NOTE: If you would prefer to listen, click here for an audio version of this blog post. When prompted, click the following: Video 1 Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo 4 Photo 5 Photo 6 Video 2 Photo 7 Photo 8 Video 3
NOTE: Click here for Part 14: Sunday morning – counting down to kickoff and fondly remembering old Mile High Stadium.
If it’s Sunday, it’s time to fill the stadium with orange-and-blue, and 72,825 of us did just that – and, in the grand tradition of Broncos fans for the past half-century, booed the “no-shows” when their number was announced.
The gates opened at noon, so I started walking to the nearest stadium gate around 11:45. There was quite a crowd gathered there. The Broncos had advertised a couple of gifts for those arriving early. The first 25,000 would receive a pack of trading cards honoring the 1977 Broncos, and the first 50,000 would receive a belt buckle bearing the Broncos’ iconic 1977 helmet logo. I was on time to receive both of them. Upon entering the stadium, we also received a free Gameday program, featuring a beautiful fold-out poster honoring the 1977 Broncos’ AFC Championship. (suitable for framing – hmmm, there’s an idea) The programs were a lot thicker in my day, but they weren’t free. At least in this one, I don’t have to wade through so many advertising pages.
If I hadn’t been so tired from the weekend’s activities, not to mention having been up since 4:45 a.m. (save for a brief nap in my car in the parking lot), I would have taken the opportunity to walk around the stadium, check out any areas with Broncos memorabilia, etc. I learned later that there is a Ring of Fame area where some of those 1977 Broncos had gathered, so I missed that. I was disappointed in a couple of things: (1) I had expected the Broncos to make some of those ’77 Broncos available for autograph sessions – that’s what usually occurs at this kind of event, but no such fan access events were announced; and (2) during the two ceremonies, which I’ll detail later in this post, I expected them to introduce the ’77 Broncos present who were not receiving either of the two special recognitions. But they didn’t, so I had to rely on online newspaper accounts, later in the week, to learn just who had been there, and I never did see a full list. I would have liked the opportunity to cheer for Craig Morton, Haven Moses, Tom Jackson, and others from that team, but we weren’t given that opportunity.
So after getting through the gate, I headed for my seat. Another good reason for spending more time on the concourse first would have been to reduce the terrible sunburn I wound up receiving. As I headed for my seat, I learned why it was so cheap! I was on the very top level, in Section 523, Row 15. Getting there entailed a long uphill walk on ramp after ramp, then a long walk up the steps to Row 15, which was about 15 or 20 rows from the very top of the stadium. (Here I am, in my t-shirt that reads, “I may live in Texas, but on Game Day my heart & soul belongs to Broncos.”) It was hot, and the noonday sun was beating down on me. When I texted this news to family, Alison replied by asking, Don’t you have sunscreen? I reminded her that it was always Joanna who reminded me of these things. Without Joanna, I’m obviously helpless and hopeless.
Denver in October, and it was hot as blazes up there in Section 523, Row 15, of Empower Field at Mile High. Hot as blazes! Being at a Broncos game vs. the Raiders had me in heaven, but it felt like hell!
I mentioned two ceremonies honoring the 1977 Broncos, the team I had followed in our first fall in Denver and had seen, in person, win the 1977 AFC Championship Game over the Raiders on New Year’s Day 1978. Again, this is why I decided to make this trip in the first place. I was looking forward to the game, but it was incidental to honoring that 1977 team.
The first ceremony was the pre-game presentation, to Randy Gradishar, middle linebacker for those ’77 AFC champions, of the ring signifying his induction, this past summer, into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. My favorite memory of Gradishar has nothing to do with a Broncos game; it was when he showed up in line, one day in the fall of 1977, at the McDonald’s Restaurant on Colorado Blvd., at lunch time, where I was working as assistant manager. All of us got pretty excited to see this man, who was already a Denver icon, standing just a few feet from us, waiting his turn in line just like another workaday grunt. Click here to view the video I recorded of the ceremony honoring Randy Gradishar.
The second ceremony was the halftime induction of ’77 Broncos Steve Foley, safety, and Riley Odoms, tight end, into the Broncos’ Ring of Fame. Click here to view the video I recorded of that ceremony.
All three of these legendary Broncos made brief remarks, thanking their families, thanking others who had been instrumental in their careers, especially thanking the Denver Broncos’ fans (whom, they all stressed, are “the greatest fans in the world”), and then exhorting the 2024 Broncos to “BEAT THE RAIDERS,” which received the biggest cheer of all, because if there’s anything Broncos fans love, next to cheering for our Broncos, it’s hating the Raiders.
Being present for the recognition of these players was a thrill for me. For almost a half-century, I have bled Bronco Orange-and-Blue, and it all started with these 1977 Broncos. What a thrill to be there on this day!
After halftime, the 2024 Broncos still had a game to win, which they did. Both the offense and defense had gotten off to a slow start in the 1st quarter, when the Raiders took a 10-0 lead. A 2nd-quarter interception by All-Pro cornerback Pat Surtain II, however, had turned the momentum – and the game – completely around. The Raiders were driving for a touchdown that would have given them a commanding 17-0 lead, when Surtain stepped in front of a Gardner Minshew pass at the Broncos’ goal line, intercepted it, and ran it back all the way, 100 yards, for a touchdown that drew the Broncos to within 10-7. After that, you could feel the change on both sides of the ball. On both defense and offense, the Broncos began playing with an energy that we hadn’t seen until then. By halftime, they had moved in front, 13-10.
The 2nd half was all Broncos, as they built a 34-10 lead on 34 unanswered points. The Raiders finally came up with a late touchdown and two-point conversion to make it a 34-18 final score, but the Broncos’ dominance was complete as they brought an eight-game losing streak to the Raiders to a crushing end.
It was a great day at Mile High. I saw a dominant Broncos’ victory – veteran Broncos beat writers called it the Broncos’ best game in many years; and saw our 1977 Denver Broncos honored for turning around a franchise that had never made the playoffs until that season. Over the ensuing 40 years, through the 2015 Super Bowl win over the Panthers, the Broncos would be one of the most wildly successful franchises in the NFL, playing in eight Super Bowls and winning three! And it all started with that 1977 team.
I was happy – and I made it to the airport in plenty of time for my flight home to Dallas that night.
My nostalgia tour of Denver – summing it all up
Thanks for following my “nostalgia tour” of Denver. If you’ve read it all – over 22,000 words (you read that right – 22,000) – please go rest your eyes, and thank you! As you’ve seen, this weekend trip accomplished everything I wanted it to – mainly in bringing to mind so many wonderful memories of those 10 years in Denver, and especially the wonderful woman, the love of my life, Joanna, with whom I spent them. They wouldn’t have meant anything without her, and I trust that she was with me on this trip . . . I sure hope she was, because I talked to her everywhere I went, just as I do at home.
This series of 15 blog posts has been made a little livelier by the presence of 117 photos and 8 videos. Stories? Well, there’s significant overlap between them, but my best count is 145 stories – 20 of them from this 2024 tour and 125 nostalgia memories from the long-ago past.
As you’ve seen, my Denver memories are many, ranging from frustrating (my troublemaker employee in the Adjustments Unit at Zuni) to tragedy (the losses of Jovan and Ron Russey) to challenging (chairing the committee that was charged with putting Ken Caryl Baptist Church back together) to fun with good friends (the Gong) to simply fun (Casa Bonita) to loving furry companions (Bob and Rae) to awe-inspiring (the Rocky Mountains) to joy (Joanna’s baptism) to deliriously happy (the births of Alison and Travis), and many more.
Through it all, there’s one constant – Joanna, the love of my life, my life companion, who went through every bit of it with me. It was during those 10 years in Denver that we really grew into our marriage, where our relationship deepened through joy, tragedy, accomplishments, and challenges. I miss her with every breath I take. My consolation is memories – 48 years of memories. Joanna and I had a wonderful life together, and through this Denver nostalgia tour, I’ve tried to relive 10 of those years that meant so much to us. Thank you for sharing the journey with me.