Irv Brown: An appreciation of a Colorado icon
Genuine. That’s the word the kept popping into my head as I contemplated the death of Irv Brown, who left us Sunday at age 83. There was not a pretentious bone in his body. In this day and age of Twitter and selfpromotion, that’s rare indeed.
So much has already been written and said about the life and times of Brown, who was nothing less than a Colorado sports and media icon. David Plati, the longtime sports information director at the University of Colorado, wrote a wonderful and comprehensive retrospective of Brown’s life. It was one of the many tributes I have read, all of them coming from the heart.
But please indulge me as I pass along my own feelings and memories of Brown.
When I used to cover the Broncos, I was the “Broncos insider” for the Irv and Joe sports-talk radio show. It was always a hoot. Joe Williams, of course, played the foil, especially when it came to bashing the legend of John Elway. Joe loved to needle Elway, but Irv did his best to keep Joe grounded. It sure made for entertaining radio.
Irv, as he reminded us often, was a Colorado native and a proud graduate of Denver’s North High. He raised his family in Arvada, where I grew up, and he later lived in Broomfield.
“I’m from the north side, where we take it a little slower,” Irv used to crow on the radio.
My dad, Dusty Saunders, played basketball at Holy Family when it was still located in north Denver. Dad, a 6-foot-3 center, possessed an effective hook shot — something Irv always reminded me about.
“Telly you what, Dusty was quite a player and that little hook shot was terrific,” Irv would tell me. “And let me tell you something, those parochial schools played it rough.”
Irv’s on-air pitches for various products were legendary: “Scott’s Liquid Gold … it started in a garage on Garfield Street!”
He and Joe loved trivia contests (for which a case of Scott’s products was often the prize): “We have Bill from Longmont on the horn … Hey, Bill, can you get in the hunt?!”
Irv, of course, seemed to know everybody, and he also knew everybody’s high school coach.
“Want to say hi to Jeff Carlson … he played football for Joey Smith in Julesburg. Hey Jeff, you have yourself a good one.”
Years ago, someone, I forget who, came up with an Irv impersonation that perfectly captured Irv’s authentic personality, lack of pretense and zest for life.
The make-believe setup had Irv interviewing Pope John Paul II.
“Hey, let’s keep it hot and go to the hotline. We have the skipper of the Catholic Church on the horn. … Hey Pope, it’s Irv and Joe in Denver, thanks for coming on. … Tell you what, Pontiff, you were quite a soccer player back in Poland. You could flat do it. Tell you what, you had quite a coach in Stefan Wyszyński. … And hey, I really like what you’re doing with the Church.”
The bit was not meant to demean Irv, but rather, capture the fun spirit of his interviews. Because it didn’t matter who Irv talked to on the radio, he made it real and brought it down to earth.
Dave Logan, another Colorado icon, shared this anecdote with Plati:
“I loved him … I learned a great deal from him. You can do good sports talk and be informative and entertaining, yet not take yourself too seriously. And then there’s spontaneity, how to quickly react on a moment’s notice.
“One day he called into our show from Houston … he gets on the phone for maybe 30 seconds and says, ‘Hey fellas, here’s Ralph Sampson.’ I knew a little about Sampson and we scrambled to make it a good interview, but that was Irv, he kept everybody on their toes.
“He was always loyal to his friends, and if you were his friend, you were his friend for life.”
I would frequently see Irv during the Rockies’ season. He would come into the press box for a few innings during day games and we’d chat about the Rockies, my dad, and life in general. He always asked about my wife, Nancy, whom he’d met just once or twice, but he always remembered her name.
Irv will be missed, but he left a legacy that will last for generations. Rest In Peace, Coach Brown.