BOULDER — Eddie Crowder, the original Okie from Muskogee who guided the University of Colorado football program to the national stage and spent nearly half a century at the school as a coach, athletic director and friend, was mourned Wednesday by the extended CU family.
“The last thing he said to me was, “You’re the right guy (for Colorado),” said Buffs coach Dan Hawkins, who visited Crowder hours before he died late Tuesday at age 77 from complications of leukemia. “That means a lot.”
Crowder channeled the lessons he absorbed from his Oklahoma coach and mentor, Bud Wilkinson, for whom he played quarterback, to Hawkins and scores of CU players and coaches for the past 45 years.
“It was so awesome sitting down with Coach Crowder and he’d say: ‘Bud would have done this. Bud would have done that,’ ” Hawkins said.
Added former CU coach Bill McCartney, whom Crowder hired in 1982: “Eddie was a really bright guy. What he learned at Oklahoma as a player and coach served as a springboard for him. Wilkinson is the last guy who won 47 straight games, and that is who Eddie patterned himself after. Eddie would say: ‘You tell them how to do it, and tell them a thousand more times. That’s how men learn.’ ”
Crowder compiled a record of 67-49-2 in 11 seasons as CU coach, starting in 1963. He also served as athletic director from 1965-1984. His best team was the 1971 squad that won games at LSU and at Ohio State on the way to going 10-2 and finished No. 3 in the nation behind Big Eight powers Nebraska and Oklahoma.
Wide receiver Cliff Branch provided some of the most electrifying plays in school history for that team. He recalled Wednesday how Crowder convinced him to come to Boulder from Houston.
“He opened his heart to me,” Branch said. “He said this is a great university, we don’t have racial problems. Guys can date whoever they want. He was a straight shooter. Coming from Texas and the segregated South, that was an influential statement.”
Young, smart and motivated
Crowder was 31 when he was hired as head coach in 1963 for $15,000 and asked to revive a moribund program.
Like Hawkins, Crowder started his CU career with a two-win season. By the time he stepped down, he had taken the program to national prominence, produced some 50 NFL draft picks and mentored a score of pro and college coaches, most notably Jim Mora and Don James.
He beat the legends: Alabama’s Bear Bryant, Penn State’s Joe Paterno, Nebraska’s Bob Devaney, LSU’s Charles McClendon and Missouri’s Dan Devine, among others.
“He didn’t beat all the teams all the time. But he beat all of the great ones at one time or another,” said Bobby Anderson, a 1969 CU All-America tailback.
Coming off a loss at Penn State in 1969, Crowder moved quarterback Anderson, a local high school legend in his own right, to tailback, where the starter went down with an injury. The next Saturday, against Indiana, Anderson lined up at quarterback in warm-ups, then shifted to tailback.
“It was all about team back then,” Anderson recalled Wednesday. “You didn’t cherish one position.”
Huge upset in the Bayou
In 1971, at No. 6 LSU, a sophomore-dominated group stunned the home team.
“That win was one of the two greatest in my life, including baseball,” said John Stearns, a former Buffs all-Big Eight safety. “We didn’t know how good we were. It was the most electric locker room I’ve ever been in. Eddie didn’t even talk. There were 80 guys yelling and screaming.”
Then there was the 20-14 shocker over No. 2 Oklahoma in 1972, in what was then a rare nationally televised game.
“You usually held off the big speech until later in the week, but that Tuesday, Eddie spoke to the team and one player could not control himself,” Stearns said. “He just stood up, yelling and screaming. Eddie got you mentally ready to play.”
CU’s ascent later in Crowder’s coaching career had much to do with recruiting African-American talent to Boulder at a time when the SEC and former Southwest Conference were still shunning the black athlete.
“It didn’t take long to turn it around, because he did one of the best recruiting jobs in Texas and Louisiana,” former football assistant Irv Brown said.
Mac makes up for Chuck
As AD, Crowder had arguably the greatest make-up call ever, after a disastrous choice of Chuck Fairbanks, to his selection of McCartney, who led the Buffs to a 1990 national championship. During the Fairbanks era in which that coach overspent his budget, Crowder had to ax baseball, wrestling, swimming and gymnastics.
His best hires were the relative unknowns he chose. He interviewed McCartney, then the Michigan defensive coordinator, on the recommendation of Bo Schembechler. He picked Ceal Barry, one of two remaining CU staffers from the Crowder era, from Cincinnati as women’s basketball coach.
After retiring as athletic director, Crowder had a number of business ventures, was marketing director for The International golf tournament and helped bring the Final Four to Denver in 1990. He never stopped coming to CU events or supporting the university.
He is survived by his wife of 19 years, the former Kate Alexander, along with two children, two stepchildren and three grandchildren.
“What a blessing he was to all of us,” said his widow. “The pain of my loss is overcome with joy of having had 20 fabulous years with a man who adored me and whom I adored even more.”
Denver Post staff writer Tom Kensler contributed to this article.
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
Crowder memorial
The memorial service for Eddie Crowder will be 2 p.m. Saturday in the east side club rooms of Folsom Field. It is open to the public.
What they’re saying
Reaction to the death of Eddie Crowder:
“He really took me in. There were times when I called him and we’d get together. There were times when he would just come by. He always had a keen sense of when I needed a little support. . . . He was one of those great, kind, gentle winds that blow through your life.” – Dan Hawkins, who did not know Crowder before becoming CU’s football coach
“He’s one of those guys that, when he walked into a room, everyone looks. I saw Coach Crowder about a year ago at a YMCA opening. You think, ‘He’s working out at 7 o’clock in the morning, the guy is going to live forever.’ Unfortunately, God had other plans.” – George Hypolite, CU defensive tackle
“He told us about a story about being in little league football. They were doing a tackling drill. There was one kid who was bigger than everybody else and was running over all the tacklers. It was Coach Crowder’s turn and the coach said, ‘All you’ve got to do is stick your face in his sternum and wrap your arms around him and lift.’ Coach Crowder told us, ‘That’s what I did, and I put the kid on his back.’ ” – Ryan Walters, CU safety
“(Crowder) quit coaching too soon. He was a great coach, but he was also the athletic director, and he decided he couldn’t do two jobs. He was a great administrator, but that’s not where his heart was.” – Jack Mills, sports agent, longtime friend
“Eddie and I became great friends after both of us got out of coaching. . . . I’ve always thought that if anybody could carry himself anywhere near what Coach (Bud) Wilkinson was, it was Eddie Crowder.” – Barry Switzer,
former Oklahoma coach
“One of my favorites that we always talked about was J.C. Watts. We talked a lot about life and football.” – CU assistant coach Darian Hagan, former Buffs option QB
“I’m indebted to him being patient and believing in me when there was little evidence of a turnaround.” – Bill McCartney,
CU football coach from 1982-94 who started out 7-25-1 before turning the program around
“He had intellectual capacity and wide-ranging talents beyond football.” – Chuck Neinas, longtime friend and former Big Eight commissioner
