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77: Denver, the Broncos, and a Coming of Age
Asserting that the 1977 AFC champion Denver Broncos were the tipping point for the transformation of Denver, Colorado from an outpost city with an inferiority complex to today's sports and entertainment mecca, award-winning author Terry Frei provides an intimate look at both a professional sports team and the city it brought together at a time of great change. Frei offers profiles of catalyst coach Red Miller and such legendary players as Randy Gradishar, Craig Morton, Louis Wright, Billy Thompson, Tom Jackson, and Lyle Alzado, but doesn't stop there, making readers feel as if they intimately know virtually everyone on the roster as the often ground-breaking narrative of that season continues. Frei describes Denver's evolving politics that year--when Richard Lamm was a young and controversial governor and Bill McNichols was one of the last machine-style mayors--plus the metro-area culture in the late 1970s as the Broncos go from victory to victory on their way to their first Super Bowl. As '77 wide receiver Haven Moses, part of the famed M&M Connection, put it, "Denver should have gotten the Nobel Peace Prize that year. There was more done that year to bring people together than I've ever seen in my life . . . And this brought attention to what Denver was about to become."
352 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2007
6 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Terry Frei
17 books3 followers Award-winning journalist, author, and screenwriter Terry Frei is in his second stint at the Denver Post. He has been sports columnist for the Portland Oregonian, a football writer for the Sporting News, and an ESPN.com hockey columnist. Among his six previous books are Third Down and a War to Go, ’77: Denver, the Broncos, and a Coming of Age, and Olympic Affair. His web site is www.terryfrei.com.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 21, 2024
About two thirds of the book was pretty good, it dealt with the team and the players. The other third was random thoughts about other things happening in Denver that people who are actually from there wouldn't care about let alone anyone not from there. Still thought the individual games could have been given more of a write up.
Can't recommend, overall it's ok but at times it's a slog getting through the non football parts. It was a hell of a team, the book didn't need anything but them.
Can't recommend, overall it's ok but at times it's a slog getting through the non football parts. It was a hell of a team, the book didn't need anything but them.
July 8, 2021
I have been a Broncos fan for about 40 years but a football fan since 1969. Before I was a Broncos fan, the Vikings were my team. At the time, home games weren't televised even if they sold out and the Vikings were on TV all the time. In '77, I was still bleeding purple even though the local team was much improved. But, frankly, it annoyed me how many people said they were Broncos fans but didn't know who John Ralston was, and had never heard of Steve Tensi or Pete Liske. I didn't understand how someone who didn't know anything about the '76 Broncos could call themselves a Broncos fan. "No true Scotsman" and all that.
The book attempts to put the Broncos season in the context of Denver losing its cow-town status. I'm not sure Frei succeeded, but that's probably due to my own story. I graduated the same high school as the author, a few years after him, in 1977. At 18, I had no real sense of history. Denver post-1977 didn't seem any different than pre-1977. But what did I know?
I like that the book is more about the players than about the games. Each game gets only a page or two; the longest account of a game is about the same length as the shortest player bio. And, of course, there's a chapter at the end that gives us the lowdown on what everybody did after that season.
The book attempts to put the Broncos season in the context of Denver losing its cow-town status. I'm not sure Frei succeeded, but that's probably due to my own story. I graduated the same high school as the author, a few years after him, in 1977. At 18, I had no real sense of history. Denver post-1977 didn't seem any different than pre-1977. But what did I know?
I like that the book is more about the players than about the games. Each game gets only a page or two; the longest account of a game is about the same length as the shortest player bio. And, of course, there's a chapter at the end that gives us the lowdown on what everybody did after that season.
July 5, 2020
This was a very fun read. A revisit to the Broncos 1977 Super Bowl season. It was also the first year I had season tickets to the games and it was a blast. The author is a local whose dad was a Broncos assistant coach during this season and there are many details I learned from this book or had plain forgotten. Also the author sprinkles in throughout the book references to businesses, restaurants and bars which were in business in Denver in 1977. As I said a fun read but realistically only for Broncos fans.
November 25, 2024
Terry Frei was just cutting his teeth as a sports reporter in the Denver area during 1977 and effectively uses a memoir style to give this book very much a snapshot-in-time feel that will particularly resonate with readers, like this reviewer, who lived in the Rocky Mountain region during the time. It very much reminds me of another of my favorite memoir-styled books that centers on a particular sports team, Roger Kahn's great The Boys of Summer.
September 2, 2024
Great read for passionate Bronco fans, for the nostalgia, if nothing else.
October 24, 2012
The book chronicles the 1977 Denver Broncos and how that team changed the city. Pre-1977, the Broncos had played 17 seasons without ever making the playoffs and only enjoying a handful of winning seasons. To the outside world, Denver was viewed as a "cow town" or just another midwestern outpost of little consequence to anyone living on the coasts. Or so I'm told. I was two years old during the 1977 NFL season.
Much of the book is devoted to brief biographies of many of the players from the 1977 team, including the stories of how they became Broncos. I thought it was interesting that most of them, when learning they had been drafted by Denver, either had the thought that they needed to find a map or that they were going to freeze to death. So that kind of reinforces the idea that the average U.S. citizen knew very little about Denver, Colorado in that era.
Of course, Frei goes through the events of the 1977 season. I was impressed that he kept descriptions of the game action brief - there was some real potential to get bogged down there. Throughout the book, he weaves in many significant non-Bronco news events that were happening at the same time the Broncos were making their historic run to the Super Bowl. Some were sports related - in 1977, the Denver Nuggets were transitioning from the old ABA to the NBA and Denver also had a new NHL franchise - the Colorado Rockies. Also during the latter stages of 1977, Marvin Davis reached an agreement with Charlie Finley to buy the Oakland A's and bring major league baseball to Denver, although in the end the deal fell through. What an exciting time it must have been to be a sports fan in Colorado!
As I said before, I was born in 1975, so I have no actual recollection of anything regarding the 1977 team. I first became a Bronco fan as a 9-year-old at the beginning of the Elway Era. That being said, I'm still a huge fan of the 1977 Denver Broncos. I've read the books and seen the highlight videos and I'm envious of anyone who was able to experience that team firsthand and see the Orange Crush defense at its absolute apex.
Probably my favorite story, which Frei does an excellent job retelling in the book, is about Craig Morton leading the Broncos to victory in the AFC championship game over the Oakland Raiders even though one of his legs was seriously messed up. He'd spent the entire week beforehand in the hospital, and the team did everything they could to keep that fact under wraps while the doctors tried, without much luck, to drain blood from the leg. So he shows up at the stadium and his teammates are astonished that he was going to play even though his leg was totally black and blue. So Red Miller has to tie his shoes for him, and he tells his teammates that if he doesn't get hit, they'll win the football game. Which they do, 20-17, to advance to the Super Bowl. He was an aging quarterback who hadn't really had a stellar career and had bounced from team to team, and that was the defining moment of his career. It's just so Hollywood - I can't believe no one has produced the Craig Morton Story for the big screen. The NFL probably wouldn't allow it anyways.
The final point that Frei makes in the book is that the season forever changed how the Denver fan views his teams. The success of the 1977 Broncos was so new, so fresh, so exciting. And things will never be like that again - there can only be one first time. I totally agree - and the Super Bowl championships of 1997 and 1998 only made it more so. For example, I really enjoyed the 2005 version of the Broncos, who went 13-3 and advanced to the AFC Championship game. But because they failed to break through for another Super Bowl victory, that team is already long forgotten. Jake Plummer, an MVP candidate in 2005, was run out of town a year later and regarded as a failure by fans and media alike.
It's kind of sad that any kind of success will go unappreciated by many in Colorado from here on out unless it results in a Lombardi Trophy, the Stanley Cup, or a World Series title. And that is why the 1977 Broncos are special - they were (and are) regarded as champions even though they didn't finish the year on top.
Much of the book is devoted to brief biographies of many of the players from the 1977 team, including the stories of how they became Broncos. I thought it was interesting that most of them, when learning they had been drafted by Denver, either had the thought that they needed to find a map or that they were going to freeze to death. So that kind of reinforces the idea that the average U.S. citizen knew very little about Denver, Colorado in that era.
Of course, Frei goes through the events of the 1977 season. I was impressed that he kept descriptions of the game action brief - there was some real potential to get bogged down there. Throughout the book, he weaves in many significant non-Bronco news events that were happening at the same time the Broncos were making their historic run to the Super Bowl. Some were sports related - in 1977, the Denver Nuggets were transitioning from the old ABA to the NBA and Denver also had a new NHL franchise - the Colorado Rockies. Also during the latter stages of 1977, Marvin Davis reached an agreement with Charlie Finley to buy the Oakland A's and bring major league baseball to Denver, although in the end the deal fell through. What an exciting time it must have been to be a sports fan in Colorado!
As I said before, I was born in 1975, so I have no actual recollection of anything regarding the 1977 team. I first became a Bronco fan as a 9-year-old at the beginning of the Elway Era. That being said, I'm still a huge fan of the 1977 Denver Broncos. I've read the books and seen the highlight videos and I'm envious of anyone who was able to experience that team firsthand and see the Orange Crush defense at its absolute apex.
Probably my favorite story, which Frei does an excellent job retelling in the book, is about Craig Morton leading the Broncos to victory in the AFC championship game over the Oakland Raiders even though one of his legs was seriously messed up. He'd spent the entire week beforehand in the hospital, and the team did everything they could to keep that fact under wraps while the doctors tried, without much luck, to drain blood from the leg. So he shows up at the stadium and his teammates are astonished that he was going to play even though his leg was totally black and blue. So Red Miller has to tie his shoes for him, and he tells his teammates that if he doesn't get hit, they'll win the football game. Which they do, 20-17, to advance to the Super Bowl. He was an aging quarterback who hadn't really had a stellar career and had bounced from team to team, and that was the defining moment of his career. It's just so Hollywood - I can't believe no one has produced the Craig Morton Story for the big screen. The NFL probably wouldn't allow it anyways.
The final point that Frei makes in the book is that the season forever changed how the Denver fan views his teams. The success of the 1977 Broncos was so new, so fresh, so exciting. And things will never be like that again - there can only be one first time. I totally agree - and the Super Bowl championships of 1997 and 1998 only made it more so. For example, I really enjoyed the 2005 version of the Broncos, who went 13-3 and advanced to the AFC Championship game. But because they failed to break through for another Super Bowl victory, that team is already long forgotten. Jake Plummer, an MVP candidate in 2005, was run out of town a year later and regarded as a failure by fans and media alike.
It's kind of sad that any kind of success will go unappreciated by many in Colorado from here on out unless it results in a Lombardi Trophy, the Stanley Cup, or a World Series title. And that is why the 1977 Broncos are special - they were (and are) regarded as champions even though they didn't finish the year on top.
Read
November 3, 2008Anyone who was in Denver - or anywhere in the Rocky Mountain Region - in 1977 would appreciate this book.
77 you ask? Why 77?
Because - in case some of you don't know this already - 1977 was a huge year for Denver and for the Denver Broncos.
How can we possibly convey the excitement of those times to those of you who weren't around then? It was the first time the Broncos made it to the Super Bowl. The town went crazy, with orange everything everywhere. It was the year of the Orange Crush. It was the first year Denver highlights(finally) made it to Monday Night Football with Howard Cosell. It was Red Miller and the M&M connection, Jim Turner's black high tops, and Tom Jackson and Rick Upchurch, Randy Gradishar and Lyle Alzado. It was Jon Keyworth singing "Make those Miracles Happen" and Queen singing "We Will, We Will Rock You". It was the year I officially became a Broncos fan, I think when we defeated the Oakland Raiders in Game 5 to start the season 5-0, the Broncos best start ever. Seriously, the priest at our Catholic Church spoke about the Broncos during mass and wished us all an "Orange
Crushmas". Denver bled orange and blue that year. There was orange absolutely everywhere. Unfortunately, in Jan. 1978, the stupid Dallas Cowboys defeated the Broncos in Super Bowl XII in New Orleans. Not until 20 years later, in
1997/98 did John Elway, as you know, finally win a Super Bowl for Denver. That was really exciting, too. But even that didn't compare to 1977. In 1977 we had the parade BEFORE we went to the Super Bowl. 1977 was such an amazing year. 1977 was a phenomenon to behold.
And now there's a book about it.
Anne K
77 you ask? Why 77?
Because - in case some of you don't know this already - 1977 was a huge year for Denver and for the Denver Broncos.
How can we possibly convey the excitement of those times to those of you who weren't around then? It was the first time the Broncos made it to the Super Bowl. The town went crazy, with orange everything everywhere. It was the year of the Orange Crush. It was the first year Denver highlights(finally) made it to Monday Night Football with Howard Cosell. It was Red Miller and the M&M connection, Jim Turner's black high tops, and Tom Jackson and Rick Upchurch, Randy Gradishar and Lyle Alzado. It was Jon Keyworth singing "Make those Miracles Happen" and Queen singing "We Will, We Will Rock You". It was the year I officially became a Broncos fan, I think when we defeated the Oakland Raiders in Game 5 to start the season 5-0, the Broncos best start ever. Seriously, the priest at our Catholic Church spoke about the Broncos during mass and wished us all an "Orange
Crushmas". Denver bled orange and blue that year. There was orange absolutely everywhere. Unfortunately, in Jan. 1978, the stupid Dallas Cowboys defeated the Broncos in Super Bowl XII in New Orleans. Not until 20 years later, in
1997/98 did John Elway, as you know, finally win a Super Bowl for Denver. That was really exciting, too. But even that didn't compare to 1977. In 1977 we had the parade BEFORE we went to the Super Bowl. 1977 was such an amazing year. 1977 was a phenomenon to behold.
And now there's a book about it.
Anne K
November 7, 2017
An enjoyable read. I was a college student in the southeast looking forward to the day I could move to Colorado. I'd never even visited Colorado but I knew I wanted to live here. The '77 Broncos story was so exciting and I wanted so for them to win the Super Bowl. That was Rob Lytle's rookie season and I had always liked him when he was playing college ball at Michigan, even though I wasn't and am not a Michigan fan nor hater. Honestly I was surprised when I walked into the Super Bowl party at my fraternity and discovered I was one of the very few people pulling for the Broncos, if for no other reason than so many of my friends were big fans of Colorado and L.A. music.
Frei does an excellent job of meshing the Broncos' story with contemporary local events and makes a compelling case that the Broncos' success in that fateful 1977 season was a key element of Denver's - the city's and metropolitan area's - coming of age and becoming a national city and not just a regional city. Given that, '77 is a good book to read for those interested in that period of Denver and Colorado history - whether or not they care much for football.
Frei does an excellent job of meshing the Broncos' story with contemporary local events and makes a compelling case that the Broncos' success in that fateful 1977 season was a key element of Denver's - the city's and metropolitan area's - coming of age and becoming a national city and not just a regional city. Given that, '77 is a good book to read for those interested in that period of Denver and Colorado history - whether or not they care much for football.
December 13, 2008
This started out as a great history of Denver, and as someone who grew up in Denver in the 80s it was very interesting to see that many of the things that I took for granted as just part of the nature of the city actually took shape in '77. As one might expect, the sports reporting is top notch, and it painted a more vivid picture of that Broncos team than what I had been able to glean from watching one of their games on ESPN Classic a few years ago.
The book rated lower for me because it really limped to the finish. It may be a problem with the material more than anything else, but the chapter on the Super Bowl was disappointingly anti-climatic. The bigger problem was that the final chapter was a real clunker, and I'm surprised that Frei thought he could get away with ending a book with such a list-like epilogue.
With all that said, I did still enjoy it, and I think it's worth a read for anyone who is interested the city of Denver or in the recent history of football. It could have been something great, but it's hard for any book to recover from a weak ending.
The book rated lower for me because it really limped to the finish. It may be a problem with the material more than anything else, but the chapter on the Super Bowl was disappointingly anti-climatic. The bigger problem was that the final chapter was a real clunker, and I'm surprised that Frei thought he could get away with ending a book with such a list-like epilogue.
With all that said, I did still enjoy it, and I think it's worth a read for anyone who is interested the city of Denver or in the recent history of football. It could have been something great, but it's hard for any book to recover from a weak ending.
October 2, 2013
I've read a few other books detailing Bronco history, including "Then Morton Said To Elway" and "The Game Of My Life". This book contains some of the same stories, but provides additional insight. Since the author, Terry Frei, was a sportswriter during the time the events occurred, he has details recorded that others didn't. He also has a different perspective than that of the authors of those other two books, Jim Saccomano and Craig Morton, since they both worked for the Broncos. Frei also adds in information about other thing occurring in Denver during that time span, allowing those of us that live here some perspective. Add to that the fact that Frei's brother and father were both employed by the Broncos at the time, and you find that he really does gave a full view of what was going on. I found it a very interesting and insightful read. My only criticism would be that I would have preferred him to provide dates to some events so that we could see how it all was unfolding.
June 23, 2010
Great book for any true Bronco fan. It chronicles the rise of the Broncos from laughing stock to that magical season of 1977. Perhaps as interesting, attention is paid to the growth of Denver as a city. Probably best be appreciated by those who are old enough to remember the team and city as it was in '77. Disclaimer: The reviewer, Dr Ramirez, claims to have been only 2 years old in 1977.
June 19, 2008
Great history of Denver
April 5, 2010
Hey, what can I say?
June 4, 2010
Bronco fans past & present will enjoy Frei's ode to Denver's first championship-caliber team.
July 3, 2012
A surprisingly well written and well researched trip down memory lane.
December 24, 2012
For those if us who were Bronco fans since the sixties, this was full of great memories. The breakout year for the Broncos was an amazing time, and Terry Frei captures it perfectly.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews