Denver Broncos

When Denver was awarded an AFL franchise in 1960, the city turned to its frontier past for inspiration. A public “name the team” contest drew hundreds of entries, but the winner was the Broncos — a nod to the wild horses of the American West. Untamed and powerful, broncos symbolised Colorado’s cowboy culture, rodeo traditions, and frontier toughness. It was the perfect identity for a Rocky Mountain football team.

Denver itself grew out of the Colorado Gold Rush of 1858–59. Prospectors flooded into the Rockies, and the boomtown of Denver City became a gateway to the frontier. Soon cattle ranching spread across the plains. Cowboys drove herds along dusty trails, and the state’s open range became the stage for rodeos and bronc riding — contests of skill, grit, and balance against half-wild horses. Bucking horses were everywhere in Colorado’s cultural imagination: from ranch corrals to rodeo arenas, they stood for freedom and fight.

That image still defines the state. The official Colorado license plate and the state’s logo for decades have featured a bucking bronco and rider, known locally as “Steamboat,” after a famous horse from the early 20th century who became a rodeo legend. Every year, rodeos like the Greeley Stampede and National Western Stock Show keep those traditions alive, celebrating the ranching culture that shaped the region long before Denver became a modern metropolis. The football team’s name, badge, and orange-clad fans are all part of that same living story.

The Broncos, though, had humble beginnings. Their first uniforms — mustard and brown with striped socks — were so mocked they were replaced within a year. For most of the 1960s, the team struggled, until the rise of the Orange Crush defense in the 1970s made them contenders. In 1977, the Broncos reached their first Super Bowl, backed by Mile High Stadium’s raucous crowds.

Their greatest era came under John Elway, the Hall of Fame quarterback whose rocket arm and never-say-die comebacks made him Denver’s cowboy-hero in pads. After years of Super Bowl heartbreak in the 1980s, Elway finally delivered back-to-back titles in 1997 and 1998, riding off with two Lombardis under coach Mike Shanahan. Years later, Peyton Manning and a ferocious defense led by Von Miller added another crown at Super Bowl 50, cementing Denver as one of the NFL’s great franchises.

Their home — from the old Mile High Stadium to today’s Empower Field at Mile High — has always been defined by altitude. At over 5,000 feet above sea level, Denver gives the Broncos a literal edge: visiting teams often gasp for air, while the fans, wrapped in orange and blue, create one of the loudest, proudest atmospheres in football.

The Denver Broncos are gold rush grit, cowboy toughness, rodeo tradition, and Rocky Mountain pride..