{"id":1311560,"date":"2019-06-18T19:24:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T01:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/fans-arrive-in-droves-to-honor-bowlen-at-public-tribute\/"},"modified":"2019-06-18T19:24:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-19T01:24:00","slug":"fans-arrive-in-droves-to-honor-bowlen-at-public-tribute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/fans-arrive-in-droves-to-honor-bowlen-at-public-tribute\/","title":{"rendered":"Fans arrive in droves to honor Bowlen at public tribute"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fans file past a wall of flowers with a portrait of Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen placed in the center during a memorial Tuesday, June 18, 2019, at Mile High Stadium, the NFL football team’s home in Denver. Bowlen, who has owned the franchise for more than three decades, died last Thursday. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)<\/strong>
AP | AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

DENVER \u2014 Some wore full costumes and others sported jerseys, including one Denver Broncos supporter with \u201cP. Bowlen\u201d on the back. Quite a few devotees stood in the rain for about an hour before making their way inside the stadium.<\/p>\n

The fans arrived in droves Tuesday to pay respect to owner Pat Bowlen, who died last week at 75 after a long battle with Alzheimer\u2019s, and just two months shy of his enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

The public tribute to Bowlen at Broncos Stadium at Mile High featured all sorts of memorabilia, including his famous fur coat , Super Bowl trophies , vintage photos, videos and numerous footballs marking big moments. Then there was his desk, which was noteworthy for a piece of paper resting in his in-box . It was a to-do list containing three items: be No. 1 in everything; beat the Raiders; win the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

Of course, all three boxes were checked.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d be incredibly overwhelmed by all this support and love,\u201d said Brittany Bowlen, who along with her siblings stood in line for hours greeting fans as they made their way through the exhibit. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty astonishing, to see all these artifacts and things that were important to him in life. He\u2019d be incredibly overwhelmed by the support. It would be moving for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Super fan Jesse Esquibel wore some of his game-day outfit for the occasion, including a mask. He\u2019s known as \u201cBronco Reaper,\u201d a name he selected after experiencing a few near-death encounters throughout his life. Another supporter wore an orange Darth Vader helmet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to show,\u201d Esquibel said, \u201cthat Broncos fans are fans through and through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peyton Manning was in attendance. So was John Elway. Longtime receiver Rod Smith recounted a golf game when he partnered with Bowlen and they took on coach Mike Shanahan and quarterback Brian Griese.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ended up winning. You should\u2019ve seen his face \u2014 he was fired up,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIn the weight room, didn\u2019t matter where he was, on the treadmill, Pat was competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Very much so.<\/p>\n

Bowlen had as many Super Bowl appearances (seven) as losing seasons, and Denver went 354-240-1 since he bought the club in 1984. The team won Super Bowls in 1998, \u201899 and 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a person in this community who\u2019s had a more profound impact on Denver and the state of Colorado and really the Rocky Mountain region than Pat Bowlen,\u201d Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said. \u201cI wanted to make sure I came and paid my respects to the family and the memory of a great man who\u2019s done a lot for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

A private funeral service will be held Monday, with Bowlen\u2019s good friend John Finney delivering the eulogy. Finney, who lives in Honolulu, has so many rich stories from their longtime friendship. Like how they used to paddle a canoe through giant waves in Hawaii, or how they opened a business together, or their trips on Bowlen\u2019s jet.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a lot of friends from all walks of life here, from beach boys to bankers,\u201d Finney said in a phone conversation. \u201cHe was devoted to the Broncos and devoted to winning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finney recalled the time Bowlen came back to Hawaii soon after the Broncos were beaten 55-10 by the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 24. Bowlen steered clear of their beach club for about a month, knowing he would be razzed.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo Pat finally shows up after a long absence and (someone) says, \u2018Great game, brah,\u2019\u201d Finney cracked. \u201cWe\u2019re always teasing one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

A competitor with class, that was Bowlen\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was not a dishonest bone in his body,\u201d Finney said. \u201cHe was so respected in the NFL, because the other owners could trust him. He wanted to be part of the betterment of the NFL, and it worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Feb. 7, 2016, Elway thrust the Lombardi Trophy into the air and hollered, \u201cThis one\u2019s for Pat!\u201d<\/p>\n

That moment came 18 years after Bowlen had declared, \u201cThis one\u2019s for John!\u201d following the franchise\u2019s first Super Bowl championship.<\/p>\n

And on Tuesday, Beth Bowlen Wallace paid respect to the legion of Broncos fans that showed up by saying: \u201cThis one is definitely for you all.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fans file past a wall of flowers with a portrait of Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen placed in the center during a memorial Tuesday, June 18, 2019, at Mile High Stadium, the NFL football team’s home in Denver. Bowlen, who has owned the franchise for more than three decades, died last Thursday. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)AP […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1311560","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-19 07:23:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311560\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}