That's me with my son Andrew Monday night at the new location for two of my Denver Bronco season tickets - a prime viewing spot in the West Stands on the 30 yard line! Here's a view of game action from my seats:
To the right of us in our section I noticed a large group wearing jerseys with "Lock" name labels on their backs. "That's Drew Lock's Dad and family," Andrew said, showing me a picture on his phone of the elder Lock he had looked up on the internet. "And there's Dalton Risner's parents to the left." Andrew had noticed the Bronco rookie offensive lineman, Dalton Risner, waving to an elderly couple wearing "Risner" jerseys. "How in the world did I luck into such good seats - in the same area where the players' families sit??!!!" I thought to myself. I then remembered a series of "fortunate events" that brought me to this moment, events spanning back over 60 years that I had no control over!
Event 1: My Mom's Rheumatic Fever
I come from an Italian-American family. My Grandparents on both sides immigrated from Italy, and settled in the New York/New Jersey area of the country. "Larison doesn't sound Italian," you may think. That's another story (my Dad changed his last name from Lasaracino in his 20's)
There was no motivation for my family ever to move from New Jersey except for one unfortunate reason - my Mom's repeated bouts with Rheumatic Fever. "You have to move to a dry climate," her doctor said, to avoid another occurrence of the disease. And that's why my family moved to the high and dry climate of Denver in 1959, the same year a local football team named "The Broncos" was founded.
Had my Mom not contracted Rheumatic Fever I'd still be living in New Jersey, probably as a NY Jets fan, or worse, as a NY Giants fan! The chances of me getting season tickets to the NY football Giants?? Slim and none! That franchise had an established fan base going back decades.
Event 2: The Kennedy Assassination
I don't mean to make light of the assassination of our nation's 35th President. Yet this tragedy indirectly led to my beginnings as a Bronco fan. You see, my Dad had a co-worker who was distraught about the assassination. This co-worker was in no mood to attend a football game a few days later on Thanksgiving Day 1963. So he gave his tickets to my Dad for the Denver Broncos/Oakland Raiders game that day - good sideline seats too! Dad brought me and my brother Dave to the game (the Broncos would not have another Thanksgiving home game until 2009). It was my first Bronco game ever.
As a 7 year old, I don't remember much about the game. I do remember Bronco rookie running back Billy Joe. My 7 year old brain questioned - is his name Billy or Joe?? But I also remembered the excitement of the crowd. I begged Dad to take me again to a game!
Event 3: Watching Games from "The Hill"
My Dad was good about bringing my brother and I to sports events occasionally - we were in the stands when the Broncos beat the Jets 16-13 in 1965 (Joe Namath's rookie year). My Dad had no interest in getting Bronco season tickets, though (raising a family with 5 kids on his Martin Marietta salary, he watched his money closely). How would my brother Dave, my friend Greg, and I get to experience more Bronco football? That's where "The Hill" comes in:
As pictured in the circled area above, the home of the Broncos - Bears Stadium which later would become Mile High Stadium - had a gap between the West and South stands. We figured out from this vantage point ("The Hill" was a name we made up) we could see 3/4ths of the field and watch Bronco home games for free! So we had my Dad drop us off at the stadium where we would watch most Bronco home games from 1965-1967 from our cherished "Hill" location. And we discovered that the Broncos would open the gates and let everyone in the stadium with about 6 minutes to go in the 4th quarter of games. Watching games from "The Hill" for three and a half quarters, and from inside the stadium for the rest worked for us!
Event 4: My Brother's Friend Bill Wants Season Tickets
The thought of buying Bronco season tickets never occurred to me until in 1968 when my brother's friend Bill suggested to Dave that they get season tickets together in the South Stands. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, my friend Greg said "why don't we get season tickets, too?" The problem: my Dad wasn't going to pay for me to get a season ticket. Though I would jump at the chance of buying a Bronco season ticket, how would I afford it on the meager $25 I had in savings?
Event 5: The Broncos Offer a $2/game Kids Ticket
Greg and I learned that the Broncos in 1968 offered a $2 per game ticket in the end zone for kids 12 and under. Being age 12 at the time, that worked for Greg and I! So for a lofty sum of $14 (7 home games were included in the season ticket) I bought one single season ticket - my seat was next to my friend Greg's. We sat in the middle of the South Stands (row 39, seats 23 and 24). Back in 2009 I wrote a blog post about all those memorable years with my South Stands seats, you can read it here: "Growing Up In The South Stands"
In 1968 the Broncos didn't include the preseason games in their season ticket package. Greg and I still wanted to go to preseason games, so we returned to "The Hill" to watch the preseason home games for free before attending regular season games in our South Stands seats.
At one preseason game a guy with a local youth organization was giving out tickets to give low income kids a chance to attend a Bronco home game. Before one preseason game he saw Greg and I on "The Hill" and gave me two tickets to get us into the stadium to watch the game. Little did he know he was giving complementary tickets to a 12 year old Broncos season ticket holder!
I think back on how fortunate the timing of all this was. The Broncos had that $2/game kids ticket in 1968. Just two years later there was no "kids ticket" (I would have been too old to qualify for it anyway). And two years later the entire stadium was sold out with season tickets - a sellout streak that continues to this day.
Event 6: My Friend Greg Tires of the Broncos
Oh those were fun years watching Bronco home games from the South Stands, especially the miracle 1977 season where the Broncos surprised the NFL by going to their first Super Bowl. By the early 80's, though, my friend Greg tired of going to Bronco games. So I bought the rights to his season tickets (you could do that back then). Now I was the proud owner of two Bronco season tickets! I attended many Bronco home games through the 80's, 90's, and up until the new stadium opened in 2001 in my two South Stand seats. It was nice through my good fortune to be able to give a friend or a family member the chance to attend a Bronco game with me over those years.
Event 7: Coors Field Opens in 1995
Coors Field? What's that have to do with the Broncos? Well Coors Field introduced the luxury seating concept of a "club level". I'm not just a Bronco fan, but a fan of all Denver sports teams, so I bought a share of club level season tickets (20 games) for the Rockies that inaugural season . For one club level game I brought my friend Jeff who I worked with. Jeff was blown away by the club level - "this is the way I like to watch a game!" he said.
Jeff also owned two Bronco season tickets. When the new Bronco stadium opened in 2001 he wanted to get club level seats. Problem was - the Broncos were selling club level seats to anybody - you couldn't transfer your current season tickets to the club level.
I was able to hook up Jeff with another friend of mine, a rancher from southern Colorado, and together they bought two club level seats. Jeff, being thankful I set him up with a Broncos club level partner, sold me the rights to his two sideline Bronco tickets located around the 5 yard line. Now I was the owner of four Bronco season tickets! (my original two in the end zone upper deck, and two on the 5 yard line lower level)
Event 8 - My Friend David Buys Full Seasons of Bronco Tickets
I had another friend, David, who was interested in getting Bronco tickets of his own. I wasn't sure I would use all four of my season tickets (especially since they were located in different areas of the stadium). David said he'd buy a full season of Bronco tickets from me, which he did! I sold him my 5 yard line seats from 2001 until this past season. But that was soon to change ...
Event 9 - Broncos hire Vance Joseph
The Broncos have gone through two bad seasons after the hiring of Vance Joseph as head coach with a record of 11 wins 21 losses over his two seasons. Thankfully the Broncos have moved on from Vance Joseph but that didn't stop my friend David of tiring of going to Bronco games. "They'll be lucky to win 3 games this season," David said in telling me he no longer wanted to buy a season's worth of tickets from me.
That left me with two end zone seats and two seats on the 5 yard line as season tickets. I decided to keep the lower level seats for another year and use the extras for family and friends.
Event 10 - Broncos Allow Seat Upgrades Online - Bingo!
Every season since 2002 I had tried to upgrade the 2 seats I had on the 5 yard line to be more midfield. No luck. When the upgrade process came along there was nothing available. This year, however, was different.
I logged on to the Broncos site exactly when upgrades became available for my seats. My upper deck end zone seats were fine - nothing close to an improvement was available for those seats. My lower level 5 yard line seats were different. The seating map showed two seats available on the 30 yard line, West Side. There was NOTHING available otherwise until the 5 yard line.
I grabbed those two 30 yard line seats. Bingo! Now I have two pairs of Bronco season tickets - one pair in a prime corner end zone location in the second deck and another pair on the 30 yard line in the lower level. Had a waited just a few minutes longer those 30 yard line seats would likely have been taken by someone else.
Unlike my friends Greg and David I will NEVER tire of going to Bronco games, even if they win two games this year. I plan on keeping these season tickets!
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