Colorado’s resurgent football season hit a new high mark in Week 12, and not because of the Buffaloes’ 49-24 win over Utah.
Peggy Coppom, the pom-pom waving Colorado super fan known to just about everyone in Boulder, turned 100 at an emotional pregame ceremony on ESPN’s College Game Day. The centenarian has missed just three Buffaloes home games since 1966, and this year, head coach Deion Sanders has dedicated the Buffaloes’ season to bringing ‘Miss Peggy’ to a bowl game.
The festivities ultimately proved overwhelming. Coppom began to cry after being presented with a beautiful Buffaloes-themed cake as the ESPN crew, ex-Colorado quarterback Kordell Stewart and thousands of fans began serenading her with ‘Happy Birthday.’
‘I haven’t even comprehended it yet, but I cried,’ Miss Peggy told reporters afterwards, as quoted by Fox News. ‘I just thank God for my life and for all the friends and for everything that’s happened to me.’
Even viewers got caught up in the emotion of the moment.
Coppom began to cry after being presented with a Buffaloes-themed cake
Head coach Deion Sanders of the Colorado Buffaloes stands with then-98-years-old fan Peggy Coppom in 2022. On Tuesday, Coppom turned 100 years old in Boulder
‘This makes me cry,’ one fan wrote on X.
Others were quickly charmed by Coppom.
‘She is so cute,’ one woman wrote of Coppom, who is frequently seen in a 90s-era Colorado Starter jacket. ‘Warmed my heart when they started singing.’
‘She’s a Colorado legend,’ another fan remarked. ‘God bless this amazing woman and her passion & heart is beyond special.’
Of course, the day was tainted slightly by the absence of Coppom’s twin sister, Betty Hoover, who passed away in 2020 due to an illness.
‘I just wish my twin sister were here,’ Coppom said. ‘It all started because we were twins. I can’t deny that we’ve been loyal fans, but I said to get all this attention for just having a good time is unbelievable.’
As always, Coach Prime had nothing but praise for Coppom.
‘It’s amazing that God would find two people from two different walks of life, two different generations and bring them together as He has,’ Sanders of his relationship with the Buffs’ biggest fan.
Fans and non-fans alike got caught up in the spirit of the moment as Coppom turned 100
Colorado Buffaloes super fan Miss Peggy Coppom celebrates her 100th birthday with the Colorado Buffaloes women’s basketball team on Tuesday
Twins Peggy Coppom, left, and Betty Hoover cheer on the Buffs years earler
Peggy Coppom, left, and her sister Betty Hoover are seen praying in church in 2005
‘She’s always greeted me with love, compassion, support, stability and hope,’ he said. ‘I’m thankful to know her, I’m thankful she can get to me any time she desires to and I’m thankful to be celebrating her 100th with her.
‘She is the epitome of CU Buffs. She’s the epitome of Buff nation. She is the rock that holds us all together, and I’m thankful to know her. I really am.’
Sanders even hopes to launch an apparel line in her honor, which Coppom certainly appreciates.
‘He’s given our whole community and the university all this attention,’ Coppom said. ‘This is all unbelievable. So that’s what he is, kind of unbelievable.’
Coppom did attend Colorado, but stayed only a year before marrying an Air Force pilot and starting a family. Perhaps not coincidentally, her sister also married an Air Force pilot.
The 8-2 Buffs are at Kansas on Saturday. The Jayhawks are coming off an upset of undefeated sixth-ranked BYU.
