Drew Litton’s limited edition cartoon of Pat Bowlen was purchased for $7,000. (Courtesy of DrewLitton.com)
Beth Bowlen’s grin got bigger as she rattled off the numbers.
Six Super Bowl berths. Two back-to-back Super Bowl wins. Only five losing seasons in almost 32 years.
“Forgive me, I’m not quite done yet,” she said amid a roar of applause.
The owner to achieve 300 wins fastest. And one who competed in the Ironman Triathlon.
“If anyone knows my dad,” Beth said, “you know he likes to go fast. And be first.”
The feats were known but still impressive, and they offered reminders of Pat Bowlen in his prime.
But on Saturday, the gathering of more than 800 people at the Broncos’ field house at Dove Valley, was an acknowledgment of Pat’s current fight.
The team hosted the Alzheimer’s Association of Colorado’s annual Memories in the Making Art Auction, with all proceeds going to the support of Alzheimer’s patients and research for a cure.
Pat, Beth’s father and the longtime owner of the Broncos, wasn’t physically among the hundreds in attendance as he continues to deal with the disease.
But he was there.
Beth, the event chair and the Broncos’ director of special projects and events, and team president and CEO Joe Ellis made sure of it.
Ellis sat at a table in front of the stage where 11 pieces by professional artists, each paired with a watercolor painting by an artist living with Alzheimer’s or some form of dementia, were auctioned off. When “Item No. 10” — a painting called “Cow” by William Matthews that was matched with “Grazing” by Susan Olson — came up, Ellis raised his yellow bidding card.
“$10,000.” Sold. Tied for the highest bid of night.
Beth purchased a limited edition cartoon by Drew Litton of Pat sitting at a canvas, painting the Broncos logo. Pat signed the cartoon, a symbol of what he created over that last three decades-plus. Beth bought it for $7,000.
Forty professional artists donated their works for the cause, and each were matched with a piece of Alzheimer’s art. More than 100 Alzheimer’s paintings were auctioned off.
Last year’s events, held in Denver and Fort Collins, together raised more than $400,000. Saturday’s live auction — including two special additions: the Bowlen cartoon and an autographed Peyton Manning jersey — reeled in $88,000 alone.
By night’s end, the amount generated by the many works hanging throughout the field house for the silent auction, hadn’t been tallied. But the final number was perhaps the event’s biggest yet.
What else would you expect for an event coordinated and hosted by Bowlen’s Broncos?
(For more information about the Alzheimer’s Association of Colorado, visit www.alz.org/co.)
