• Former Sooner quarterback,

Colorado coach passes away

Staff & Wire Reports

Eddie Crowder, who helped lead Oklahoma to its first national championship and spent nearly 50 years as athletic director and mentor to generations of players, coaches and administrators at Colorado, died Tuesday night from complications of leukemia. He was 77.

Crowder, who played quarterback, running back and safety at OU under Bud Wilkinson from 1950-52, was a member of the Sooners’ national championship team in 1950.

He spent 11 seasons, 1963-73, at Colorado and went 67-49-2.

“He was one heckuva quarterback and an excellent leader,” former teammate J.D. Roberts said. “Eddie was so confident. We knew that when he called a play, it was the only play to run. He had an excellent grasp of the game.”

His leadership is the one thing former teammates praised over and over upon learning his death.

“Everybody liked Eddie,” said Claude Arnold, who was the quarterback of the 1950 squad. “He was a great player and a great leader, and all of the players from that era, Billy Vessels, Buck McPhail and all the rest, thought so much of Eddie. He just had such a dynamic personality and was so much fun to be around. I can’t say enough good things about him.”

Crowder’s grasp of the game was evident. He spent seven seasons as an assistant under Wilkinson at OU before becoming Colorado’s head coach in 1963. He spent 11 seasons as head coach. He was named the school’s athletic director in 1965 and remained in that position until stepping down in 1977.

Current Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn said the school lost “a tremendous leader, coach, mentor and friend.”

“He always seemed to be there at the right time and the right place with the right message whether it was for (current football coach) Dan Hawkins or myself,” Bohn said. “He was the foundation of our program. It’s a tough day for us all.”

Crowder, who had beaten cancer several years ago, died with his family by his side at Exampla Health Center in Lafayette after checking into the hospital Monday with respiratory problems, the university said.

Funeral plans were pending and the school was working on recognition programs for Crowder at the team’s next home game, Sept. 18 against West Virginia.

A memorial is planned on campus this weekend.