Denver Broncos owner, Pat Bowlen has died. He owned the team for more than 30 years. Bowlen was the fourth principal owner of the Broncos and undoubtedly, its most successful.
In recent years, he was stricken by Alzheimer's Disease. Bowlen died of complications from the disease of Thursday.
He was accomplished in different fields
Bowlen was a native of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. His father had originally been from Canada. The elder Bowlen would become a millionaire in the oil business.
In Prairie du Chien, Pat Bowlen attended Campion High School, an elite Roman Catholic boarding school.
He was a member of the school's football, ice hockey, and track teams. One of his classmates was George Blaha. Blaha would become the tv and radio voice of the NBA's Detroit Pistons. He would also become the radio voice of Michigan State University's football and men's basketball teams. Bowlen and Blaha shared a decades-long friendship.
After graduating high school, Bowlen obtained multiple degrees from the University of Oklahoma. Briefly, he was a member of the university football team under future Hall of Fame coach Bud Wilkinson. He would eventually go to Canada and become a successful lawyer in Edmonton, Alberta. Over time, he got involved in various business pursuits. They include real estate and mining.
As an owner of the Broncos, Bowlen was known to have a unique leadership style, as the Sentinel Colorado reports. And it worked well. The Broncos went to seven Super Bowls under Bowlen's ownership, winning three. Bowlen was also popular with his players and coaches, as NFL.com indicates.
Reportedly, Bowlen had made bids to buy the San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys prior to the Broncos.
Obviously, he never obtained either of them. His chance to be an NFL team owner would come later on.
In 2019, it was announced that he had been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Previously, In 2015, Bowlen was made part of the Broncos Ring of Honor. That year, he was also inducted in the Colorado Business Hall of Fame.
Bowlen was also successful in other sports leagues
During the 1960s, Bowlen played for the Edmonton Huskies, a junior league football team. With the Huskies, he would win two league championships. Before purchasing the Broncos, he nearly bought the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.
Bowlen was a minority owner of the Arena Football League's Colorado Crush. The Crush would win ArenaBowl XIX.
But Bowlen's most successful sports franchise was actually the Denver Outlaws of Major League Lacrosse. The team has made the championship game on eight occasions, winning three of them.
