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The Broncos Story: From Outhouse Colors to Super Bowl Champions · Sports History Network

• 0:47
  Ladies and gentlemen, once again we have Scott Perry joining us here to talk about another piece of football history since 1970.
• 0:54
  And I think he's going to talk about a team he's very fond of.
• 0:56
  Scott, welcome back to the pig pen.
• 0:58
  Awesome.
• 0:58
  Darin, thanks for having me on the pig pen.
• 1:00
  It's great.
• 1:00
  I just appreciate the chance to tell about my crazy love of football.
• 1:05
  I am alter ego or Professor Perry.
• 1:08
  I wear a tie with, with all the different helmets on it.
• 1:12
  And as a helmet guy, I always ask people say, was this an NFC or AFC tie?
• 1:17
  Or I make an archaeologist.
• 1:19
  I can, I can look at a set of helmets and determine within two years of when this item was made because of how much, how often the helmets change.
• 1:28
  So I love the idea of being Professor Perry's segment on the day Pen.
• 1:34
  Well, we appreciate having you here.
• 1:36
  So judging by your background, I think you want to talk about a team that you live nearby.
• 1:42
  Yes, yes.
• 1:43
  So I am, I'm a fellow Long Islander and I don't know if you can see a picture of me in Rochester, New York on the grease jets.
• 1:51
  Greece is a suburb of Rochester and that was a Pop Warner football team.
• 1:55
  And I don't know, it's, it's bittersweet that I didn't play much.
• 1:59
  I was the kid that they said get the clipboard, check the four plays and then get them out, you know, and I only played one year and, and, but I, I, I'm at 59, I'm pretty healthy, not following
• 2:12
  a football career.
• 2:13
  I guess I have that to be proud of.
• 2:16
  But you know, I, I moved back and forth from Long island to Denver, back to Long island, back to Denver, up to Rochester, then back to Denver.
• 2:26
  Now I am broadcasting from Littleton, but I do live in Denver proper.
• 2:31
  So I want to talk about the history of Broncos because it is my favorite team and I'll talk.
• 2:39
  Well, no, I want to, I don't want to get into my history.
• 2:41
  I want to get into the team history.
• 2:42
  So the team started in 1960.
• 2:46
  Well, in the naming contest, somebody in Lakewood, just north of me knew that in the 20s there was a baseball team called the Denver Broncos.
• 2:55
  And he submitted that name in August of 59 and that became the name of the team.
• 3:01
  Now, you know, the lore is that there was a bowl game down in Tucson and the Housman's didn't have a lot of money so they bought the uniforms from the bowl game.
• 3:12
  And what is the most famous item in that uniform?
• 3:16
  Darren?
• 3:16
  You know what that is?
• 3:18
  Well, I remember the, the ugly.
• 3:20
  Like an ugly brown, if I remember seeing pictures of it.
• 3:23
  But I'm not sure what the item is you're talking about.
• 3:27
  It's kind of crass.
• 3:28
  But I talk about.
• 3:29
  The Broncos went from outhouse colors, brown and brown and mustard, sunset colors, orange and blue.
• 3:39
  So.
• 3:39
  But they wore brown and mustard striped vertical socks, and they burnt them all at midfield at the time when they were getting to be a little more established in the Denver community because it was an embarrassment.
• 3:51
  So outhouse colors, that.
• 3:54
  That's pretty humorous.
• 3:57
  That's a big deal.
• 3:58
  I mean.
• 3:59
  Yeah, right, right.
• 4:00
  I think I'd burn those socks, too.
• 4:02
  Okay, well, you know, if you don't live in Denver, you haven't seen the bumper sticker.
• 4:05
  It says that if God's not a Bronco fan, why are the sunsets blue and orange?
• 4:09
  Right.
• 4:10
  So that's, that's, that's very pertinent in my mind.
• 4:13
  So.
• 4:14
  Right.
• 4:15
  So that is the 60s.
• 4:18
  Denver was in danger of not becoming an NFL team.
• 4:20
  I think that, you know, I'm just fearful.
• 4:23
  I heard this, but I think Cleveland owner Art Modell said that that team is so horrific.
• 4:29
  And Art had a point.
• 4:30
  I mean, why.
• 4:31
  Why take the Broncos in with the other 10 other teams when they are such a pathetic franchise?
• 4:36
  And so when I, I give my talks, I talk about Denver having played 10 seasons, kickoff 60, the last gun goes off at the game of 69.
• 4:46
  Denver tied four games and had they had overtime and maybe would have lost those games, their record would have been 39 and 101.
• 4:54
  So my book starts in 1970, and there's compelling reasons.
• 5:00
  And quickly I want to cover that because in the NFL since 1960 doesn't have the AFL.
• 5:07
  They didn't play each other.
• 5:08
  So in 70, it was possible for my team to play the packers and every other interconference game to happen.
• 5:14
  But I mentioned the packers because only there's bookends.
• 5:17
  You see the bookends.
• 5:20
  The good team and the worst team.
• 5:23
  The good team would love to have the 60s included five championships.
• 5:27
  The packers would go up even higher.
• 5:28
  They're pretty high right now as of today, as from kickoff 70 till today.
• 5:33
  But then here's the other team at the other end, the Broncos.
• 5:36
  They 10199 victories, 97 losses and four ties.
• 5:42
  Denver, Denver, Colorado saw the Broncos win on average 3.9.
• 5:47
  We couldn't even average four.
• 5:48
  Four wins a season over that 10 years.
• 5:50
  So that's, that's the history of the AFL.
• 5:52
  And Modell's like, does that Team fit in.
• 5:56
  Maybe the stadium count isn't big enough.
• 5:58
  But then I think about, oh, you know, me being from Long island and being born in 67.
• 6:03
  I was there when Joe Namath guaranteed that the AFL would beat the NFL.
• 6:09
  And when that fact actually happened, I think that my buddy Joe Willie Namath helped my Broncos maybe clear that hurdle.
• 6:17
  You know what I'm saying, Darren?
• 6:20
  That was a big deal and you know it.
• 6:22
  Also, let's talk about the fact that there was 10 AFL teams and taking nine would have caused a bye week every week and that wouldn't have been cool.
• 6:29
  So maybe that was actually a factor.
• 6:31
  That's pretty, pretty pitiful.
• 6:33
  But anyway, that's how bad my Broncos were.
• 6:36
  So starting in 1970, Denver becomes a major league city.
• 6:41
  So we had an AFL at that point.
• 6:43
  We had an ABA Denver Rocket team.
• 6:47
  But Denver had no professional sports franchises at that point.
• 6:50
  And that's the start of the great city of Denver where they are now.
• 6:55
  I personally, I think they're a top three or five team in America when you factor in all the, all the franchises.
• 7:03
  So, so that's a big deal.
• 7:06
  My book keeps track of when a team becomes a winning organization.
• 7:11
  Now if you listen to us, last week you saw that the Buffalo Bills have a chance after the 26th season of becoming a non losing franchise and all of their NFL games played since the merger.
• 7:24
  But for Bronco fans, 1976 is such a big deal.
• 7:28
  And we, we celebrated our centennial where the Centennial State America turned 200, returned 100.
• 7:36
  We got the Kansas City NHL team.
• 7:39
  The Denver Nuggets became an NBA team, but the Broncos became a winning team.
• 7:45
  They went from 5 games under 500 from 70 to 76.
• 7:50
  Then they went 10 over when they finished 12 2.
• 7:54
  So here's a 17 year old franchise that had nothing to show for their history other than Floyd Little being a great running back out of Syracuse, getting into the hall of fame, retiring number 44.
• 8:06
  No fan ever had a poster of a Bronco quarterback on their wall because we borrowed the quarterback from the Oilers, Charlie Johnson and had to give him back.
• 8:16
  So that's a pretty pitiful pass.
• 8:18
  But now in 77, the corner is turned.
• 8:21
  We've been a winning organization and just shot up from then.
• 8:24
  So how are we doing on time there?
• 8:28
  Yep, you got four and a half minutes.
• 8:30
  Okay, great.
• 8:31
  All right, so I'm gonna cover that.
• 8:33
  So I mean, I just love the fact that, you know, 77, we win our first AFC championship, we have a total of eight.
• 8:41
  But I just love the fact that 10 years later we, we won the AFC championship again.
• 8:46
  And then 10 years after that we not only won the AFC championship, but we became world champions for the first time.
• 8:53
  So that's, that's pretty huge.
• 8:56
  There's so much to get into in that We, I mean we could, we could do an entire show on that section, but we beat the Packers.
• 9:03
  Packers are known as Title Town.
• 9:05
  Green Bay's beat up on Pittsburgh, New England, Oakland and Kansas City.
• 9:10
  Only as Bronco fans can wear our jersey and jacket in the Lambeau and feel proud that we're the only ones that beat Title Town in the Super Bowl.
• 9:18
  So that's, that's just a great part of our history.
• 9:21
  Then of course, the next year John Elway beats his former coach.
• 9:25
  One of my favorite personalities in pro football because he came to Denver, he created, improved on the Red Miller winning attitude.
• 9:33
  But John Elway beat the Falcons in his last game as a pro and won back to back super bowl championships for the Broncos back in 1999.
• 9:43
  January that game took place.
• 9:45
  So, but going back a little bit, the book is a result of, of Elway winning 11 games in 85 but losing to the Raiders twice in overtime and the end of the season with 11 wins.
• 10:01
  The Patriots had a better AFC record.
• 10:03
  They went on the road to Shea the LA Coliseum Orange bowl won all three games, got crushed by the Bears in New Orleans because that was the best ever defense and Tom Brady was 8 years old watching playing
• 10:16
  Legos in front of the TV in San Francisco.
• 10:19
  So.
• 10:20
  But I digress.
• 10:21
  So in 85, the Browns were 8 and 8, won their division, went to the playoffs.
• 10:26
  My Broncos at 11 and five stayed home.
• 10:31
  It's hard to, hard to fathom watching an 8 and 18 while your team won 11 games.
• 10:35
  But that's happened twice.
• 10:36
  So we can talk about the other occurrence of that sometime in the future.
• 10:38
  But, and that's, we're talking about the state of football right now and there's a lot of people that would like to see the seating change or teams with double digit wins not become the redheaded stepchild to the team
• 10:53
  that's under 500 but wonder division right there.
• 10:56
  Yeah, that's true.
• 10:58
  So anyway, I'm going to close with this point.
• 11:01
  I mean I finished this book after the 2009 season.
• 11:04
  Ironically, that was when Peyton beat Peyton in the Super Bowl.
• 11:09
  Archie's watching his Saints, my second favorite team play against his son.
• 11:14
  But Sean Payton, the current Bronco coach, he came out at halftime and he kicked the onside kick and he was able to defeat Peyton Manning in that game.
• 11:25
  But I bring that up because after I finished after that game was over, I started the process of this book and it was a long process, but I got done and I thought of why don't I take every
• 11:34
  decade and and I know there are no show this page, but if you look at every decade that's completed 70 through the end of the 2019 season, my Broncos are ranked 8th or better after each decade's ended.
• 11:48
  So you add up those positions and divide by five we are 6.8 and we are the most consistent winning organization in pro football.
• 11:58
  And that so I need Dallas and Pittsburgh to have some mediocre seasons the rest of this decade so my team can maintain my wacky stat that shows consistent football comes out of Denver more than any other city.
• 12:11
  So I'm going to end on that note.
• 12:12
  I just appreciate the chance to pump.
• 12:15
  Up my Broncos Interesting folks.
• 12:18
  If you want to get a copy of Scott's book, we make it really easy for you.
• 12:22
  You can go in the show notes of the podcast or the YouTube channel we have.
• 12:26
  Our affiliate link will take you right to Scott's book and you'll be able to help the author out and get it.
• 12:31
  And also with no extra cost to you, we'll help Pigskin Dispatch out by using our affiliate link.
• 12:37
  So Scott, we really appreciate you coming on here and talking about this great football history.
• 12:41
  We'd love to talk to you about another team next week.
• 12:46
  That's all the football history we have today, folks.
• 12:48
  Join us back tomorrow for more of your football history.
• 12:53
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• 13:06
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• 13:19
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• 13:27
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• 13:29
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• 13:32
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