In this series, we are taking a look at a pivotal decade in Denver Broncos history. A minor league baseball owner named Bob Howsam met with Lamar Hunt in the lobby of the Brown Palace in Denver to hash out details of a Denver franchise in the American Football League. On August 14th 1959, Lamar Hunt introduced the idea of his football league, the AFL, to Howsam. In the lobby of the luxurious hotel, The Denver Broncos franchise would be born.
Humble Beginnings
The 1960 season for the Broncos started with humble beginnings. The first uniforms worn by the team came by way of a dissolved semi pro team in Arizona. They were mustard yellow and brown in color and were worn both at home and away, the first team to wear the same uniforms while traveling. The inaugural uniforms were so universally despised that the team had a bonfire and ceremonially set them aflame at the end of the 1961 season. Their first gunslinger under center (and first number 18), Frank Tripucka, was originally hired in 1960 to be an assistant coach after retiring from football. After realizing they had no one suitable at quarterback, Tripucka traded the clipboard for a helmet.
The Denver Broncos played their first game against the Boston Patriots, winning 13-10. Frank Tripucka threw a still franchise record 34 interceptions in 1960, however in the same season, Tripucka was the first 3000 yard passer in either the NFL or AFL. The Broncos would end their first season with a record of 4-9-1. At the end of the year, the Denver franchise nearly came to an end as quickly as it began. Bob Howsam, shopping his shares of the team, found some interested buyers in San Antonio. This deal would ultimately fall through and a second group led by Calvin Kunz bought Howsam’s shares, keeping the Broncos in Denver.
Frank Filchock, the first head coach of the Denver Broncos, coached the team to a 7-20-1 record through 1961. Before the ’62 season, Filchock was fired and replaced with Jack Faulkner. In Faulkner’s first year, the team went 7-7. This would be Denver’s best season in the AFL. Thereafter, the Broncos would win only three more games with Faulkner at the helm. He was fired five games into the ’64 season. The Broncos would go through two more head coaches, Mac Speedie and Ray Malavasi, over the next two years. The fate of the Broncos in Denver was again in the balance.
A Team on the Brink
A group of minority owners had the intent to sell the team to buyers in Atlanta in 1965. That’s when Gerald Phipps stepped in, made a deal to buy the team as well as Bears Stadium (the original field the Broncos played on) and the Broncos were in Denver to stay. Hired in 1967, Lou Saban, two time champion with the Buffalo Bills, would be tasked to take over a fledgling team. Saban’s initial plan was to take Floyd Little in the first round of the draft. He would go on to be a Hall of Fame running back and earn a place in Denver’s Ring of Fame. Little would travel around the west with a handful of teammates to generate funds for a new stadium in Denver. This was instrumental in keeping the team in Mile High, thus Floyd Little came to be known as “The Franchise”.
The Broncos, around Floyd Little, would never win more than five games to round out the 1960s era. Little was a lone bright spot in an otherwise hapless Broncos team. Little would retire as the seventh all time leading rusher in the record books. Denver, in it’s first ten years of existence, would have a record of 39-97-4. Headed into the 1970’s, the Broncos would have a more clear vision and path forward. The building blocks were laid for a team that started with humble beginnings. The perseverance of the Mile High fans ultimately kept the team in Denver and the best football was yet to come.
