BOULDER, Colo. – Becky Coppom ’98.
He’s Colorado’s most famous fan, but he’s quick to apologize for his declining vision and hearing. She had to make sure she heard right when Colorado athletic director Rick George told her in late January that he had a guest the next day: Deion Sanders.
“Are you bringing him tomorrow?!” she asked Coach Prime.
George said yes. Gabom had a habit of floating root beer when George came to visit her in the past, but on this winter day, it was cold. So he suggested sending ice cream for the morning visit.
The new Colorado football coach only drinks Pepsi anyway. Kappom kept some, and instead she baked cinnamon rolls. and place on a plate of praline pecans.
George and Sanders arrive as planned, and George lets them know each other as Cobom, anything but shy, helping educate Sanders about the show’s history. They sat together at the dining room table with the Cobomb pink tablecloth.
“She is a breath of fresh air. She breathes life into everyone who comes near her. She’s a goddess, man,” Sanders said Saturday, after the initial meeting and a few hours later, surprising Fury with a ceremonial honor at Colorado’s spring game. “She’s incredible.”
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Copham moved to Boulder in 1940 after growing up in Hoxton, Colo., a small town on the state’s northeastern plains. Along with her twin sister, Betty Hoover, who died in 2020, they gained local notoriety as the “CU Twins,” who attended tons of Colorado sporting events and, to their credit, refused to leave early.
With her sister and her late husband, an airline pilot who had a passion for buffalo for 80 years, Sanders had plenty of stories to tell. Coach offers cinnamon rolls, but predictably downs her Pepsi and begins a love affair with her praline pecans.
“They’re glazed or caramelized or something,” Sanders said. “I killed those things.”
After their meeting, Kappom sent Sanders a bag.
As their time together drew to a close, Sanders took her hand and hugged her.
“I thought he was going to lift me off the floor,” Cappom said.
But before he goes, Sanders has a request. Will she be ready to walk the field with him at the spring game in three months?
“I said, ‘Okay. But I’m 98 years old. I’m not going to run,”’ Cobbom said. “I said okay, ‘Oh, he’ll forget about this. He has 100 children to take care of there. But he never forgot it.
Nothing but.
Sanders brought Kabom onto the field for Saturday’s snowy spring game. Before this, he saw many Colorado legends on the field.
“I was so happy to see them and get a hug from them. When they said hello, I had to tell them who they were because my vision wasn’t good,” Cappom said. “
They were all photographed together in anger on the field.
Sanders arrived and escorted her as the players began to arrive on the field for kickoff, and cameras swarmed the two. Sanders took her to the 30 from the 20-yard line, and Gobham became curious.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
He told her she was going to start the game with the opening kickoff.
“I said, ‘What!?’,” Coppom said Athletic At his home after the game, he also made some famous pecans. “I said to Jesus, ‘Help me get through this. Help me get through this.’ My presence is not good. My eyes are not good now. Nothing is good except my mouth.
Anger picked up speed as he approached the ball and grabbed Sanders’ arm to keep his balance as he booted into the air a few feet down the field to applause from the crowd.
“Peggy bowled. Becky was the MVP of the game. She was fast. Her first step was incredible. She was very physical when she grabbed me to make sure I was holding her hand,” Sanders said. “She made a big play. Her kickoff was fantastic. Passed the uprights and everything.
Capcom added: “I’m glad I got through it and didn’t fall down.”
Coppom made her way to her seats in the Flatiron Club upstairs and, like every other game, refused to leave early even though the game was an ice fair.
Colorado grabbed the spotlight this weekend by choosing to broadcast the ESPN spring game, but when it started, viewers saw a 98-year-old superfan coach kicking off a prime era.
“There’s never been this much excitement at any game like this at CU,” Coppom said, adding that he’s confident the Buffaloes can make a bowl game this year after going 1-11 last season. “I can’t believe a man brought this attention to us.”
For a moment, Sanders made sure that attention was directed toward Colorado’s most loyal fan base.
“He was grateful and appreciative,” Sanders said. “She really was. She’s hilarious. I mean, the little quick comments she can make outside? Unbelievable. I’m sure they caught it on my mic. But she’s funny, man. She’s good. I love God — I want to make it this far.” , wish I had the same smile and energy and love for life as she does.
(Photo by Deon Sanders and Becky Coppam: Ron Senay/USA Today)
