Significant Moments in Denver Broncos History: Pat Bowlen Buys the Broncos

Patrick Dennis Bowlen is a native of WIsconsin and grew to be a successful businessman and lawyer with interests in both the United States and Canada. Bowlen bought the Denver Broncos from Edgar Kaiser in 1984 -- he was introduced to the Denver community as the new owner on March 23, 1984. He has gone on to become the longest-tenured owner of a major sports team in Colorado history.

Bowlen took steps early on to build a sense of pride and an attitude of success for the team. In his first year of ownership he created both an annual Bronco alumni reunion and the Ring of Fame which graces the Broncos' home stadium. In that same first season, the Broncos set team records for number of wins in a season (13), consecutive wins (10) and the franchise led the NFL in actual, in-stadium attendance. Since Bowlen took the reins of the team, the Broncos have posted ninety or more wins in each of the last three decades and have also posted the fewest number of losing seasons (5) in the NFL since 1984.

Here are some additional, interesting facts about how the team has fared under Bowlen's leadership (1984-present). These facts have been drawn from the 2013 Denver Broncos Media Guide. The Media Guide is available as a free pdf download from the Broncos' official website [http://media.denverbroncos.com/media+guide/]

The Broncos versus the AFC West (1984-present)

Here is how the Broncos have stacked up against the rest of the NFL since 1984 -- also drawn from the Media Guide:

Bowlen has made it a point to bring in quality personnel, both in terms of coaching staff and players. He has had six head coaches during his ownership years:

During his years, there have been seven primary quarterbacks:

The Bowlen years have also seen a remarkable corp of leading running backs wear the orange and blue:

The Broncos' offense has featured some talented leading receivers to complement their running attack:

*Note: the Broncos had multiple receivers with 1000-yard seasons in 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999 (Sharpe 1997; Ed McCaffrey 1998, 1999 & 2000; Ashley Lelie 2004; Eric Decker 2012


In the years since Bowlen assumed leadership of the Broncos, Denver has had sixteen players be awarded a combined twenty-eight 1st-team All Pro honors by the Associated Press. A surprising (and to Broncos fans rather glaring) omission is that John Elway was never voted to the 1st-team All Pro team by the Associated Press. Here are the player who have been so honored:

The Broncos have had a much larger representation in the Pro Bowl during the Bowlen years than their representation on the AP's 1st-team All-Pro list. All told, Denver has had forty-eight players selected for a combined total of 118 Pro Bowl appearances. Here are those players:

Some players in the Bowlen Era have also been honored with other prestigious awards, such as:

2011 Von Miller NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year
2012 Peyton Manning NFL Comeback Player of the Year

The list of awards could continue on and on -- in fact, there are several pages of them in the Media Guide.

I believe that we all owe a hearty word of thanks to Pat Bowlen for all that he has done to bring success and pride to the Broncos!!!

Go Broncos!!!!

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