SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Center:How Deion Sanders 'hit it off,' became friends with 99-year-old Colorado fan in 2023

Editor's note: We see the joy in sports all year. This seven-part series was created to share some of the memorable,SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Center happy, heartfelt and inspiring moments from USA TODAY's reporters and columnists. 

Colorado Buffaloes superfan Peggy Coppom, age 99, has watched 16 head football coaches come and go in Boulder over the previous 80 years, including four who were fired since 2010. But she’s never seen or experienced anything like what’s happened in the past year with the new coach, Deion Sanders.

After his hiring last December:

∎ Sanders, 56, stopped by her house to introduce himself in January with a video camera rolling along to capture the visit.

∎ She since developed a friendship with him unlike any other Colorado coach before him.

∎ Now she’s even on the cover of Sports Illustrated with him and is featured in a new documentary series about him on Amazon Prime Video.

“Well, my gosh, this year, first of all, it’s been unbelievable, and it’s been a lot of fun,” Coppom told USA TODAY Sports in a recent interview. “There’s been a lot of excitement and a lot of public recognition, which I didn’t ever feel like I should have. But anyway, it happened because of my friendship with him.”

That friendship blossomed this year because of what they share in common and what each brings to the other despite how different they might seem. Sanders is a flamboyant, world-famous Black former athlete from Florida. Coppom is an unpretentious, white Irish Catholic great-grandmother from a small town in eastern Colorado.

Yet they “hit it off” as friends this year, Coppom said.

Why Deion Sanders and Peggy Coppom share a bond

In her case, Sanders and the joy he’s brought back to Colorado football have helped relieve some of the sorrow she’s felt after losing her identical twin sister and fellow Buffs superfan, Betty Hoover, who died in 2020.

In Sanders’ case, Coppom has served as a model of a life well-lived and well-loved.

USA TODAY Sports spoke to both about their connection, perhaps the sweetest footnote in a season that became the biggest story in sports with a 3-0 start in September before the Buffs finished 4-8.

“Peggy is unbelievable, man,” Sanders told USA TODAY Sports this month. “She’s a pillar of stability. She’s a pillar of love, a pillar of hope, of consistency, legacy. And she’s so dear.”

Why Deion Sanders admires Peggy

Their first meeting came in January, when Colorado athletic director Rick George brought Sanders over to meet Coppom, who had attended more than 3,000 CU games with her sister in multiple sports dating to around 1940.

Sanders then invited her to make the ceremonial opening kickoff at his team’s spring game in April. He also has included her in similar public moments like this, for a reason.

“She don’t have bad days; I don’t have bad days," he said. “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 said Sanders is right about that to a point. She’s energetic and an eternal optimist, much like him.

But she does miss her sister.

'Do I cry occasionally? Yes.'

Betty Hoover, her twin, died at age 95 after battling pancreatic cancer. In 2021, the university dedicated twin trees and a plaque on campus in honor of “The Twins” − who shared a passion for CU sports, especially after their husbands died decades ago.

Coppom said she still talks to her sister in spirit.

“I keep telling Betty, 'Help me through this, Betty. I wish you were here, you know?' " Coppom said. “Because we were very close.”

She still feels the sadness of her absence but explains why she gives the impression she’s never had a “bad day,” as Sanders says. It comes from her parents -- her father, a former meatcutter, and her mother, who worked in clothing stores in Colorado.

 “I don’t know what you mean by a bad day,” she said. “If you mean, 'Do I cry occasionally?' Yes, I do cry occasionally, but my parents brought us up to make the best of things, and I never ever heard my parents complain about anything. So yes, I try to be upbeat all the time.…

“I try to be optimistic, but I’m realistic about life, too. I know there’s suffering and sadness and all that. You have to accept it, but you don’t accept it with being a burden to others or to yourself.

"Actually, when you don’t rise above some of those things with a smile eventually, then you’re hurting yourself and those around you. So you’ve got to overcome those things and carry on.”

The Colorado football team’s improvement in 2023 helped in that regard. Sanders’ personality and fame elevated the program instantly and took Coppom along for the ride after the Buffs finished 1-11 in 2022.

This all helped her “in the sense that it’s given her something else to think about” besides the death of her sister, Coppom’s son, Dail, said. The attention is a boost to her too, he said, because “she likes people.” She’s still a little blown away by it all.

'Why is this happening to me?'

Before Sanders arrived, Coppom and her sister were locally famous twins known for dressing the same and supporting CU sports. Since Sanders arrived, Coppom has gone viral through her relationship with him, such as when she was shown on video introducing the team’s theme song after a win against Nebraska Sept. 9.

“Give me my theme music!” she said, after being coached by Sanders to say that. The song “Halftime” by the Ying Yang Twins then blared from the Colorado locker room on cue.  A video of the moment was liked more than 110,000 times on Colorado football’s Instagram account.

By the way, does she like that song?

“It’s all right with me,” she said. “They asked me what kind of music I like. I like the big-band music of the ‘40s. That isn’t what they wanted."

Coppom, who attended CU one year as a student during World War II, also has been featured on ESPN this year and now can be seen in Season 2 of “Coach Prime” on Amazon Prime Video. Near the end of the football season, she even picked up the phone to find out she was wanted to appear in a photo shoot that would grace the cover of Sports Illustrated.

“Are you sure?” Coppom replied.

They were.

“She always comments to me that 'I can’t believe how this has all happened,' and 'Why is this happening to me?' " her son, Dail, said. “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.' "

Peggy considers Deion Sanders a good friend

Sanders singled her out again at a ceremony on campus this month in recognition of being named Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsperson of the Year.”

“We’re gonna get Peggy to a bowl game next year,” he told the crowd.

“Oh yes, he said that,” she said by phone to a reporter afterward. “Maybe that’s partly because of my age. I don’t know why. But anyway, I’ll just bring it into kind of lay terms: We hit it off I guess as far as liking each other and being friends. And I consider him a good friend now.

“And he cares about his family,” she said. “He takes care of his family, and I like the fact he’s not reluctant to express his faith in God, and all those things. You have a few things in common when you have friendships.

“Thank you for calling me. I don’t know why you’re interested in what I think, but that’s what I think. Thank you and God bless you. Bye.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: [email protected]