Oh, how time flies. It’s been 10 years since Eddie Conyers had a strong feeling that his days were over.
Today at age 91, the University of Alabama football practice official is alive and well, looking back on his 57 years with the football team while each day eagerly reporting to practice at the university football facility.
Conyers remembers the moment like it was yesterday.
The year was 2009, and during a grueling practice, Alabama football coach Nick Saban had ordered up some two-minute drills.
With footballs and bodies flying every which way, then-quarterback Greg McElroy found himself slamming into yet another body. That body belonged not to a teammate, but rather to the 81-year-old Conyers, who fell backward, slamming his head on the turf. A silence fell over practice as Eddie tried to shake himself awake, only blurry outlines seen from the ground.
As Saban approached the beloved official, Conyers heard the coach say, “Is he dead?”
Saban later recalled the incident and told ESPN, “I thought he was a goner, but you can never, ever question Eddie’s toughness.”
Eddie Conyers is not only tough, but he’s also smart, driven, passionate and funny — and Conyers has now shared stories on the Huts and Nuts podcast of his remarkable run of nearly six decades as a valuable Crimson Tide team member.
Just think about the players he has known: Joe Namath, Ozzie Newsome, John Hannah, Ken Stabler, Leroy Jordan, Derrick Thomas, Mark Ingram, Amari Cooper, Derrick Henry, Tua Tagovailoa and thousands of others. Through the years, Conyers has truly seen it all, including the witnessing of 11 national championships.
And get this: He’s not done yet!
Asked on the podcast how long he may continue working, Eddie quipped, “I’ll go another 10 years and then start thinking about it.”
It all started in the year 1962 — Coach Bear Bryant was looking for someone, anyone, to officiate drills and scrimmages. At the suggestion of a friend, a 34-year-old named Eddie Conyers volunteered.
Conyers’ first meeting with Coach Bryant?
“I was very nervous,” Conyers said, especially considering that he had officiated all of two high school games.
“Coach Bryant mumbled something that I could not understand, but I did the right thing by saying ‘yes sir’ while running onto the practice field,” he reminisced.
The rest, they say, is Alabama football history, as nearly 60 years later, Eddie indeed has colorful stories to tell.
Those stories are funny, entertaining and revealing. Like the time that Conyers quickly turned around to raise a middle finger to quarterback AJ McCarron, only to find that when he raised the finger, it was instead Coach Saban standing inches away.
“I think I may be the only person in the world who has flicked a bird to Nick Saban,” Conyers said. And he might be right!
Oh, Coach Saban, in his gruff but loving way, took to Conyers ever since the coach’s arrival at the Capstone in 2007. In fact, years after working with him, the coach at long last gave Conyers a job review.
Conyers explained, “Coach Saban sat me down and told me that he thought I was the second-best football official in the world. Everyone else was tied for first.”
And what does Conyers think of the coach?
“I’m not going to pick between Coach Bryant and Coach Saban, but I can tell you this: Coach Bryant could take a ‘tweener and coach him up. Coach Saban knows that if you have the best team, you are going to win most of the time. He’s a master recruiter and nobody can outwork him. He’s just a consummate football coach — he enjoys every aspect of it. If you called the Lord and said, ‘Send me a football coach’, he’d be the one knocking on the door.”
How has Conyers kept going for 57 years?
He joked, “Budweiser has had something to do with it.”
These days, while Conyers works hard during the week, he chooses to watch Alabama football games on television, insisting that he would go crazy if he were to watch a game in person. His beautiful wife, Peggy, is always by his side, and he enjoys his two children and three grandchildren.
While Conyers hopes to see the Crimson Tide win another national championship in January, that month will also be special for Eddie and Peggy, as they will celebrate their 73rd wedding anniversary.
He concluded, “We’ve been married so long, we’re on our third bottle of Tobasco.”
Here’s hoping that Eddie Conyers, a legend and a treasure, will keep it going for another decade. His presence among Alabama coaches and players makes the team better, and his love for life makes us better.
They don’t get any better than Eddie Conyers, and for that, my friend, we’re blessed.
Listen to the full interview:
Rick Karle is a 24-time Emmy winning broadcaster and a special sports contributor to Yellowhammer News. He is also the host of the Huts and Nuts podcast.
