All About Rams Wide Receiver Puka Nacua's Parents, Mom Penina and Late Dad Lionel Nacua

Key Highlights

• Lionel died from diabetes complications when Puka was 11 years old, but his mother stepped up to support her children, which Puka draws strength from."My mother is everything to me and my family.
• Being able to be the rock of our family and support us in that hard time," Puka told USA Today in July 2024.
• "The strength of the single mother, being able to carry all of us kids and then to continue to carry on, it's something that I use to call upon."AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHere’s everything to know about Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua’s parents, Penina and Lionel. Lionel and Penina had six children togetherPuka Nacua/Instagram Puka Nacua with his familyPuka comes from a large, loving and athletic family with four brothers and one sister.
• Lionel wrestled when he was younger and was a huge football fan, who trained his and Penina’s five sons to be football players. After Lionel died when Puka was 11 years old, Penina stepped up to continue making sure the boys would be able to pursue their gridiron dreams."But the strength to continue to push on and to be there in all the significant moments for me, and especially for my siblings, being the younger one, of watching her find a way to go to practice over here, go to practice over there, be at this game, and to be a team mom, and all those things,” Puka told Rams Revealed in November 2023.
• “The things that she sacrificed and the strength that that requires is something that I hold dear to my heart.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLionel influenced Puka’s passion for football by showing him film and training himEzra Shaw/Getty Penina and Puka Nacua in January 2024Lionel’s training was greatly influential on Puka becoming the man and football player he is today.