 Troy Aikman’s knee injury against the Washington Redskins in the 12th game meant that Kupp was bumped up to backup quarterback just behind Steve Beuerlein.
Craig Kupp’s NFL career was nothing he or any of his family members had hoped it would be, and in 1992, he became one of three Cowboys’ players to be loaned to the NFL Europe League, then known as World League of American Football, essentially the developmental minor league of the NFL.
The first six weeks of the season were spent with the San Antonio Riders, where he also did not get much playing time before moving on to Montreal Machine. There too, he could only occupy the backup QB position and remained so until the season ended. His career with the Dallas Cowboys officially ended after he was released on August 31, 1992.
Craig Kupp Is Married With Four Children
Craig Kupp fell off the NFL radar after he was released by the Cowboys in 1992, and all indications point to the fact that he retired soon after. So far, we have no way of confirming what the former NFL QB moved on to career-wise, but we can confirm that he started a family at some point with longtime college sweetheart Karin Kupp.
Born Karin Gilmer, Craig’s wife is the daughter of Tom Gilmer, a former football coach at Franklin Pierce High School and Washington High School. The long-time happily married couple met during their time at Pacific Lutheran University, where they were both All Americans; Craig at football and Karin at soccer.
The couple has four children. The oldest Cooper and younger brother Ketner were once together on the roster of the Los Angeles Rams before Ketner was cut by the franchise. Cooper Kupp is still a team member of the franchise and is currently regarded as one of the best wide receivers in the NFL at the time of writing.
Craig and Karin had two other children after Cooper and his younger brother, Ketner. They had another son named Kobe Kupp and a daughter named Katrina Kupp. Kobe played baseball for the Pirates when he was a student at Davis High School, while Katrina’s interest lies in soccer, like her mom.
Not much information is available on either of them at the moment but there are several pictures of them on social media platforms like Instagram whenever the Kupp family come together for their regular family get-togethers.
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