SPOKANE, Wash. — It's the Super Bowl this week, and it's one of the biggest for our region in recent memory because of one person.
“I have a ton of pride as an Eastern Washington Eagle. I’m super thankful for the opportunities that they gave me and for the people that are there in Cheney,” said former EWU wide receiver turned LA Ram Cooper Kupp.
Almost ten years ago to the day, Kupp committed to Eastern Washington. The Eags were just one of two DI schools he had an offer from.
Not many foresaw him becoming one of the NFL’s top receivers 10 years later, but that’s where he is today. When you hear his perspective on life, you understand how he did it.
“As a human being in general, if you have perseverance, you’re going to be able to push through a lot of things into some really great areas. Allowing yourself grace to learn from failure I think is another thing. Failure doesn’t mean it’s over. Failure is just an opportunity to learn, to move forward, to adjust your plan and go at it again. Having perseverance in this world will get you a long ways,” said Kupp.
He didn’t have to just employ perseverance at Eastern.
This shouldn’t be Cooper’s first Super Bowl, but he tore his ACL during the season when the Rams made it in 2019.
It’s another example of him overcoming the obstacles, as he describes that period as one of the toughest of his football career.
“Missing that Super Bowl, that’s one of the hardest things I’ve been through,” reflected Kupp. “The conflict it creates in you when you are both cheering and pulling for your guys, but you know that every step of the way, every time they do succeed, it just hurts you that much more because you want to be a part of it as well. There’s just that conflict within you that’s both equally wanting them to succeed and do it but also wanting to be there and knowing that you can’t be a part of it.”
So now that he finally gets to have his moment, he’s also trying to put himself back in time well before he was overcoming an incredibly difficult injury or even before he was trying to prove people wrong.
Kupp described the Super Bowl as a holiday in his household growing up on Monday, and he plans on embodying that little football loving kid every step of the way this week.
“Every memory I have of thinking forward to this opportunity, none of those were filled with any kind of anxiety or anything like that. Those dreams are always filled with the joy of the moment. I’m in a place now where I’m going to enjoy this thing and every second of playing this game. I think that’s something I’ve taken from looking back at the dreams and the moments that I’ve had and these moments that I now get to step in to,” said Kupp.