Coors Field vendor “Captain Earthman” dies at 61

Brent Doeden, affectionately known as “Captain Earthman,” the beloved Coors Field beer vendor since the Rockies’ inaugural season in 1993, has died. He was 61.

His wife of 29 years, Becky Scharfenberg, said that he passed away at 11:30 a.m. Monday while surrounded by four of his daughters and four grandchildren at his Arvada home.

“The mothership has come,” Becky Scharfenberg, Earthman’s wife, said in a Facebook post.

Earthman was diagnosed with two Grade IV tumors last August, and doctors gave him 6 to 18 months to live.

Earthman was known as a pioneer in the vendor profession — famous at Coors Field for his hand-crafted hats, peanut earrings and a booming voice that reverberated across the ballpark’s seats. He acquired a cellphone so customers could call him for beers in the early 2000s and distributed business cards in the stands with his number.

“He touched so many lives in such a unique way,” Scharfenberg said. “Everybody that met him has some kind of quirky story about him, and you just don’t find that in people. To him, every single person that he met was the most important person to him at that mohim ment. He made them feel that way.”

His terminal diagnosis came Aug. 31 last year The two tumors in his brain damaged his shortterm memory and his ability to carry on conversations. In recent months, Scharfenberg said, he was unable to communicate.

He attended his last Rockies game with his family on Father’s Day.

The family will put on a celebration of life event sometime in the next couple of weeks.

“We do want everyone out there to come share their stories about him,” Scharfenberg said.

He is survived by six daughters and nine grandchildren.