Former Oklahoma and Dallas Cowboys coach Barry Switzer has been added to the list of speakers for the Eddie Crowder memorial service Saturday at Folsom Field, Colorado associate athletic director Dave Plati said today.
The memorial service is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. and is open to the public, with free parking around the stadium. It will be held at the east side club rooms. To access the club level, take the elevators between Gates 8 and 9.
Crowder coached Colorado football for 11 seasons, beginning in 1963, returning the program to national prominence with five bowl games and a No. 3 final ranking in the 1971 national polls. He served as the school’s athletic director from 1965-1984. Crowder died Tuesday night at age 77 of complications of leukemia.
Other speakers scheduled for the memorial service include former Colorado coach Bill McCartney, former CU All-American Bobby Anderson, former CU regent Jerry Rutledge and former Oklahoma broadcaster Lee Allan Smith. Eddie’s daughter, Carol Jean, is scheduled to deliver the eulogy.
As a player, Crowder played on Oklahoma’s first national championship team (1950) and earned all-conference honors as the Sooners’ starting quarterback in 1951 and 1952. He led Muskogee (Okla.) High to a state championship in 1948.
“Eddie and I became great friends after both of us got out of coaching, with him being part of the Oklahoma family,” Switzer told The Post on Wednesday. “I’ve always thought that if anybody could carry himself anywhere near what Coach (Bud) Wilkinson was, it was Eddie Crowder. He was part of the great Oklahoma football tradition as one of Bud’s great players.
“But it was more about Eddie’s demeanor. Anyone who knew Eddie knew that he was highly intelligent and carried himself with great dignity. Every time I was with Eddie, I left with something. I took away something from every one of our conversations.”
Crowder was inducted into the CU athletic hall of fame in 2004 and also is a member of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, which honors the state’s athletic legends.
Plati said Crowder will be honored for the remainder of the 2008 football season with his name painted on the Folsom Field playing field. A moment of silence will be requested prior to CU’s next home game, Thursday night against West Virginia, and a video tribute to Crowder will be shown, Plati said.
