I read that Denver, CO is one of 2 cities in the Unites States to host 8 professional sports teams, but I only counted 7. I was hoping that I’d learn the name of the other city and the name of the 8th team in Denver when I visited the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame at Broncos Stadium. The official Denver visitors guide called this city “Sports Town U.S.A.” and listed 7 professional sports teams. They were the Broncos (football), Nuggets (basketball), Rockies (baseball), Avalanche (hockey), Rapids (soccer), Mammoth (indoor lacrosse), and the Outlaws (outdoor lacrosse). Denver is also home to 6 major sports stadiums. This is all pretty impressive. Nevertheless, I had a discrepancy. Is it 7 or 8?
The official brochure for the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame listed 4 high-minded reasons for its existence, but in reality it seemed to be mostly a place to hang out before taking the Broncos Stadium tour, FROM $25 per person. Very much in the minority and surrounded by excited fans, Ruth and I didn’t have time for a tour that day. We were there mostly to glory in being at Broncos Stadium for a little while. Sergio Benvenuti’s sculpture in front of the stadium and partially at the top of this article was quite impressive.
Ruth and I looked at the athletes honored by big displays in the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, and I judged it dated. There was a huge tribute to Peggy Fleming, the skater who captured 3 straight world championships and won gold at the winter Olympics after training in Colorado Springs. The tribute to John Elway called him the NFL’s all-time winningest quarterback. He played only for Denver between 1983 and 1998. I’ll let you tell Tom Brady he’s not the winningest. John Elway was inducted into this hall of fame 20 years ago.
Aware that the curators didn’t exactly call John Elway the greatest quarterback ever, I checked some websites and found Elway on all lists of the greats. He was #7 on bleacherreport.com and 9 on NFL.com. Brady was #1 on both.
I went to the 2 ladies who were running the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame that day and asked if there was a plan to update it. After hearing my opinion, one of them went into the back to get me some current information and the other took me to see the pictures of the 2019 inductees into their hall of fame. The induction ceremony had occurred on April 3; and Missy Franklin, who won 4 gold medals at the 2012 London Olympic Games, was one of the 6 to be honored. I didn’t know much about the other 5, but they all appeared to be athletes and coaches who deserved hall of fame treatment. Peyton Manning was inducted last year.
The 56th induction and awards banquet will be held on April 23, 2020, and now I’m interested in the inductees. When the 2nd lady came back from finding me some recent info, I showed her the list of Denver sports teams and asked if she could name an 8th professional team. She thought it over and said proudly, “The Glendale Raptors.”
Hank
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