Longtime University of Alabama football referee still helping the Tide roll at age 97

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Eddie Conyers stands for a portrait on the University of Alabama football practice field in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Conyers, 97, was a referee for the team during practices for more than 60 years. (Russell Lewis | NPR)TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama’s football practice field is hidden from public view behind a shrouded security fence on the edge of the leafy campus. Both coaches helped build the storied success of the Alabama football program. But his passion has always been the side gig as a football practice ref. Eddie Conyers, at age 97, has stopped officiating at the University of Alabama.