It’s worth listening to Harvey Kirkpatrick for anyone wishing to brush up on memories of the area’s sports history.
He’ll bring into focus things such as the Knothole Gang at DU Stadium and people such as Sidney Shlenker, who once owned the Denver Nuggets. Kirkpatrick has kept a photo gallery that provides a visual glimpse of his experiences since he was a student at Englewood High School to his days as sports information director at the University of Denver and his years with the Nuggets and teams that included Alex English, Calvin Natt, Fat Lever, Mike Evans and Bill Hanzlik.
“I have what I call my wall of fame,” Kirkpatrick said of his picture gallery. “I have pictures of most of the important things that happened right up there.”
But his verbal rendition is worth listening to as well. It provides more details and side comments that aren’t shown in pictures. A picture of what they called the Knothole in the fence around DU stadium wouldn’t tell much of a story.
“If you were small enough to wiggle through the knothole, you got in free of charge to the games,” Kirkpatrick said. “I got to watch a lot of DU games that way.”
But Kirkpatrick’s pace quickened after he outgrew the hole in the fence. Once at DU in 1957-61, his associates included Murray Armstrong and the powerful DU hockey program. Willy Schaeffler, a Bavarian-born ski enthusiast, coached the Pioneers ski team to 13 national championships and was a prominent figure in Olympic and international skiing competition. Kirkpatrick was on the job when DU dropped its football program after the 1960 season.
From DU, Kirkpatrick became sports information director at Utah State in 1964 and was media director for the Utah Stars, where he met former DU All-America basketball player Vince Boryla and Bill Daniels, the owner of the Stars. Daniels later became prominent in Denver as a cable television magnate and as a benefactor of sports in Denver.
Boryla and Kirkpatrick reunited for two seasons with the Nuggets in 1985-87 before the Boryla-Shlenker association broke up and Kirkpatrick was caught up in the aftershock.
“I covered high school football games at Mullen’s stadium,” Kirkpatrick said of his time as an unpaid stringer for Denver newspapers. “I kept statistics for the old Northern League, and that’s really how this whole thing got started.”
At DU, he became a student assistant to Don Smith, one of the area’s premier sports information directors. Smith went on to the Denver Broncos and to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Kirkpatrick stayed at DU and witnessed the demise of its football program.
Kirkpatrick remembered bitterness in the athletic department when the announcement came, but mostly student apathy to the loss of the football program.
While at Utah State, Kirkpatrick had to make the toughest announcement of his career. Wayne Estes, an All-America player at Utah State, walked into a low- hanging electrical wire on his way home from playing in a game and was electrocuted.
“That was a sad day,” Kirkpatrick said. “I got the call from coach LaDell Andersen late that night. I had sent out a promotional pamphlet on Estes a couple of weeks before, and then I was sending out an obit.”
To put Kirkpatrick’s time with the Stars in perspective, he noted the team won an ABA title by beating the Kentucky Colonels in Dan Issel’s rookie season.
When Kirkpatrick joined the Nuggets, Shlenker was in the process of adding restaurants to McNichols Sports Arena in an attempt to make Denver’s indoor arena a “destination.” He also added some smaller sports teams to his holdings. One, the Denver Dynamite, won the first Arena Football League title.
After leaving the Nuggets, Kirkpatrick went into the real estate business. He remains involved, but he also has kept his interest in sports.
Kirkpatrick bio
Born: April 5, 1938, in Englewood
High school: Englewood High School
College: University of Denver
Family: Wife Karen; sons Jim, Arthur and Ollie; daughter Brenda
Hobbies: Golf and boating
Life’s reward: Seven grandchildren
