PAT BOWLEN COULD BE HALL OF FAME FINALIST
They were all young back then, when the Broncos’ cramped headquarters were north of downtown and the franchise had made it to one Super Bowl in its 24 seasons of existence.
John Elway and Gary Kubiak were second-year quarterbacks, drafted 196 spots apart. Joe Ellis was the marketing director, Steve “Greek” Antonopulos the head athletic trainer and Jim Saccomano the publicity director.
All were young and all had no idea how important March 23, 1984, would be for themselves, the Broncos, the city of Denver, the state of Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region.
On that Friday, Pat Bowlen was introduced as the Broncos’ owner.
“The rest is history,” said Ellis, now the Broncos’ president and CEO.
More than 34 years after he bought the Broncos from Edgar Kaiser, Bowlen, 74, is on the cusp of taking another historic step. The Bowlen family and the Broncos could receive word Thursday that Pat is a contributor finalist for Pro Football Hall of Fame election.
A five-person committee determines the nominees, who, according to the Hall, “have made outstanding contributions to professional football in capacities other than playing or coaching.” If Bowlen is nominated, he will automatically be included among the finalists for election, which will be announced Feb. 2 in Atlanta.
In the previous four years of the contributor division, six of the seven nominees have been elected, including Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie Debartolo Jr. Bowlen’s nomination is not a rubber stamp to induction but it would be a giant step, and one that those around him feel is long overdue.
Bowlen’s bona fides certainly merit consideration: three Super Bowl championships in seven appearances, 348 wins overall (tied for fifth all time), an Nfl-leading 28 winning seasons since 1984 and service on 15 league committees. Only 14 owners or team founders are in the Hall of Fame.
“When you talk about the contributor category, I don’t think anybody is more deserving than Pat,” said Elway, who entered the Hall of Fame in 2004.
Bowlen gave up day-to-day control of the Broncos in July 2014 because of his battle with Alzheimer’s disease, and his health would preclude him from traveling to Canton, Ohio, should he be inducted next year. But for his family and friends, the accomplishment would have great significance.
“It would mean a lot to the organization but more importantly, it would mean a lot to his family,” Ellis said. “And he should be honored. He gave this game a lot. He gave this team and organization and the NFL a lot, and he deserves this honor.”
Bowlen’s possible nomination led to Elway, Kubiak, Ellis, Antonopulos and Saccomano, in interviews with The Denver Post, to take a trip down memory lane.
“This might be really good”
When Bowlen bought the Broncos, Saccomano was in his seventh year with the team.
Saccomano, who would rise to vice president of corporate communications at the time of his 2013 retirement, received the call of Bowlen’s purchase from the league meetings in Hawaii in March 1984.
“The next thing I know, I’m told that somebody from public relations needs to meet with Pat’s attorney, Bill Britton,” Saccomano said. “Somebody from PR was me. No security. Just me.”
The next morning, Saccomano drove Britton to pick up Bowlen, who sat in the back seat. Admittedly nervous, Saccomano had two tasks: Get the new owner to his introductory news conference, and prepare him for what he could encounter.
Bowlen needed only the transportation.
Saccomano: “Mr. Bowlen, I have some talking points I’ve made up.”
Bowlen: “What are talking points?”
Saccomano: “Things the media might ask you and ways you might want to answer.”
Bowlen: “I’m not too worried about that. They can ask me anything they want and I’ll answer the best I can.”
Shortly after Bowlen assumed ownership, Saccomano said he thought, “Boy, this might be really good.”
“Well, we went 13-3 in Pat’s first year, and it was multiple levels beyond ‘really good’ for all those years,” he said.
Part of the “really good” accomplishments: Since 1984, Bowlen’s Broncos lead the NFL in regular- season wins (327), overall wins (348), winning seasons (21) and playoff appearances (18).
“Just do your job”
In the winter of 1984, Kaiser called Ellis, who had completed his first year with the Broncos as an account executive.
“Edgar said, ‘Something is going to happen and you’ll hear about it eventually,’ so I had my antenna up,” Ellis said. “What happened was the sale of the team.”
During his initial meeting with Bowlen, Ellis offered the same kind of administrative assistance he provided for Kaiser. Bowlen’s response was blunt.
“He said, ‘I can handle all of that myself — just do your job,’ ” Ellis said.
Ellis would leave the Broncos in 1985 and joined the NFL as a vice president in 1990. He returned to the Broncos in 1998 as vice president of business operations. In 2014, he was one of three trustees named by Bowlen to run the Broncos in his stead and ultimately select a new controlling owner.
Until the end of Bowlen’s tenure, Ellis was often at his side during owners meetings, allowing him to see the impact Bowlen had at the league level. Among the committee assignments for Bowlen were the prestigious network, finance, management council and international committees.
“First of all, that was really fun for him,” Ellis said. “He saw the power of the greater good and everybody working together. … He gained a lot of his peers’ respect early in his tenure and certainly gained the respect of commissioner (Pete) Rozelle.”
Bowlen’s greatest league contribution probably is spearheading “Sunday Night Football” in 2006, allowing NBC to have flexible scheduling and giving the network a better schedule than “Monday Night Football.” It has been television’s most watched show for seven consecutive years.
“He was a big advocate, proponent and cheerleader for when some people were quite skeptical,” Ellis said. “Pat and Dick (Ebersol of NBC Sports) were of the notion that it was going to work and it was going to be good for our game and good for the NFL. Dick and Pat were right.”
First stop every day
When the Broncos moved into their Dove Valley facility in March 1990, Bowlen would park his car, walk in a side door and go straight to the trainer’s room.
“It was the first place he came every day,” said Antonopulos, who has worked for the Broncos since 1976 and is the team’s director of sports medicine. “He wanted to know how the players were doing. He cared so much about his players. It was unbelievable.
“I had so much respect for him from the beginning because he cared like nobody I had never seen. This man, he wanted to be in the middle of it and wanted us to understand that if the players needed something, he wanted them to have it.”
Antonopulos’ first meeting with Bowlen included his pitch for developing the Broncos’ sports medicine program.
“We had put together a plan for it and then the team was sold and we were kind of up in arms about it,” Antonopulos said. “Once (Bowlen) got settled in, I thought, ‘I’d better go talk to him and lay this out.’ It was the most amazing meeting I’ve ever been in. I took 10 minutes and he said, ‘Stop. Do it.’ That man was incredible in the way he was able to make a decision.”
Three decades later, Antonopulos saw Bowlen step down because of his illness.
“First of all, you feel so bad for the fan because he cared so much about people,” said an emotional Antonopulos. “It was my job as the medical director to do whatever I could (to help).”
Antonopulos ran the training room when four Broncos Pro Football Hall of Famers (Elway, offensive tackle Gary Zimmerman, tight end Shannon Sharpe and tailback Terrell Davis) played for the team. He wants to see Bowlen join them in Canton.
“It would be a special accomplishment for him,” Antonopulos said. “He’s devoted himself 100 percent to the Denver Broncos, the Denver community and the National Football League. The things he has done have been so crucial for the development of the NFL.”
Played for, worked for
Elway and Kubiak played for Bowlen and later worked for him.
Elway played for the Broncos from 1983-98 and rejoined the team in 2010 as a consultant and was named general manager by Bowlen in January 2011. Kubiak was Elway’s backup quarterback from 1983-91, was the Broncos’ offensive coordinator from 19952005, head coach from 2015-16 and now a senior personnel adviser. Any difference?
“Not really,” Elway said of Bowlen. “As a player, he did everything he could to get the best coaches and best players to give you the best chance to win. And that’s really the same now in the position I’m in as GM — allowing us to be able to put together the best team we can.”
As a rookie in 1983, Elway said Kaiser was not around the team. But Bowlen “was around a lot more and talked to the players and got to know the players. At that point, we knew this was important to him.”
Said Kubiak: “The one thing you notice when you’re coaching or playing someplace is when the owner is around on a daily basis. Pat was a part of the daily process. Every day. He would not stop by every now and then.”
When the Broncos beat Green Bay in the Super Bowl in January 1998, Bowlen famously said, “This one’s for John,” and handed the Vince Lombardi Trophy to No. 7.
“That’s Pat,” Elway said. “He gave you the opportunity and then wasn’t the guy out front with an ego the size of New York.”
Eighteen years later, with Kubiak as Denver’s coach, Elway accepted the title trophy after the Super Bowl win over Carolina and said, “This one’s for Pat.”
Weeks later, Kubiak visited Bowlen’s home to commemorate the win because Pat could not attend.
“There is something about that day,” Kubiak said. “With some of the tough things he had been through, I knew he knew who I was that day and why I was there. That was a special day I’ll always remember.”
Kubiak said Bowlen being nominated and possibly entering the Pro Football Hall of Fame “would mean a great deal” to the Broncos and to Bowlen’s family.
“I think everybody in the last five to six years has been waiting on this because we all believe he deserves it very much,” Kubiak said. “As a guy who has been here as a coach and player and understands what Pat did for this organization and this league, it would be a tremendous honor for his family.”
“I think everybody in the last five to six years has been waiting on this because we all believe he deserves it very much. As a guy who has been here as a coach and player and understands what Pat did for this organization and this league, it would be a tremendous honor for his family.” Gary Kubiak, on the Pro Football Hall of Fame candidacy of Broncos owner Pat Bowlen