The history of the Denver Broncos American football club began when the team was chartered a member of the American Football League in 1960. The Broncos have played in the city of Denver, Colorado throughout their entire history. The Broncos did not win any titles as members of the AFL. Since the 1970 AFL–NFL merger, the Broncos have won 15 division titles, and played in eight Super Bowls, following the 1977, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1997, 1998, 2013, and 2015 seasons. They won Super Bowl XXXII, Super Bowl XXXIII and Super Bowl 50. Their most famous player is former quarterback John Elway, starting quarterback in five Super Bowls and holder of many NFL records. The Broncos currently play in the National Football League's AFC West division.
For much of their first 3 decades, excluding teams in Texas, they were the only major pro football team between Kansas City and California (and the only team in the Interior West). This distinction ended in 1988, when the Cardinals moved from St. Louis to Phoenix. The Broncos remain the only current AFC West (formerly AFL West) team to never relocate or change its name.
Origins In the summer of 1959, Bob Howsam, owner of minor league baseball's Denver Bears, the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, had a problem. He'd expanded the team's home, Bears Stadium, to 23,100 seats after Denver was named a charter member of the Continental League, a proposed third major league. However, the league died when the established major leagues granted expansion franchises to two of its cities (New York and Houston) and moved an established team to a third (the Twin Cities), but left the Mile High City out of the expansion. Howsam was now saddled with a massive debt load and a stadium far too large for a Triple-A team.
Howsam concluded the only realistic way to service the debt was to extend Bears Stadium's season by bringing football to Denver. To that end, he added just under 12,000 more seats to better accommodate the sport. He first tried to get an expansion NFL franchise to Denver, but he was denied a team by NFL owners under the leadership of Chicago Bears owner George Halas. The snub led Howsam and four others to start up a rival to the NFL. The new league, the American Football League, announced its formation on August 14, 1959, with Howsam's Denver team as a charter member. A 1960 "name-the-team" contest yielded the nickname "Broncos." The first general manager of the new team was Dean Griffing, and the first head coach was Frank Filchock.
The AFL years
Denver had the worst record of any original AFL team, with a record of 39–97–4 in the league. They were the only original AFL team never to have played in the title game during the upstart league's 10-year history. Indeed, they were the only team to never have a winning season, never winning more than five games.
Despite their lack of early success, the Broncos produced some memorable games, such as the 38–38 tie against the Buffalo Bills in 1960. They were the first AFL team ever to defeat an NFL team, on August 5, 1967 when they beat the Detroit Lions 13–7 in a preseason game. The Broncos were also the first American professional football team to have an African-American placekicker, Gene Mingo, the first to have a receiver with 100 receptions in a season, Lionel Taylor, and the first starting African-American quarterback of the modern era, Marlin Briscoe.
The Filchock era The Broncos began play in 1960, the AFL's inaugural season, at Bears Stadium. Their head coach was Frank Filchock, who choose Frank Tripucka as the Broncos' first starting quarterback. The Broncos won their first game, also the first AFL game, 13–10 over the Boston Patriots. However, the Broncos would end the season with a 4–9–1 record. After the season, Howsam, looking to sell his holdings in the Broncos, nearly made a deal with a San Antonio syndicate, but eventually a group led by Calvin Kunz purchased Howsam's shares. At this point, Gerald Phipps became the Broncos largest stockholder.Barely Audible, 11.
The Faulkner era Following a 3–11 campaign in 1961, the Broncos replaced Filchock with Jack Faulkner, who ritualistically burned the Broncos vertically-striped socks prior to the new season.Barely Audible, 10,12. Faulkner led them to a 7–7 record in 1962, their best record in the AFL. This .500 season was not, however, a prelude to success, as the Broncos would lose at least 10 games each of the next five years, during which they were led by four coaches and over half a dozen starting quarterbacks.
The Speedie/Malavasi era Mac Speedie replaced Faulkner five games into the 1964 season, breaking an eleven-game losing streak by beating Kansas City 37–33. However, the Broncos would only win one more game in 1964, ending the season with a 2–11–1 record. The team improved only marginally in 1965, finishing with a 4–10 record. In the first game of the 1966 season, a 45–7 loss to Houston, the Broncos failed to record a first downBarely Audible, 20 and finished with only 26 yards of total offense, including −7 yards passing. After the 2nd game, Speedie resigned and was replaced by interim head coach Ray Malavasi, under whom the Broncos finished the season 4–10.
Denver came close to losing the Broncos in 1965, when a group of minority partners joined together with the intent to sell the team to interests based in Atlanta. However, a different pair of owners, Alan and Gerald Phipps, bought the team (along with Bears Stadium) and kept them in Denver (with Atlanta then claimed by the NFL for the expansion Falcons). In the aftermath of the near loss of what was Denver's only professional sports team at the time, season ticket sales nearly tripled the following year.
The Saban era begins In 1967, the Broncos hired Lou Saban, coach of the two-time defending AFL champion Buffalo Bills, as head coach. Saban's first order of business was to generate interest in the team to keep them in Denver. The NFL and AFL had agreed to merge a year earlier, and the Broncos needed to expand Bears Stadium to 50,000 in order to meet the merged league's capacity requirements. This required raising funds from businesses and the people of Denver. If unsuccessful, the team would target Birmingham, Alabama for a move, or even try to be a second Chicago team.Barely Audible, 21–23.
Saban decided to use his #1 pick for an impact player. With the 6th pick, he chose Syracuse All-America Floyd Little, the first 3-time All-America since Doak Walker. With the Broncos' past #1 picks, such as Dick Butkus and Merlin Olsen, choosing the other side in the AFL-NFL bidding wars, Little became the first #1 pick to sign with the team. His signing created a landslide of enthusiasm for the Broncos.Barely Audible, 102–103. Little and other Broncos went door-to-door to solicit funds for the stadium, and he even rode buses to Wyoming, Nebraska and other nearby states to bring in money. In doing so, Little became known as "The Franchise" for his tireless efforts to keep the team in Denver.
Little proved to be every ounce as valuable on the field for the Broncos as well. Saban kept 26 rookies his first season including Little, along with numerous 2nd and 3rd year players. Little was the only bright spot in a dismal 3–11 season. He led the AFL and NFL in punt returns with a blistering 17-yard average. He also led the league in combined yards (rushing, receiving and returns).Stadium Stories, 21–27. In 1968, he led the league again in combined yards and became the only player in either league to return a punt for a touchdown in both seasons. That same year, the city of Denver bought Bears Stadium from the Broncos, renamed it Mile High Stadium, and leased it back to the Broncos and Bears. The purchase made it possible to finish the required expansion.
In 1969, Little was clearly the best back in the AFL or NFL. After just six games, he was more than 300 yards ahead of all running backs, piling up 700 yards when he tore up his knee and missed most of the season. He was named All-AFL for his efforts. In 1970, despite playing with a broken bone in his back and having a record 5 starting quarterbacks, Little led the AFC in rushing.
In 1971, Little did it again. He not only led the AFC in rushing, but also out-rushed any NFL player with 1,133 yards. However, even with Little's superb prowess and the likes of defensive end Rich Jackson creating havoc on defense, Saban could not bring the Broncos success. He finished in fourth place in the division in all 5 years of his tenure.
The 1970s The Saban/Smith/Ralston era
In 1970, the Broncos began a home sellout streak (not including games using replacement players) which has lasted to the present. During their first season as part of the NFL, the Broncos finished 5–8–1 and 4–9–1 in 1971. The team then went 5–9 in 1972, but continued to sell games out. In 1973, John Ralston coached the now-mature Broncos to a 7–5–2 record, the franchise's first winning season, including a dramatic tie with Oakland in Denver's first-ever Monday Night Football appearance that is still remembered as a pivotal game in Broncos history. During the game, announcer Don Meredith famously told the audience: "Welcome to the Mile High City and I really am!"http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=FBN-MNF-TV-04-25-05&cat=FP The second game of the 1974 season was a 35–35 tie with the Steelers, the first to take place under the NFL's new overtime rules. The year ended at 7–6–1, for another winning record. In 1975, the Broncos dropped to 6–8, the final season for running back Floyd Little. Otis Armstrong took his place, and despite finishing 9–5 in 1976, the playoffs still eluded them.
Broncomania and the first Super Bowl appearance
Rookie coach Red Miller, along with the Orange Crush Defense (a nickname popularized in 1977) and aging quarterback Craig Morton, led the Broncos to a miracle season in 1977. The team won the division with a 12–2 record, beating an injury-plagued Steelers team 34–21. In the conference championship, they faced their division rival and defending Super Bowl champion Raiders, winning a close game 20–17 and sending them to Super Bowl XII. Facing the Cowboys in the New Orleans Superdome, the Broncos played sloppily the entire game, turning the ball over eight times. They were crushed 27–10 by the Cowboys. Despite the disappointing loss to Dallas, their season catapulted the franchise out of the basement and they since have enjoyed four decades of consistency that few teams have matched. The successful season also brought the phenomena of "Broncomania" to a fever pitch, with the team the talk of the town, selling 65,000 Super Bowl T-shirts in 48 hours. Earlier that year, superfan Tim McKernan, better known as the Barrel Man, began wearing only an orange-colored aluminum barrel, boots and a cowboy hat to games, a ritual he repeated for 30 years. The 1978 season saw the Broncos finish 10–6 (the season having been extended to 16 games) and win the division again, but they were routed out of the playoffs by the Steelers 33–10. Another 10–6 season and a playoff appearance followed in 1979, but three division losses reduced the Broncos to a wild card team. They lost to the Oilers 13–7 in the Astrodome.
The early 1980s/The John Elway years 1980–1982