Denver loses icon in Bowlen
Broncos owner was just one of the guys
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — On a cool night Feb. 7, 2016 in Santa Clara, Calif., John Elway thrust the Lombardi Trophy into the air and hollered, “This one’s for Pat!”
It came 18 years after Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen had declared, “This one’s for John!” after the franchise’s first Super Bowl championship, a 31-24 win against Green Bay in San Diego after Elway helicoptered his way into NFL immortality in his fourth shot at a title.
Elway called it the greatest moment of his Hall of Fame career, and he was determined to return the favor after rejoining his beloved Broncos as Bowlen’s general manager and vice president of football operations in 2011.
He finally got the chance when the Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers, 2410, in Super Bowl 50, 18 months after Alzheimer’s forced Bowlen to step down from his daily duties running the team.
“I’m just glad I had the opportunity,” Elway said in the locker room that night. “I didn’t want to think about it too much because I didn’t want to jinx anything. But I was waiting for the day that I was able to do that.”
Bowlen, who transformed the team from also-rans into NFL champions and helped the league usher in billion-dollar television deals, died late Thursday, just under two months before his enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was 75.
Bowlen’s family said he died peacefully at home surrounded by loved ones. They did not specify a cause of death. Bowlen had Alzheimer’s for several years.
Bowlen was the first owner in NFL history to oversee a team that won 300 games — including playoffs — in three decades. He had as many Super Bowl appearances (seven) as losing seasons, and Denver is 354-240-1 since he bought the club in 1984.
Under his stewardship, the Broncos won Super Bowls in 1998, 1999 and 2016.
Elway delivered the third Lombardi Trophy to Bowlen’s home in Denver. And in the Mile High City, more than a million fans packed downtown for a victory parade 17 years after Elway capped his remarkable playing career by leading the Broncos to back-to-back titles.
Super Bowl 50 was the Broncos’ eighth trip to the big game, the seventh under Bowlen’s watch.
Bowlen’s wife, Annabel, who recently announced that she, too, has Alzheimer’s, and their children were on hand to accept the Lombardi Trophy on his behalf in Santa Clara.
“His soul will live on through the Broncos, the city of Denver and all of our fans,” Bowlen’s family said in a statement Thursday night. “Heaven got a little bit more orange and blue tonight.”
During 35 seasons with him as owner, Bowlen’s teams compiled a .596 winning percentage — tied for second-best in the NFL during that span. Among professional franchises in the four major North American sports, only the San Antonio Spurs, New England Patriots and Los Angeles Lakers were better, according to the Broncos.
Bowlen relished working behind the scenes and shied away from the spotlight. In the words of former coach Mike Shanahan, “Pat just wanted to be one of the guys.”
“That’s why I think he was so beloved by so many people, including myself,” Shanahan said. “And you also knew that he would give anything to make your football team better or at least get a chance at the Super Bowl. That was his No. 1 priority. That was it. It was not trying to buy different companies and trying to make more money. His goal was winning a Super Bowl.”
Bowlen served as a sounding board for NFL commissioners Pete Rozelle, Paul Tagliabue and Roger Goodell. He was crucial to the league’s growth as a member of 15 NFL committees, including cochairing the NFL Management Council and working on network TV contracts such as the league’s ground-breaking $18 billion deal in 1998.
“Pat personified all that’s right about the NFL and is extremely deserving of this summer’s recognition as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” Goodell said.
Hall President & CEO David Baker said: “Pat’s leadership helped shaped the NFL into what it is today. He also transformed the Denver Broncos into one of the finest franchises in the league and gave a winning identity to an entire region.”
Ownership of the franchise is held in a trust Bowlen set up more than a decade ago in hopes one of his seven children will one day run the team. Until then, Broncos president and CEO Joe Ellis, one of three trustees, is doing so.
“Pat Bowlen was the heart and soul of the Denver Broncos,” Ellis said. “Not only was Pat a Hall of Fame owner — he was a Hall of Fame person.”