When the Thursday afternoon Pueblo West-Evergreen girls game opens the Class 4A and 5A high school tournament’s three-day run at the Denver Coliseum, the teams will be playing in the moment, perhaps hoping to be able to talk about the game years down the road. Neither they nor the other boys and girls teams that take to the court through Saturday night’s 5A boys championship game are likely to allow their minds to stray enough to hear the echoes of history in the historic building on the National Western complex grounds in the Elyria-Swansea neighborhood of Denver’s northeast side.
Yet let it get silent. Maybe in the moments before the national anthem. They’re there. The echoes. From National Western Stock Show rodeos, circuses, rock ‘n’ roll (real rock ‘n’ roll), ice shows, hockey, high school basketball over the years … and more. Much more. So much, the objection to this story will be, “Hey, what about …”
In many ways, the glory years came between the Coliseum’s 1951 opening and the completion of that wonderful, spanking-new, state-of-the-art McNichols Sports Arena in 1975. After that, the Coliseum went from a showcase to Denver’s second-string, blue-collar alternative venue.
It has played on, through renovations that sometimes seem more like putting earrings on swine contestants in the stock show. Even after the demolition of the suddenly obsolete McNichols Arena, the Coliseum is now often the alternative to the Pepsi Center’s alternative venues, to the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, to the University of Denver’s Magness Arena, even to Fiddler’s Green and Red Rocks.
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This state tournament marks the return of the Class 4A and 5A championship games to the Coliseum, which has been the site of “Great 8” games in recent years. This is subjective, of course, but to many what remains the landmark high school basketball game in Colorado was the Class AAA (the top classification at the time) state championship game in 1972 matching the Denver Prep League’s Manual Thunderbolts and the Jefferson County League’s Wheat Ridge Farmers. City kids versus suburban kids.
It was a sellout, standing room only at 11,000, more than a thousand over capacity … and we can only say this now because the fire marshal’s statute of limitations expired long ago.
The Farmers, with senior stars Dave Logan (bound for the University of Colorado, the Cleveland Browns … and beyond), Jeff Fosnes (Vanderbilt) and Steve Cribari (DU), had lost in the state title game the year before to Colorado Springs Mitchell, but were undefeated in 1972. The Thunderbolts were guided by a 28-year-old coach, Lonnie Porter, who defiantly said Manual was carrying the DPL flag. With forward Ernest Martin hitting several key shots and free throws down the stretch, Manual knocked off the Farmers 64-60. Center Cedric Milton, headed for Michigan State, added 11 points.
“The big man was with us,” Porter said. “I’m going right down to the New Hope Baptist Church and if the door is locked, I’ll be on the steps praying. We’re no saints, but we’re not too grown up to believe in God. … We won this championship for Denver, the Denver Prep League and for our community.”
Guard Reggie Norman said the Thunderbolts “beat the unbeatable team,” and Milton added, “Maybe we didn’t play as well as we can, but we brought the big bowl back home.”
Farmers coach Mike Frink, a Wheat Ridge alum, alluded to his team’s consecutive runner-up finishes. “You hope and you dream, but your dreams don’t always come true.”
By then, the Coliseum had been open for nearly 21 years.
From Nov. 8-13, 1951, the first event in the $2.3 million new arena was the six-day run of Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies of 1952, with world champion Aja Vrzanova among the cast of 127 skaters. At the time, Denver — minus any major-league sports teams — still was an outpost with an inferiority complex. The Coliseum was a puff-out-your-chest step toward the big time when “A Streetcar Named Desire” with Vivian Leigh and Marlon Brando was playing at the RKO-Orpheum at 16th Street and Welton.
Covering the opening night of the ice show, the Denver Post labeled the Coliseum “a concrete monument to public entertainment … From its island-in-the-sky spotlight towners to its huge parking area and its total lack of view-obstructed pillars, to its wide aisles and roomy seats, the glittering Coliseum rated a ‘perfect’ from the first-night crowd.”
Two months later, on Jan. 10, 1952, Hollywood star June Haver was the congenial hostess, joining master of ceremonies Walter O’Keefe, host of NBC’s “Double or Nothing,” at the Coliseum’s official dedication on the eve of that year’s stock show. Bands from the area colleges and universities played and, in homage to the annual visitors to Denver, Denver Mayor Quigg Newton called the Coliseum “a tribute to our farmer and rancher neighbors.”
On April 8, 1956, 21-year-old Elvis Aaron Presley played the Coliseum, drawing a total of 16,000 for two shows. The review in the Rocky Mountain News was headlined: “Rage over Elvis Presley Is a Bit Sickening.” Wrote the reviewer: “As far as I’m concerned, I hope this rage passes as quickly as it has sprung up … Elvis strides on stage, takes a wide-legged stance, grabs up a guitar, gives it a couple of whangs, opens his mouth and starts gyrating. He shivers and shakes, he quivers and quakes. The faster E. Presley moves, the more agitated the crowd becomes. . . It was a tossup which was worse, Elvis or his fans. I’d say the edge goes to Elvis.”
The News writer noted that an announcer implored the crowd, “If you want to see Elvis Presley in the pictures, write Paramount Pictures.” Then the writer added, “As far as I can learn from Paramount’s local office, there is no deal cooking on Presley.”
Elvis’ fans bombarded the News with letters to the editor in objection and the campaign draw national attention. The furor represented both the early backlash against a performer who eventually was legendarily mainstream, plus the emotional loyalty of his mostly young initial fan base.
20th Century Fox released Elvis’ first movie, “Love Me Tender,” on Nov. 15.
In ensuing years, the Coliseum’s musical acts included many destined for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. A partial — with emphasis on “partial” — roll call of those who played the Coliseum, in some cases more than once: the Grateful Dead; The Who; The Rolling Stones; The Monkees; Cream; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Ike and Tina Turner; Led Zeppelin; The Moody Blues; Santana; Brewer and Shipley; the Eagles; and Bob Dylan.
The Stones first played the Coliseum on Nov. 29, 1965, and the Rocky Mountain News review managed to avoid mentioning any band members by name. No, not even Mick Jagger. A year after the Beatles’ breakout, the business of carbon paper, linotype machine, typewriters, and type trays still was trying to catch up with the revolution. The review noted the concert “should have been reviewed by a dance and drama critic, for it was basically a visual production which included some of the most intricate choreography seen in Denver for some time as well as an extremely interesting display of contemporary dress onstage and off.” He accused the Stones of showing a “‘who needs you’ attitude.”
Jared Johnson’s Post review of the 1971 Who concert noted, “Even though most persons in the front row probably left the Denver Coliseum … with a temporary 15 percent hearing impairment because of the volume level, The Who made it clear why lead singer Roger Daltrey has said they may be doing every other album live … The band was superb. Daltrey played the rock star role to the hilt.” Johnson praised Keith Moon’s “maniacal drumming” and said bassist John Entwistle “was a statue in the corner of the stage, his mobility contrasting with the mobility of his playing.” Finally, he noted, “There was Pete Townshend, arms flailing and slashing, not just playing his guitar, but attacking it in half-controlled violence.”
In June 1972, Led Zeppelin didn’t wow the Post‘s Jim Pagliasotti. “If you can’t help wondering why four such excellent musicians as Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham and John Paul Jones limit their creative energies for no other reason than to pander to common interests, you must find Led Zeppelin initially frustrating and eventually boring,” he wrote.
The Grateful Dead had a two-day stand at the Coliseum in November 1973, drawing disappointing crowds putting on four-hour shows with an intermission. Post reviewer David Youngstrom, though, recognized the group’s burgeoning reputation for live performance, which would earn it an amazingly loyal following. He wrote, “It is common knowledge in the music industry that the Dead give one of the best shows to be seen, and Tuesday was no exception.” After the crowd at the first show held up lit matches in tribute, Dead manager Rock Scully told Youngstrom that it was a new concert phenomenon in the east, beginning at the Nassau County Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and slowly was spreading.
After the Ice Follies opened the building, ice shows continued to play the Coliseum over the years. The most notable appearance probably came in late 1968, when the Ice Follies’ drawing card was Colorado Springs resident Peggy Fleming, the object of international adulation after winning the women’s figure skating gold medal at the Winter Olympics earlier in the year. She performed two solos at each show. The Post‘ review said of Fleming: “Her style and form is just as it was when the world watched her win an Olympic gold medal on TV in Grenoble, France — flowing as seemingly effortless, yet exquisitely controlled.”
Pictures of elephants parading from the nearby train tracks to the Coliseum in advance of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’ frequent appearances in town were Denver newspaper staples. Other circuses passed through too and they were one entertainment attraction that didn’t abandon the Coliseum, at least not full-time. In 1978, for example, the multiple-ring Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus still featured lions and tigers doing amazing things under the guidance of trainers; trapeze and high-wire acts; the elephant herds; and a daredevil sliding into a rocket and being launched across the arena floor. Opined the Post‘s Barry Morrison: “If you are one of those who likes to pick and choose, then this should be your choice. This is circus at its best.”
That was the 108th edition of the circus. Surely, it would remain popular forever, right?
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey is shutting down for good later this year.
In addition to playing host to the high school tournaments, the Coliseum has been the home for several minor-league hockey teams — including the Denver Mavericks, the Denver Invaders, the Denver Spurs, the Colorado/Denver Rangers and, ultimately in 2012-14, the Denver Cutthroats — and a few home games of the American Basketball Association’s Denver Rockets.
The Mavericks, an International Hockey League expansion franchise, were the Coliseum’s first tenant team, in 1959. (The city’s first pro hockey team, the Falcons of the United States Hockey League in 1950-51, played at the University of Denver.) The Marvericks were under-capitalized and plagued by ownership problems before they played a game. The innovation, much discussed, was including many former college players on the roster.
“The kids and me, we’re worried sick about the messy situation in the front office,” coach Bob May said early in the season. “We don’t know if we are going to be in Denver tomorrow or Timbuktu.”
From the home opener at the Coliseum against Omaha on Halloween 1959, the News‘ Harley Key noted one attraction: “Checking all over the ice brought roars of approval from the stands, with special plaudits going to Cy Whiteside and Bob Currie, Denver defensemen who froze several Knights with leather-cracking jolts.” In November, a bitter rivalry with the St. Paul Saints was in high gear, with brawls all over the Coliseum ice, leading to Whiteside and the Saints’ Danny Summers fighting in the penalty box.
The Mavericks’ final home game was an 8-1 win over Toledo on Nov. 26, 1959.
On a subsequent road trip, they were told, first, they were done in Denver, and then that they were moving to Minneapolis to become the Millers.
That instability and even financial failure would be a familiar theme for other Denver hockey franchises in coming years.
The high point for the sport at the Coliseum, though, came when the Spurs, owned by the NHL’s St. Louis Blues and coached by long-time NHL defenseman Jean-Guy Talbot, won the Western Hockey League’s Lester Patrick Cup in 1972, beating the Portland Buckaroos in five games in the finals.
During the IHL Rangers’ two-season run at the Coliseum in the late 1980s, the roster included future NHL head coaches Tony Granato (Colorado, now at the University of Wisconsin) and Peter Laviolette (now at Nashville), and future star goalie Mike Richter. All three played for the U.S. team at the 1988 Winter Olympics.
Heavyweight contender Ron Lyle, both before and after his strong showing in a 1975 Las Vegas title-fight loss to Muhammad Ali, won nine fights in the Coliseum, including victories over Earnie Shavers, Jimmy Ellis, Oscar Bonavena, Larry Middleton and Buster Mathis. (Trust us. Those names meant something then.)
On Saturday, four high school teams will celebrate championships.
In the grand old Coliseum.