1960

Sixty years ago I had just entered the 6th grade. I was 11, Mr. Allen was my teacher and I remember it was a year of many new awarenesses. With the help of Google I will share a few highlights of a lynchpin year.

January 2– John Kennedy announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

February 9– Adolf Coors lll, the chairman of the board of The Coors Brewing Company, is kidnapped in the United States, and his captors demand a ransom of $500,000. Coors is later found murdered, and Joseph Corbet Junior is indicted for the crime.

March 6– the US announces it will send 3,000 troops to Vietnam.

April 1– The 1960 US Census begins. There are 179,323,175 U.S. residents on this day. All people from Latin America are listed as white, including blacks from the Dominican Republic, European whites from Argentina and Mexicans who resemble Native Americans.

May 16 Theodore Mainman operates the first laser.

August 12– Dr Seuss publishes Green Eggs and Ham.

September 9– The first regular season game in the American Football League (established as a rival league to the NFL) takes place at Boston’s Nickerson Field. The Denver Bronco defeat the Boston Patriots 13–10.

Which gets me to my point. I have been a Bronco fan for 60 years. In August of 1960 the Broncos came to Pueblo to play an “inter-squad” game at the High School stadium. They had second hand uniforms that were yellow and brown with vertical stripes on the socks. I saw Gene Mingo kick a “toe style” 65 yard field goal. Pro football had come to Colorado.

On October 2nd the Broncos played their first home game where they beat the Oakland Raiders 31-14. I was there. My dad Bill, and two of his buddies took me to share in the inaugural home game. I was hooked.

Every year we would come to Denver to go to a game. I remember roaming around half empty stands half watching the game. I was a proud member of the Enid, Oklahoma chapter of the Broncos Monday Morning Quarterback Club, during the 1970’s. Thanks to Ruby Strain, who waited hours in line to get Super Bowl 12 tickets, I was in New Orleans to watch the Cowboys whip us.

In 1984 I had a lady in the Pueblo church give me her season tickets. I am a true fan. The high point of this journey was in 2015 When I drew Super Bowl tickets and I sat right behind Bill Romanowski to watch the Broncos win their third Lombardi Trophy… it’s been rough sledding since then.

In 1998 following our first Super Bowl win, I honored a bet with my daughter Amy and got a Bronco tattoo. A day later thanks to my brother Charlie, 9News got a close up of it and it went out on the national NBC news wire. This all began in 1960 when a young boy was given a gift by his dad.

I wonder what will be remembered about 2020.

Onward and Upward,

Mark