The Athletic has an article but since not everyone has a subscription I won't post it and get in trouble, but here is the intro, first few paragraphs, to give you the background.
She’s arguably Colorado’s most famous fan, but she’s also quick to offer an apology for her declining eyesight and hearing. So she had to make sure she heard correctly when Colorado athletic director Rick George told her in late January that she’d have a guest the following day: Deion Sanders.
George and Sanders arrived as planned, and George let the two get to know one another as Coppom, anything but shy, helped educate Sanders on the history of the program. They sat together at the dining room table topped by Coppom’s pink tablecloth.
“She is just a breath of fresh air. She just breathes life into everyone that comes close to her. She’s a godsend, man,” Sanders said Saturday, months after the initial meeting and hours after surprising Coppom with a ceremonial honor in Colorado’s spring game. “She’s un-dern-believable.”
Coppom moved to Boulder in 1940 after growing up in Haxtun, Colo., a small town on the northeast plains of the state. Together with her twin sister Betty Hoover, who died in 2020, they gained local celebrity as the “CU Twins” who attended tons of Colorado sporting events and, as a point of pride, refused to ever leave early. So with 80 years of Buffaloes fandom alongside her sister and late husband, who was an airline pilot, she had plenty of stories for Sanders. The coach passed on the cinnamon rolls but downed his Pepsi as predicted and began a love affair with the praline pecans she’d laid out.
“They were glazed or caramelized or something,” Sanders said. “I was just killing those things.”
But before he left, Sanders had a request. Would she be up for walking out on the field with him at the spring game in three months? “I said, ‘OK. But I’m 98 years old. I’m not gonna run,’” Coppom said. “I said OK then and thought, ‘Oh, he’ll forget about this. He’s got 100 kids to take care of up there.’ But he didn’t forget about it.”
Anything but.
The Athletic REALLY is one of the few sites on the internet (along with Wildcat Report!) worth subscribing to, it is terrific!
theathletic.com
She’s arguably Colorado’s most famous fan, but she’s also quick to offer an apology for her declining eyesight and hearing. So she had to make sure she heard correctly when Colorado athletic director Rick George told her in late January that she’d have a guest the following day: Deion Sanders.
George and Sanders arrived as planned, and George let the two get to know one another as Coppom, anything but shy, helped educate Sanders on the history of the program. They sat together at the dining room table topped by Coppom’s pink tablecloth.
“She is just a breath of fresh air. She just breathes life into everyone that comes close to her. She’s a godsend, man,” Sanders said Saturday, months after the initial meeting and hours after surprising Coppom with a ceremonial honor in Colorado’s spring game. “She’s un-dern-believable.”
Coppom moved to Boulder in 1940 after growing up in Haxtun, Colo., a small town on the northeast plains of the state. Together with her twin sister Betty Hoover, who died in 2020, they gained local celebrity as the “CU Twins” who attended tons of Colorado sporting events and, as a point of pride, refused to ever leave early. So with 80 years of Buffaloes fandom alongside her sister and late husband, who was an airline pilot, she had plenty of stories for Sanders. The coach passed on the cinnamon rolls but downed his Pepsi as predicted and began a love affair with the praline pecans she’d laid out.
“They were glazed or caramelized or something,” Sanders said. “I was just killing those things.”
But before he left, Sanders had a request. Would she be up for walking out on the field with him at the spring game in three months? “I said, ‘OK. But I’m 98 years old. I’m not gonna run,’” Coppom said. “I said OK then and thought, ‘Oh, he’ll forget about this. He’s got 100 kids to take care of up there.’ But he didn’t forget about it.”
Anything but.
The Athletic REALLY is one of the few sites on the internet (along with Wildcat Report!) worth subscribing to, it is terrific!
A 98-year-old superfan kicks off the Coach Prime era at Colorado
“There has never been this much excitement,” Peggy Coppom said. “I can't believe one man has brought us all this attention."
theathletic.com
