BOULDER — It was an idyllic football afternoon at Folsom Field, not unlike those Saturdays more than 35 years ago when Eddie Crowder’s Colorado Buffaloes toppled the unsuspecting ranks of Penn State and Oklahoma.
On this day there was no band, no Ralphie, no crowd roar, no football. The flags on either side of the stadium were at half-staff.
As Crowder’s dearest friend and former CU Regent Jerry Rutledge eulogized, “This is the house that Eddie built.”
Crowder was always known to all as “Eddie.” That’s why Saturday’s memorial service for the former CU coach (1963-73) and athletic director (1965-84) who died Tuesday at age 77 was called “A Celebration of Eddie’s Life” on the official program.
Nearly 1,000 former Buffs, friends, family, colleagues and current CU staffers paid tribute to Crowder.
Many noted it was just like the athletic director to schedule a bye week for the day. Ex-players swapped war stories. Most are successful businessmen. John Stavely, a former defensive back who introduced each speaker, is a Boulder County judge.
A charter flight of Crowder’s Oklahoma friends, including former Sooners coach Barry Switzer, was unable to make the trip because of Hurricane Ike. Former Crowder assistant Steve Erhardt, the current Liberty Bowl director, pinch hit for Switzer.
Crowder was an All-American quarterback and assistant coach for the Sooners before he was hired at CU. “Boomer Sooner” played over the stadium before the service concluded, along with CU’s fight song. An OU flag joined the others at half-staff.
Erhardt gave his rousing rendition of the original Bill Belichick spygate, when Crowder discovered a former Oklahoma player enrolled in CU’s Law School scouting practice the week of the 1972 Oklahoma game. Crowder had Erhardt, who himself was a lawyer, research the state statutes and wanted the Oklahoma coach, athletic director and president arrested when they arrived in Colorado on charges of industrial espionage.
“But he knew if they were arrested, they would have the motivation,” Erhardt said. Crowder used it as motivation for his own team, which won 20-14.
McCartney gave his eulogy on the patience Crowder showed. Between the Chuck Fairbanks regime and McCartney’s first three seasons, “we had won 14 games in six years, dead last in all of college football,” McCartney said. “We had to die to get better. Coach was patient with me. He had faith.”
Two of the most prominent ex-Buffs, All-Americans Bobby and Dick Anderson, brought their 90-year-old mother Mariette Anderson.
She recalled how Crowder insisted she and her husband take the team plane home after the Liberty Bowl. While players received rings, Mariette Anderson said Crowder made sure she received a charm as a bowl souvenir from Bobby’s MVP performance.
Crowder’s widow, Kate, told the gathering, “If it weren’t for Eddie I wouldn’t have known you.”
She recalled a saying posted on the desk of her husband’s late son, Robert: “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”
Bobby Anderson had perhaps the most stirring eulogy remark. Crowder accompanied him to New York two years ago when Anderson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Seated next to Ohio State’s Archie Griffin, Anderson ribbed the former Buckeye about how his college coach defeated Woody Hayes and Ohio State. “I pointed in the balcony, ‘That’s the guy who beat Woody Hayes.’ ”
Pointing this time to the blue Colorado sky, Anderson said, “See that guy up there? We love you, Coach.”
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
