Gregg Browning, who built the football program at George Washington High School in Denver into one of the most successful in the state, died late Thursday night, less than a month after his 85th birthday.
Browning was diagnosed with cancer in early December. He died at Porter Hospice.
In 14 years as the head football coach for the Patriots from 1960, when the school opened, to 1974, Browning’s teams won 80.6 percent of their games, a winning percentage that ranks among the top in Colorado’s high school football history.
Tom Marquez, a member of Browning’s staff at Washington, remembered him as a coach who lived football.
“He was amazing,” Marquez said. “He would do his film work on Saturdays and Sundays so we would be ready to get started right away on Monday.”
Browning also coached in the Denver Prep League at Denver East High School, where he learned the coaching trade under the legendary Pat Panek. When the league expanded from five teams to eight in 1960, Browning moved to GW to begin his own impressive record.
While he coached state championship teams in other sports, a state title in football was about the only thing that eluded his grasp. He once said that he had to be the unluckiest coach in the country, because GW finished as state runner-up six times.
But it was the state championship game of 1966 in which Browning and the Patriots needed a good luck charm in the worst way. GW’s Dean Burchfield appeared on his way to a sure touchdown against Wheat Ridge in Mile High Stadium, but he kicked the ball loose from his arms as he neared the goal line. The ball bounced into the end zone and out of bounds. By rule, the ball went to Wheat Ridge and the Farmers won the game.
Browning grew up in the mining camps near Trinidad. He went on to the University of Denver, where he was a standout athlete in football, basketball and track and field. He made the all-Skyline Conference football team twice and is an inductee in the DU athletic Hall of Fame.
After DU, Browning played a year with the New York Giants before joining the faculty and coaching staff at Denver East.
A memorial service is scheduled Friday at 1 p.m. at Horan & McConaty Funeral Home, 1091 S. Colorado Blvd.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
