“I was bawling down there,” Pagano told me Wednesday, not long after the last chords of the public memorial service to honor the late, great CU icon Bill McCartney had faded into the Events Center rafters.
“I had no idea they were going to honor me. I was just like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ I couldn’t even … and then I’m like, ‘I have to stand up?’ I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m bawling.’”
Dry eyes proved mighty hard to come by. Mark Johnson, the voice of the Buffs, remembered Mac as a life coach and mentor. Alvin Simpkins, Raleigh Washington and Jonathan Bernis remembered a brother in Faith. Mike, Tom and Marc McCartney remembered a demanding father with love like an eight-lane highway — room enough for everybody. Derek McCartney, Mac’s grandson, stood on a chair to simulate the giant that helped to shape his youth. Mike Jones, Jon Embree, Rick George and Chris Hudson recalled, often with hilarity, the high standards of working for, and with, a national championship coach.
Yet Peaches, despite not having a turn on stage, was one of the unspoken stars of the day.
Coach Mac, the giant who put CU football on the map, passed away on Jan. 10 at age 84 after a battle with dementia. For the last seven years or so, through good days and bad, Jenny “Peach” Pagano was his caregiver. A buffer. A protector. A steward. A confidant. A friend to the very end.
“What Peach did for our dad,” Tom McCartney told the assembled. “Thank you. I love you. I appreciate that.”
Michael Westbrook, left, puts his arm around Peggy Coppom, right, before the start of a memorial for former CU football coach Bill McCartney at the CU Events Center on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)
Wednesday was a Who’s Who of CU. Former Buffs filled Section 21. The current CU roster took up a good chunk of Section 23, with coach Deion Sanders and defensive coordinator Robert Livingston right at the front, nestled against the aisle.
