Ella Langley Reunites With Teacher Who Helped Kick Start Her Career
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When Ella Langley performed in her home state of Alabama on her Dandelion Tour, a very important person in her life – her high school history teacher – attended the show.
Meet Ella Langley’s Former Teacher, Coach Pops
Maury Popwell has been a history teacher at Hooper Academy in Alabama for 22 years, but teaching much longer than that During his time there, one of his students was Ella Langley. The two formed a quick connection with their shared love of music at the forefront.
Popwell, who the students lovingly call “Coach Pop,” recently spoke with WSFA12 about his former student and how proud he is of her rise to stardom.
“We got to the point where she would bring her guitar on a Friday morning and we would play before school,” he told the outlet.
Popwell would bring his 12-string guitar and Ella fell in love with the sound of it, and even credits him for inspiring her music.
Years later, she had completed two years at Auburn University, but decided to drop out and pursue her country music dreams in Nashville. When word got back to Coach Pop, he knew he had to send her off the right way.
He called her and invited her to come to the school one last time.
“When I found out she was going to Nashville, I called her right before school started and I told her come by the school today and she did,” he said. “I gave her that guitar. So she took it with her.”
In 2019, Ella Langley shared a photo of the moment when Popwell gave her his 12-string guitar.
She write, “I don’t know if he will ever realize how much this guitar means to me, or how much he means to me, or how much he has helped me, but I will think of him every time I pick this beauty up.”
Now she is 27 years old, and has the longest running non-holiday song on the Billboard Hot 100, and Ella and Coach Pop have kept in touch after all these years. The news outlet reports that he has even joined her on stage in their home state before.
Popwell even claims he is “the original Ella Fella.”
His pride for Ella is as though she is family. He watched her love for music blossom in his classroom and seeing her career take off the way it has makes him emotional.
“It affects me like she is my grandchild,” he said of her success. “I’ve caught myself with a tear in my eye watching her go up and receive these awards. It’s like she’s part of my family. And she is.”
He continued, “Still feel like I played a small, small part. And I hope she remembers that. I will. I’ll remember it.”
Coach Pop And Ella Langley Reunite
Ella Langley was back in Alabama over the weekend, playing back-to-back sold out shows at Neville Arena at Auburn University, the same place she dropped out of to pursue her dreams.
Coach Pop and Ella had some time to hangout backstage, where she gifted him a custom Dandelion guitar, which she signed and lovingly wrote, “Love you, Coach Pop!”
The Hooper Academy Booster Club shared a photo of the two, essentially recreating their original photo together, showing how far Ella has come.
Coach Pop was decked out in an “Ella Fella” t-shirt and a “Choosin’ Auburn” hat.
Not only did they share this special, full-circle moment backstage, a fan caught Coach Pop and his wife enjoying the show from the pit, where he just looked like the proudest teacher ever!
