Pulu Talo Poumele (January 31, 1972 – June 4, 2016) was an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
coach and
offensive tackle who played in both the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL) and the
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
(CFL).
Early and personal life
Born in
Oceanside, California, Poumele attended
Oceanside High School
Oceanside High School (California) is an American public secondary school located in Oceanside, California. It is part of the Oceanside Unified School District.
History and Campus
Oceanside High School is one of two high schools in the Oceanside ...
.
Playing career
Poumele played college football at the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
, before playing in the NFL with the
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...
,
Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...
and
San Diego Chargers, and in the CFL with the
Toronto Argonauts
The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...
.
Coaching career
Poumele was the head coach at San Marcos in 2009, the head coach at El Camino for four seasons, and he later worked at Oceanside High School as a special education teacher and the defensive coordinator for the football team.
Personal life
Poumele was married with five children.
His cousin was
Junior Seau
Tiaina Baul "Junior" Seau Jr. (; ; January 19, 1969May 2, 2012) was an American professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL), mostly with the San Diego Chargers. Known for his passionate play, he was a ...
.
On June 4, 2016, after playing basketball, Poumele went into cardiac arrest and died at a
24 Hour Fitness in Oceanside.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poumele, Pulu
1972 births
2016 deaths
American football offensive linemen
American players of Canadian football
Canadian football offensive linemen
Arizona Wildcats football players
Baltimore Ravens players
San Diego Chargers players
Cleveland Browns players
Toronto Argonauts players
High school football coaches in California
sportspeople from Oceanside, California
Players of American football from California
American sportspeople of Samoan descent
Sports deaths in California