Bob “Woody” Popik, beloved by Baltimore sports fans for DJing at Ravens and Orioles home games for more than two decades, has died.
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The 59-year-old’s death on December 10 from pancreatic cancer was confirmed on his Facebook account, where dozens of friends and family members paid tribute to the longtime stadium DJ.
“For all those years, our stadium was alive and full of energy thanks to Woody and people like Woody,” Baltimore Ravens head Coach John Harbaugh said. “We just really appreciate him. We appreciate his family, and we offer our heartfelt condolences for their loss.”
Coach Harbaugh opens his press conference with condolences after the passing of the Ravens’ DJ Bob "Woody" Popik pic.twitter.com/rKJAuMoc9c
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 10, 2025
“He thought of songs that no one else would think of,” Pete Holden, a fellow DJ for the Ravens and Orioles who worked many games with Popik, told The Baltimore Banner. “I learned a lot from him. He knew how to pick the right song for a situation.”
Bob Popik Fondly Remembered by Friends and Family
Popik welcomed input from fans, including those who offered him cookies at the DJ booth, according to Bruce Cunningham, a 105.7 radio host and former Fox45 sports director and Ravens announcer.
“He lived every guy’s fantasy life,” Cunningham told The Baltimore Banner. “All he did was play and smile and eat and have fun.”
Despite a stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis in October, Popik remained optimistic in November as he prepared to move from the hospital to a hospice facility.
“You can tell it in my voice I’m not down; I’m not depressed, I’m not overwhelmed thinking about what I have,” he told Parade at the time. “I’ve been given six to nine months to live, and I take it in stride, and I am going to fight until every breath is out of my body. I’m not giving up, and I’m remaining positive. I believe that you need to remain positive to beat this. And that’s what I continue to do.”
However, the DJ did question what it all meant in his final days.
His cousin, Karnish, told The Baltimore Banner that Popik, who never married or had children, had a brief existential crisis where he wondered if his life had meaning.
Karnish recalled that Popik, a lifelong Catholic, told a hospital chaplain he wondered if he should have become a priest because he wanted to uplift people and bring them together.
Karnish said the chaplain’s reply brought Popik great comfort: “Bobby, all these things you want to do — bringing people together, making them feel good — you’ve done that your whole life.”