Deion Sanders Accepts 2023 Sportsperson Of The Year Award

Sports Illustrated

The Colorado football community honored coach Deion Sanders on Wednesday night after the influential first-year coach was named Sports Illustrated’s 2023 Sportsperson of the Year.

Transcript

00:00 Sports Illustrated, Amazon Prime Video,

00:03 thank you both for your incredible partnership

00:08 and the celebration tonight of Coach Prime

00:10 and his football program.

00:11 Let's give them a round of applause.

00:14 I also want to acknowledge our Chancellor and his wife,

00:18 Yvonne, sitting over there,

00:20 our President, Todd Solomon, and Michelle over there,

00:24 our Board of Regents are right over there as well.

00:27 We couldn't do it without their support.

00:30 (audience applauding)

00:31 So thank you very much.

00:33 It was almost exactly one year ago

00:36 when I hired Coach Prime.

00:38 (audience cheering)

00:39 Yep, that deserves applause.

00:41 Boy, was I lucky, right?

00:44 Anyway, I knew we were getting an incredible individual,

00:49 an incredible person, not to mention, in my opinion,

00:54 one of the best head football coaches in this country.

00:58 (audience cheering)

01:01 Since his arrival, he has transcended football

01:07 and his impact on our campus and our community

01:12 is unparalleled.

01:14 No one in the country has generated as much excitement

01:19 for a program that Coach Prime has done

01:21 and his leadership in leading our football team.

01:24 Coach, thank you for that.

01:26 (audience cheering)

01:29 The excitement around our program is the envy of the nation

01:33 and this is where Colorado should always be.

01:37 And because of Coach, that envy is out there

01:41 and the best part of that is we're just getting started.

01:45 (audience cheering)

01:47 We are just getting started.

01:50 So congratulations, Coach Prime,

01:52 on the Sportsperson of the Year honor

01:55 and for the launch of season two of Coach Prime.

01:59 I can't wait to see that,

02:00 even though I think I've seen a little bit of it.

02:03 But I join our Buff fans in our pride

02:06 for what you've accomplished here in just one year,

02:10 an excitement for an incredible future ahead.

02:13 So looking forward to the future.

02:15 Thank all of you for being here tonight.

02:17 Now I'd like to introduce

02:19 one of the best improv comedians in the world,

02:23 Karen Hammerberg, who's the lead creative executive

02:27 at Prime Video.

02:29 (upbeat music)

02:31 - Hi, that's true.

02:38 I did used to do improv

02:41 at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater

02:42 and I would tour colleges.

02:44 So that's a little about me.

02:47 Hi, I'm Karen.

02:49 I'm from Amazon Prime Video.

02:52 Like a couple of folks in the room tonight,

02:55 we did come with Coach from Jackson State to Colorado.

03:00 I don't know if we are considered Louie,

03:03 but we do ship in a day.

03:05 So we've got that going for us.

03:08 But we're here because we believe.

03:11 (audience cheering)

03:15 Yeah, we believe.

03:19 We believe in what you all are doing

03:21 both on and off the football field here in Colorado.

03:25 And we also believe that people cannot stop talking

03:30 about what you are doing on and off the football field

03:33 here in Colorado.

03:34 Which I am so excited for you all to see the documentary.

03:41 It really shows the heart behind all of those headlines.

03:46 Tonight we are gonna watch episodes two and three.

03:50 And before I introduce the next speaker,

03:52 I just have a couple of quick thank yous.

03:55 Constance and Anthony at Smack

03:58 and Danny and Jose and Sam,

04:00 all of you are so wonderful, thank you.

04:02 Jamie, Micah, Lenka, all of your hard work

04:10 and your crew, all of the crew that's been here all season,

04:13 thank you.

04:15 Obviously, thank you to Coach Prime.

04:18 Thank you to the coaching staff.

04:20 Thank you to the athletic director.

04:23 Thank you to the support staff.

04:25 Thank you to the players.

04:27 And thank you to all of you, the Colorado fans.

04:30 You let us into your meeting room, your locker room.

04:34 You let us into your hospital room.

04:36 You let us into your homes.

04:37 You let us on to this campus.

04:40 And I really am so excited for the world to see this story.

04:45 And I think this documentary does such a great job

04:48 encapsulating chapter one of what Coach Prime

04:52 is doing here in Colorado.

04:53 And now it is my genuine honor to introduce you

05:02 to the CEO of Sports Illustrated, Ross Levinson.

05:05 - Let me see if I got some students here.

05:07 Sko?

05:08 Sko?

05:13 (audience laughing)

05:16 That's pretty good.

05:17 Thank you all.

05:19 First of all, thank you to the Chancellor,

05:22 the President, Todd, Rick George,

05:25 the entire University of Colorado team.

05:27 You've been amazing, so welcoming.

05:29 This is such a fantastic place.

05:31 I wanna thank the SI team that's here,

05:34 our Editor-in-Chief, Steve Cannella,

05:36 who along with the staff, chose Coach Prime

05:39 for this incredible honor.

05:41 Chris Perone, our GM, Hillary Dresner,

05:43 who made tonight happen.

05:45 A huge thank you to Amazon for everything they do,

05:50 everything they ship to my house.

05:52 It's incredible.

05:54 But the programming you're doing is fantastic

05:57 and we couldn't have a better partner for tonight.

05:59 This is personal for me, I'll get to that in a second.

06:04 And we have so much to celebrate tonight

06:08 about the coach and everything he's doing.

06:11 We could celebrate who he became

06:16 during his childhood in Florida.

06:18 He made the All Century team

06:21 in the state of Florida in high school.

06:24 Quite an honor.

06:25 (audience applauding)

06:28 We could celebrate what he did at Florida State.

06:35 We're happier with what he's doing here.

06:37 But we could celebrate that 'cause he was incredible.

06:40 We certainly could celebrate the greatest cornerback

06:44 in the history of professional football.

06:47 (audience applauding)

06:50 As I said to him a few minutes ago,

06:54 as a New York Giant fan, it was really painful.

06:57 We could celebrate that he is the greatest

07:01 two-sport athlete of all time

07:04 with a little hat tip to Bo Jackson.

07:08 We could celebrate that he is the only person

07:14 in the history of pro sports to play in a Super Bowl

07:19 and a World Series in the same year.

07:22 (audience applauding)

07:25 And we could celebrate the man he became coaching

07:32 in high school, worked his way up

07:33 from the very bottom, high school football,

07:36 and he helped start a program, which is incredible.

07:39 We could celebrate his work at Jackson State.

07:42 But I wanna talk about the Buffs.

07:45 (audience applauding)

07:49 Now, I said this is personal for me.

07:52 I have a daughter here who's a junior

07:54 in the front row here, Skyler.

07:56 So, and Skyler and a few people have started

08:02 an Instagram account called SI University Buffs.

08:06 Please go there and follow it.

08:08 We follow all the teams.

08:10 And I've been coming here for three years

08:14 watching this program, so it was two very long years

08:17 and one absolutely incredible year.

08:23 And what we wanna celebrate is not Deion the coach.

08:28 We wanna celebrate Deion the man,

08:30 and that's why we're here.

08:32 (audience applauding)

08:36 We wanna celebrate Deion the mentor.

08:40 We wanna celebrate Deion the change agent.

08:44 We wanna celebrate Deion the family man,

08:48 the father, the son.

08:51 That's why we're here.

08:54 We wanna celebrate what he has done for this program,

08:57 what he has done for the players,

09:00 what he has done for this community,

09:03 what he has done for this school

09:05 and the change in the landscape of this school,

09:08 what he has done to change college football.

09:12 Full stop.

09:14 What he does for those around him,

09:20 for this community, for his family, and for all of you.

09:24 That is why Sports Illustrated has chosen him

09:28 as Sportsperson of the Year.

09:29 It is our biggest honor each year.

09:32 The greatest teams and the greatest athletes

09:35 in the history of sport have been chosen for this award,

09:39 and there isn't a more deserving person than Coach Prime,

09:43 and I couldn't be more excited to be here.

09:45 And this is his seventh time

09:48 on the cover of Sports Illustrated,

09:50 and certainly the most rewarding.

09:52 And with that, I'd like to celebrate

09:54 and congratulate Coach Prime.

09:56 Come on up here.

09:57 We've got a little trophy for you.

09:59 (upbeat music)

10:02 - Look here, look here, Joe.

10:26 I don't wanna take too much of your time,

10:28 but like I told you when I got here,

10:33 I told you we was coming.

10:35 Okay?

10:37 Lot of folks thought we was tripping,

10:39 but I told you we meant business.

10:42 And that's straight off the cuff.

10:46 Look here.

10:47 Lot of people couldn't see.

10:50 Lot of people did not know what we was going to achieve,

10:56 but I told you, you had to believe.

10:59 Now, I need you to follow me.

11:02 Let me hear you say, "I."

11:04 - I.

11:05 - Believe.

11:06 - I.

11:07 - I.

11:08 - Believe.

11:09 - Believe.

11:10 - I believe.

11:11 - I believe.

11:12 - I.

11:13 - I.

11:14 - Believe.

11:15 - Believe.

11:15 (upbeat music)

11:25 ♪ You won't get me ♪

11:28 ♪ Tell 'em why they don't know ♪

11:30 ♪ Tell 'em why they better go ♪

11:34 - Thank you, thank you, thank you.

11:37 Thank you, thank you.

11:39 You guys tried to make me cry.

11:41 'Cause this is the kind of a moment that I dreamt of,

11:47 I prayed of.

11:49 Thanks, Prime Video.

11:50 This is unbelievable.

11:51 Sports Illustrated, you are undarned believable.

11:54 All the dignitaries here, our president, our chancellor,

11:58 Rick, everybody, and they mama, the board of regents,

12:02 everybody over there, I thank you

12:03 for this tremendous opportunity.

12:06 This is undarned believable to me.

12:10 As I look upon you, I don't see white,

12:13 I don't see black, I don't see Hispanic,

12:16 I don't see Asian, I don't see rich, I don't see poor.

12:19 I don't see Christian, I don't see not.

12:21 I see Buffs.

12:24 (audience cheering)

12:27 And you have been the best set of fans

12:33 that I have ever experienced in my entire life.

12:36 (audience cheering)

12:39 From day one, when Rick George, my dear friend,

12:46 brought me here, you were there.

12:51 For the spring game, you sold us out, you were there.

12:55 For the first game, home game, until the last one,

13:00 you sold it out, you were there.

13:02 So my expectation of you from here on,

13:09 that you're gonna be there.

13:13 Rick, I don't know when these spring game tickets go on,

13:17 but I'm pretty sure they're gonna sell it out

13:19 because I believe that they're gonna be there.

13:23 To all the team, I thank you, you are wonderful.

13:27 I cannot wait till they get the chance to see you up close.

13:30 I know we are intrusive and invasive with the cameras

13:33 all over campus and some things that we're doing.

13:36 I just heard the rumor, I had just heard this

13:37 for the first time, that they say you could tell

13:39 where I am because you'll see all the cameras on campus.

13:43 That's the first time I heard that.

13:44 And I'm thankful, Constance, Mike, Sam,

13:48 the whole team, Jose, the whole Smack family, thank you.

13:51 My crazy sons, all three of you guys, I thank you as well.

13:57 (audience cheering)

13:59 Team, everybody's a part of the team,

14:01 will you stand up please?

14:03 Stand up, everybody's part of the team.

14:06 (audience cheering)

14:16 Coaches, as well as administrators,

14:19 I wanna thank you because regardless of the wins,

14:23 regardless of the losses, you never gave up

14:27 and that is so admirable.

14:29 And the one who never gives up,

14:31 and she told me something that was so vital

14:33 that changed my life, she said,

14:34 regardless of whatever the score is,

14:36 she would not leave until the last second

14:38 ticks off the clock.

14:39 And that's the finest, most beautiful,

14:41 most sexiest woman in this house, and that's Peggy.

14:45 (audience cheering)

14:48 It is my challenge to all you Buffs fans,

15:07 it's my challenge to that whole entire team,

15:10 it's my challenge to the coaching staff,

15:12 it's my challenge to the support staff,

15:15 Amazon Prime, Prime Video, it's my challenge

15:17 to Sports Illustrated that we're gonna get Peggy

15:21 to a bowl game next season.

15:23 (audience cheering)

15:26 But we're gonna need you to do it.

15:30 Thank you, Sports Illustrated, I had no idea

15:32 this was the seventh cover, I thank you.

15:34 Let's make it eight.

15:35 Next season, let's make it eight.

15:39 I appreciate you, all the media from around

15:42 and through and near and far, I thank you,

15:44 you've been kind, you've been pleasant,

15:46 you haven't been ignorant, a couple of y'all have,

15:48 but you know, I understand.

15:50 But the rest of y'all, we good, we good.

15:53 I appreciate you all.

15:57 We love you back, I love you back, I love you back.

15:59 These videos, I cannot wait 'til you see it,

16:02 it helps us recruit, it helps us,

16:05 these guys get the followers, and these guys

16:07 get the notoriety and the love and the support they need.

16:09 I cannot wait 'til you see what we assemble.

16:12 I wish we could do this for our wonderful team,

16:16 I would be remiss if I didn't say nothing

16:18 about our wonderful basketball teams.

16:20 (audience cheering)

16:22 Our men and women's basketball team that plays right here

16:26 are unbelievable, I thank you, I thank them.

16:29 They are crazy, please come out and support them

16:32 because they are strictly awesome.

16:35 Please support them, and maybe we need to do

16:39 our own documentary about the basketball team,

16:42 the women's and men's.

16:43 Bucky, you with that?

16:44 Can you pull that off, son?

16:46 Got you, hey, God bless you.

16:49 My man, I appreciate you, I really do, I appreciate you.

16:52 Let's get this on, 'cause I can't wait to see this myself.

16:55 (audience cheering)

16:58 (audience laughing)

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