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Pat Bowlen, owner of the most successful sports franchise in Colorado history, died Thursday as a result of a long battle against Alzheimer's disease. He was 75 years old.
The Broncos announced at 12:28 on Friday that Bowlen had died in his home in the Denver area.
In a statement, the Bowlen family said, "Pat Bowlen had a competitive spirit and a great sense of humor. As funny as he was, he always wanted us to understand the big picture. We will always remember his kindness and his humility. More important than being an incredible owner, Pat Bowlen was an incredible human being.
After the purchase of the Broncos in 1984, Bowlen's desire for victory defined the franchise, turning the club into an AFC nominee for nearly three decades. Under Bowlen's leadership, the Broncos have reached the Super Bowl seven times (winners in 1997, 1998 and 2015), have won 13 AFC West titles, in 21 winning campaigns and 18 playoffs.
Bowlen has built a culture of victory without interfering with coaching or staffing decisions. His leadership style was both sober and demanding – he remained in the background and was delighted to see others receive public credit. But he has always wanted to be kept abreast of the Broncos projects, on the ground and off.
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"He never really gave directions, but he wanted to know what was going on and he never wanted to be surprised," said team president Joe Ellis, director marketing when Bowlen bought the team. "If he liked an idea, he was enthusiastic -" Let's do the necessary. "If he hesitated, he would ask questions and make you think and come back with a different solution or idea."
During Bowlen's tenure, the Broncos won 333 regular season games, third in the league behind New England (346) and Pittsburgh (334), and recorded a .598 winning percentage, fifth in the US professional sport.
Bowlen will be posthumously inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame on August 3rd in Canton, Ohio.
The success of the Broncos on the field has propelled their popularity to a level unmatched in the region. They sold the 300 home games while Bowlen owned and the franchise that he and his family bought for about $ 78 million amounts to $ 2.6 billion, according to Forbes.
In the fall of 2013, Bowlen asked the league to give up the team's daily control because of the progression of Alzheimer's disease; he moved away from the team in July 2014.
The Broncos were placed in a family trust established years before finally transferring the property to the seven children of Bowlen. Ellis assumed control of the day-to-day operations of the team and one of the three directors is tasked with appointing the next controlling owner of the team.
Bowlen is survived by his wife Annabel (who announced his own diagnosis of Alzheimer's in June 2018) and their five children, Patrick Dennis III, John Michael, Brittany Alexandra, Christianna Elizabeth and Annabel Victoria; his first wife, Sally Parker, and their two children, Amie Klemmer and Beth Bowlen Wallace; his brothers Bill Bowlen and John Bowlen; and sister Mary Beth Jagger.
Two of Bowlen's daughters have expressed the wish to succeed him as the majority owner. Wallace, 48, announced his intention in May 2018, a request that was rejected by the directors. Five months later, Brittany, 29, said her goal was to succeed her father. In March, Ellis announced that Brittany Bowlen would join the franchise "in the year" in a "senior executive position", which could potentially pave the way for his father's estate.
DESIRE TO BE NO. 1
The pinnacle of Bowlen's ownership came with three Super Bowl titles, victories over Green Bay in 1997 (11-point underdog for defending champion, Packers), Atlanta in 1998 (in front of Bowlen's first Broncos coach, Dan Reeves) and Carolina in 2015 (Pat did not attend the game).
The first Broncos championship, in their fifth appearance, was the ultimate breakthrough by coach Mike Shanahan, quarterback John Elway and running back Terrell Davis. At Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, Bowlen climbed the Lombardi Trophy and saluted Elway.
"There is one thing I want to say here tonight and these are just four words," he exclaimed. "This one is for John!"
Elway, now the team's general manager, recalled the scene years later and said, "It was Pat. He's never been a guy who wanted to be in the front. He gave you the opportunity and was not the type with an ego the size of New York. He was almost shy and would retire to give glory to everyone else.
After the Broncos' Super Bowl 50 victory, Elway returned the favor.
"Well, I'll say it and he would not want me to say it. But this one is for Pat! Elway said.
Once the Broncos returned home, coach Gary Kubiak took the trophy home to Bowlen.
"This is a special day that I will always remember," Kubiak said. "We were just happy to bring the trophy home for him and his family."
Bowlen was motivated by the desire to win championships and create a first franchise. The plaque next to his statue outside Broncos Stadium in Mile High says "Be number one in everything."
A few steps from the Broncos cloakroom in their training center, you'll find a picture of Bowlen under his quote, which says, "I want us to be number one in everything."
Bowlen loved the players and the feeling was mutual. He surveyed the corridors of the Broncos headquarters like any other employee, attended regular training and his first stop almost every morning was the training room to question the staff about the players' health.
"The man was good to people and his players," said Steve Antonopulos, director of sports medicine at Broncos, who worked for the team throughout Bowlen's term. "He parked his car every day and went straight in and said," How are you? "He cared so much about his players, it was amazing."
Davis, the NFL's most valuable player in 1998, recalled the days that followed his ACL ripped the following season.
"He was the first to call," said Davis. "This little gesture meant the world to me. I would cross a brick wall for this man. "
Why did Bowlen and the players click?
"Because he was honest, sincere, straight forward and really wanted to win," said Jim Saccomano, the former vice president of corporate communications at the Broncos, who led Bowlen to his press conference.
Bowlen's commitment to win through financial resources and loyalty has created a climate of accountability.
"If we did not succeed on the football field, it's because we have not managed to do it," Shannon Sharpe said. "We knew we had the best of everything and it was up to us to go out there and play."
Jim Schafer, former long-time Bowlen assistant, said, "What he was really proud of was the players. He liked what would become of the players. He loved having that personal touch with players and old players. It really meant a lot to him. "
ALWAYS A COMPETITOR
Born February 18, 1944 in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, a small village along the Mississippi River, Patrick Dennis Bowlen played football as a catcher for Campion High School Knights, a former boys' boarding school. His father, Paul, was Canadian and made millions as an oil hunter in Alberta. Pat's mother, Arvella, grew up in Prairie du Chien.
Bowlen also competed in hockey and track before graduating in 1962. He ended his football career after his freshman year at the Oklahoma College to devote himself to his studies. . He graduated with a degree in Business Administration in 1965 and three years later a law degree. He held the executive position in his father's company, an oil and gas company called Regent Resources, and then opened a law firm in Edmonton, Alberta. But makes his name and his fortune in real estate development.
But regardless of the activity or issues, Bowlen's interests were rooted in competition.
In 1984, shortly before acquiring a majority stake in the Broncos, Bowlen participated in the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii, where he had a home in Oahu. Of the 1,100 participants, he finished 135th.
"We had a lot of jogging; I never ran with Pat where it was not a race, "said Fred Hemmings, a former Broncos board member and professional surfer.
This was the case with his management of the Broncos – he loved the race and wanted to win the race. He was the first owner of professional football history to achieve 300 total wins in 30 years, and the only owner in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl with four different coaches (Reeves, Shanahan, John Fox and Kubiak).
Before Bowlen, the Broncos had only reached one Super Bowl in 24 years and had only eight winning seasons and four playoff games.
"Pat has elevated the team to a level of perpetual championship rivalry," said Saccomano.
When Bowlen bought the team, the Broncos were already relying on a loyal fan base that venerated the Orange Crush defense of the late 1970s. Led by coach Red Miller, the Broncos won their first participation in the playoffs and the Super Bowl in 1977, bowing to the Dallas Cowboys.
Acquired in an exchange with the Baltimore Colts, Elway joined the Broncos in 1983, creating a new level of excitement one year before Bowlen bought the team at Edgar Kaiser.
"The opportunity that the Bowlens have offered me as a football player and now as a general manager is incredible," Elway said. "I'm very lucky to be in Colorado."
Elway's fondness for fourth-quarter returns has made Denver one of the toughest places in the league to win for his opponents. This trend has exceeded his retirement. During Bowlen's tenure, the Broncos earned between 214 and 86 regular season / playoff games, representing the best home NFL win percentage (.713).
But Bowlen's time was not quite smooth.
Bowlen inherited Reeves as a coach and kept him for nine more seasons, after losing three in the Super Bowl and a 5-11 record in 1990. After an 8-8 finish in 1992, Bowlen fired Reeves.
In 1995, after a short spell with Wade Phillips as coach, Bowlen brought Shanahan back to Denver (he worked twice as a Broncos assistant) to begin a 14-year trek. Shanahan's teams won the first two Super Bowls in the franchise, but with the Broncos' defeat in mediocrity, Bowlen surprised many by sending Shanahan back after the 2008 season.
"It's as difficult as it goes," said Bowlen that day, with tears in his eyes.
To replace Shanahan, the Broncos hired Josh McDaniels, then the youngest head coach in the league (aged 32) with no experience as head coach.
The experience was a disaster.
Following a quarrel with quarterback Jay Cutler, who was traded to Chicago, McDaniels led the Broncos to a 6-0 start in 2009, then to a 5-17 drop that included the illegal capture of a 49ers team in London. McDaniels was fired after only 22 months of work.
Throughout McDaniels' tenuous race, Bowlen remained aware of his customers. In the midst of Cutler's fiasco, Bowlen wrote a letter because he felt "obliged to give an explanation to our community and our fans," and to assure them that his goal will always be to win championships.
"He often felt that he had to set the tone or say something to put fans, subscribers, sponsors, all our constituents, all stakeholders, the entire community, at ease and at ease . let them know that we will continue to do things to improve ourselves all the time, "said Ellis.
Shortly after McDaniels was dismissed, Bowlen stopped making many public appearances because his Alzheimer's was just beginning.
In 2011, Bowlen created the piece that had escaped him for over a decade: he brought Elway back into the fold. Bowlen named Elway, his beloved quarterback to the Hall of Fame, as Executive Vice President of Football Operations.
With Elway in charge of football operations, the Broncos have achieved two Super Bowls (one win), have made one of the largest free agent additions in their history by engaging quarterback Peyton Manning, have built the first of NFL's most prolific offense, then one of the best defensemen in the league and hired his longtime friend, Kubiak (Bowlen's favorite) as coach.
When Kubiak resigned in 2017, his speech began with: who else? Bowlen.
"Mr. B is the biggest sports owner," said Kubiak that day.
"CONSENSUS BUILDER"
Along with Bowlen's willingness to do everything in his power to make the Broncos a lasting winner, he strove to develop the sport as a whole.
Bowlen served for 91 years on 15 different committees and played a key role in the league's television and collective bargaining transactions.
"He has been in our league office in New York more often than most homeowners because he's volunteered to serve countless hours on the league committees, including labor relations and television, "said Joe Browne, a retired NFL executive. "Over the years, he became a person on which the commissioners counted a lot for advice and guidance."
Bowlen worked closely with Commissioner Pete Rozelle and his two successors, Paul Tagliabue and Goodell.
"I've worked with over 100 owners," said Tagliabue, curator from 1989 to 2006. "I would put Pat in the top five."
Bowlen's accomplishments at the league level presided over the Broadcasting Committee. In 1993, he and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones negotiated a record television deal putting the NFL on track to become America's most lucrative sports product. On the eve of an agreement, Bowlen and Jones played with the networks to double their bid for rights to $ 400 million.
"This has forever changed the economic situation of the league, as it probably should have been, because the NFL is the number one form of entertainment in our country," said Dick Ebersol. former head of NBC Sports. "It's more important than any movie, TV show or anything else. The NFL for six months dominates our unparalleled entertainment landscape throughout the American entertainment world. And these two guys (Bowlen and Jones) really found the solution. "
In 1998, Bowlen signed a $ 18 billion television deal for the NFL, which was the most expensive monosportive contract in the history of broadcast.
Bowlen's greatest television success, and perhaps even his greatest league achievement, was working with Ebersol on an NBC / Sunday night package that included a schedule that was longer than Monday night and introducing flexible programming, allowing the network to exchange its regular game against a high match at the end of the season.
The football broadcast Sunday night is the most watched show in the United States for eight consecutive years.
"Pat saw and understood and listened to what I thought I could do to organize all this initially," said Ebersol. "You can say that he was the father of" Sunday Night Football "."
Bowlen once recalled the NFL's ranking success: "It became so popular that it was pretty easy. I do not say it braggingly and I say it sparingly: football is king. As long as we do not walk on our feet, everything is fine. "
When asked if the Sunday night deal was Bowlen's biggest success without the Broncos, Ellis said, "I think so. He was a great supporter, promoter and cheerleader, while some people were rather skeptical. Pat was in Dick 's corner on the idea that it was going to work and that it would be good for our game and for the NFL. Pat and Dick were right.
In the field of work, Bowlen represented a balanced voice that the players respected. And internationally, Bowlen has insisted on expanding the reach of the NFL. The Broncos played eight pre-season international games in six countries in the 1980s and 1990s.
Back in Denver, Bowlen quietly invested millions of people in the community. As chairman of Denver Broncos Charities' board of directors, he has donated nearly $ 30 million to local organizations since the fund's inception in 1993. In 2013, he received the Mizel Institute Community Enrichment Award for his contributions, which included funding for the Denver Broncos Boys. And girls club.
"He acknowledged that the Broncos were a great asset to the community. If they were to be perceived as such, they had the obligation to give back, which he quickly understood from the start of his acquisition and never hesitated, "Ellis said. . .
LOOKING FORWARD
In 1981, Bowlen lent money to his friend Nelson Skalbania, owner of the Montreal Alouettes. But Bowlen was not interested in leading a team in the Canadian Football League and left a chance to join the United States Football League.
The purchase of the Broncos by Bowlen began when he was introduced to Kaiser by mutual friends. With his brother John and his sister Mary Beth, Bowlen bought 60.8% of the Broncos from Kaiser, who had paid out $ 30 million for the team three years earlier. In 1985, the Bowlens bought the remaining 39.2% from John Adams and his lawyer, Timothy Borden.
Bowlen has consistently reinvested money into the franchise and paid over $ 150 million for the stadium construction by the team, as well as an additional $ 30 million for improvements. In November 1998, voters agreed to fund 75% of what would become a $ 400 million stadium that opened September 10, 2001 – the night before the September 11 terrorist attacks.
In 1990, Bowlen moved the team's headquarters to Dove Valley, which was the subject of a $ 38 million improvement project in 2014, which included the Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse.
"I could not tell you that I thought it was going to become what it is," said Bowlen in August 2013. "For me, it was a real challenge.You need some time to It was a good deal You have your disappointments You have your losses and your victories When you enter and buy a football team, you do not really understand the situation until you are there during a moment. "
Bowlen has turned out to be a quick study once he's bought the Broncos.
"He took his time to watch everything and evaluate things," said Ellis. "We had a lot of sensational wins (in 1984) and he was running as an owner."
Bowlen's transition, of course, was to have Elway at the quarterback. Bowlen's admiration for Elway persists after retiring from number 7. Elway has been seen to offer an option to purchase 15% of the team's capital for $ 15 million, as well as the 39, an additional option to purchase an additional 10% by waiving a $ 12 million deferred salary that Bowlen owed him. Elway later told the Denver Post that he wanted to accept the market.
"I went to court, so it was a battle with Edgar Kaiser and Mr. Bowlen," said Elway in 2016. "So there are circumstances that have not worked, but let's say that as well. It was not because I did not want it.
The circumstance: One of the conditions of Kaiser's sale to Bowlen, which would then be challenged in court for almost 10 years, was that Kaiser would have a right of first refusal if Bowlen tried to sell part of the controlling interest. When Bowlen tried to make Elway a partner, Kaiser sued. The courts ruled in favor of Kaiser in 2004, but Bowlen won on appeal four years later.
After six years in his career at the Broncos Front Office (2017), Elway was promoted to President of Football Operations after signing a five-year contract.
The future of the franchise is essentially in the hands of Ellis, who controls the owner's delegate, team lawyer Rich Slivka, and Denver lawyer Mary Kelly. They will choose Bowlen's successor.
It is believed that Bowlen's seven children will receive equal participation in the franchise, but only one may be named controlling owner. The directors might also decide that it is in the interests of the team and the family to sell the franchise (which they have the power to do), but all indications are that They believe that Brittany Bowlen is their favorite choice. Pat Bowlen wants to transfer the property to one of his children.
Brittany Bowlen is currently working for the international consulting firm McKinsey & Company in her Denver office. She previously obtained an MBA from Duke. She has also worked for the Broncos and NFL offices. Beth Bowlen Wallace also worked for the Broncos and obtained a law degree from the University of Denver.
In October 2018, Bill Bowlen filed a lawsuit asking a judge to dismiss the directors, "for failing to respect Pat Bowlen's wishes and acting in the best interests of Pat Bowlen, his family and the Broncos." A month later, the Trustees requested a suspension from the NFL and asked the NFL to serve as an arbiter between them and Bowlen Wallace and Klemmer. League Commissioner Roger Goodell acceded to the arbitration request at the beginning of the year and appointed Carmen Policy, former director of the NFL front office, to lead the process.
The next owner faces a daunting challenge in trying to meet the standard created by Pat Bowlen. He was the best owner of the Broncos. He was the best owner of the history of sports in Denver. And the Broncos have become one of the best franchises of the most popular sport in America.
"You know that's why the organization is where it is, because of it," Shanahan said. "He gave you every chance of winning and was just a very selfless guy.
"His legacy will continue."
Complete statement from the Bowlen family:
"We are saddened to announce to everyone that our beloved husband and father, Pat Bowlen, has moved on to the next chapter of his life late Thursday night in peace and at home, surrounded by family. His soul will live through the Broncos, the city of Denver and all our fans.
"Our family wishes to express its sincere gratitude for the support we have received in recent years. The sky has become a little more orange and blue tonight.
"Pat Bowlen had a competitive spirit and a great sense of humor. As funny as he was, he always wanted us to understand the big picture. We will always remember his kindness and his humility.
"More important than being an incredible owner, Pat Bowlen was an amazing human being."
Nicki Jhabvala, former editor of Denver Post, contributed to this story.
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