Born and Raised a Broncos Fan

by Roger
(Phoenix)

I was raised in the 1970s to be a Broncos fan. My father was an original fan from the AFL days in the 1960s (I think he even attended a home game in the first year, 1960). Growing up, fall Sundays were all about the Broncos. We were huge fans of the Orange Crush defense. Lyle Alzado was my favorite player growing up.

I remember being upset at the Super Bowl 12 loss – kind of demolished, really. At that point the Broncos had seemed invincible to a younger me, and their ascension to champions seemed a foregone conclusion. My dad was the one who scraped me back up, telling me this was just the beginning of the Broncos’ run at the top. He wasn’t exactly right, and the repeated heartbreaks of the 1980s really got both of us down.

In the 90s, I sort of lost faith in Elway. The team kept making the playoffs, but couldn’t get over the hump. I felt like they had missed out on the window of opportunity. My dad never lost his faith. Whenever the team came up, he lectured me about how Elway was our guy, and how he’d lead Denver to a championship.

Unfortunately, my dad was diagnosed with cancer in 1996. He watched a lot of that season from bed, in and out of the hospital. The last game he saw was the defeat against the Jaguars. He passed away in the summer of 1997. I watched Elway, just as my dad promised, lead the Broncos to two straight Super Bowl victories. I can’t really think about the Broncos without thinking about my dad, and I’m grateful for all the great memories of both.