Kathi Williams usually goes to five or six Rockies games a year. She enjoys the time at Coors Field, especially when her surroundings include families with youngsters out for an afternoon or evening of baseball.
It’s a time to relax and take in the ambience at one of the best baseball parks in the country.
Williams isn’t a die-hard baseball fan, but she has an appreciation of why baseball is considered the national pastime.
“I always hear people remembering that they went to baseball games with their dads,” Williams said. “It always sounds magical to me. Baseball has a way of uniting a community in a positive way.”
But her first experience with baseball wasn’t so serene. In the spring of 1989, the drive to bring Major League Baseball to Denver was building momentum. Williams was an energetic state representative from Westminster and a known fighter for her causes. She took on the task of getting legislation passed that would set up the process of building a baseball-only stadium if Denver was awarded a big-league franchise.
Denver businessman Neil Macey and John Dikeou, the owner of the Triple-A Denver Zephyrs, crafted a bill patterned after an existing cultural tax in the six-county metropolitan area. Macey said later that Williams was the only person he could find who was willing to champion the bill.
“I was young and idealistic at the time,” Williams said. “There seemed to be so much enthusiasm for Major League Baseball in the communities. I thought it would be for the betterment of Denver and Colorado to have a major-league team.”
With some pushing by Williams in the House and by Terry Considine of Arapahoe County in the Senate, the bill was passed. The process set up the Colorado Baseball Commission and the Metropolitan Stadium District Board. Williams joined the commission, whose job was to convince voters in the six-county Denver area to agree to a sales tax increase of one-tenth of 1 percent.
Armed with slogans of “A penny on 10 dollars” and “A time zone without a team,” the commission went to work. Before the Rockies’ entry into the National League as an expansion club in 1993, there wasn’t a Mountain time zone team in the majors.
On Aug. 21, 1990, voters passed the ballot question 187,539 to 157,954. That victory guaranteed that a ballpark would be built if Denver was granted a franchise.
The campaign to win voter approval was grueling. Outsiders, including some members of the local media, came to Williams and expressed fear that a defeat by voters would severely damage Denver’s shot at getting a franchise.
Twenty years ago today, National League president Bill White came to Denver and announced that the Mile High City had been granted an NL franchise. Williams played a key role in making that happen.
But she credits a lot of people for stepping up when it was their turn. The late Sam Suplizio and Larry Varnell were commission stalwarts, along with Roger Kinney, Jim Harrington, Trygve Myhren and Zee Ferrufino. Cable television magnate Bill Daniels rescued the financially strapped commission with a healthy donation. A Rockies ownership group led by Jerry McMorris stepped up at the right time. And so did the fans, who voted to financially support a new stadium.
The Rockies were an immediate hit, drawing nearly 4.5 million fans at Mile High Stadium in 1993. They drew nearly 3.4 million fans in 1995, Coors Field’s first season, and nearly 3.9 million fans in 1996.
“When I’m driving on I-25 and see Coors Field, it’s interesting for me to think that it once was just a concept,” Williams said. “It was a difficult process to make it happen. I took my turn, but so did a lot of people.”
Kathi Williams bio
Born: July 27, 1950, in Fort Collins
High school: Arvada West
Family: Husband Ken; daughters Lynn, Ana Mae and Amber; son Ashley
Hobby: Genealogy; belongs to the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia
