Longtime Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen passed away Thursday at the age of 75 after having a lengthy fight with Alzheimer’s disease.
Super Bowl-winning quarterback Peyton Manning shared the Bowlen’s push to win him to sign with Denver after his period Indianapolis ended. Manning expressed his gratitude to the late owner in a statement issued Saturday.
“My deepest sympathies go out to the entire Bowlen household,” Manning said. “I met with Mr. Bowlen for the very first time once I played the Indianapolis Colts and that I had been in Hawaii at the Pro Bowl if he was also there at his eponymous home. I saw him a few times throughout the years and had brief, brief conversations with him which I really enjoyed.
“Coming to perform here for Denver, even though his health was falling, I did enjoy a couple of discussions with Mr. Bowlen. Within my first year in 2012, I was here a lot in the offseason. As soon as I signed with the Broncos, I was basically living at the centre — studying movie, rehabbing and working out. I was usually one of the last to leave the facility during this time. I say,’I thought I was the last to leave,’ but Mr. Bowlen was still there. He’d usually be in the practice room on the elliptical, and I would go in there and have conversations with him. He had been asking me if we found a place to live yet, and I recall once I told him we discovered a place to live, he told me he used to live right near there, and we talked a little about that. Just brief, brief conversations, and that I enjoyed that time .
“It was an honor to play Mr. Bowlen’s organization, as I’ve said several occasions. I always had great respect for the Denver Broncos during my time playing with the Colts competing against his or her organization. So a lot of the credit goes to Pat Bowlen along with his desire to be the best and to triumph. That had a lot to do with me signing up with the Denver Broncos — that I knew Mr. Bowlen was about winning and that I knew the people that he had hired would carry on that tradition and legacy. It was a fantastic choice to come play here — we live here now. I am thankful for Mr. Bowlen and the heritage He’s established with the Broncos, in the NFL and certainly within this Denver community. Many will miss him. It was an honor to know Mr. Bowlen and a true joy to have played his team — the Denver Broncos.”
Bowlen will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame together with the 2019 class this August in Canton, Ohio.

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