While Deion Sanders rebuilt Colorado’s football program through the transfer portal and generated unprecedented attention throughout their 2023 season, he also worked on developing a relationship with a 99-year-old fan.
Peggy Coppom, who USA Today reported has attended over 3,000 of the university’s games since the 1940s, first met Sanders in January — around a month after Sanders was hired — through a visit coordinated by athletic director Rick George, and Coppom became a prominent figure throughout the Buffaloes’ season, even appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year Issue.
“She don’t have bad days; I don’t have bad days,” Sanders told USA Today. “That’s why we connect. I’ve never seen Peggy with a bad attitude or mad about something. It don’t happen. I love her for that. She’s so consistent.”
Coppom described her first season knowing Sanders as “unbelievable” and “a lot of fun,” though her son, Dail, said that it has also helped her move forward after her twin sister, Betty Hoover, died in 2020 following a battle with cancer.
“She always comments to me that ‘I can’t believe how this has all happened,’ and ‘Why is this happening to me?’” Dail told USA Today. “I said, ‘It’s because people like the energy you’re giving off. People like to hear good things for a change in the media.’”
Coppom and Hoover always sat in the last row of section 104 at Folsom Field, according to a “College GameDay” segment from the fall, and the pair vowed to never leave those games early — even as losing season after losing season strung together.
This year, though, started with a stunning upset against then-No. 17 TCU.
Then, Colorado crushed Nebraska, narrowly escaped Colorado State and become one of the sport’s early-season success stories.
They won just one game across their final nine and didn’t even make a bowl game, but through all of the attention — including the spring game, when Sanders held Coppom’s hand as she participated in a ceremonial opening kickoff, and a postgame celebration in the locker room when she received a game ball — Sanders became a “good friend” to Coppom.
When she turned 99 on Nov. 19, fans in attendance at a Colorado men’s basketball game wished her a happy birthday by singing, according to 9News, and George posted a photo on X of Coppom sitting behind a birthday cake.
“Peggy is unbelievable, man,” Sanders told USA TODAY. “She’s a pillar of stability. She’s a pillar of love, a pillar of hope, of consistency, legacy. And she’s so dear.”