Annabel Bowlen addresses the crowd after the Broncos won the AFC championship over the Patriots last Sunday. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)
Longtime Broncos owner Pat Bowlen wasn’t on the podium last Sunday when the confetti rained down at Sports Authority Field and the team was presented with the Lamar Hunt trophy. In his place, his wife Annabel and his children stood alongside coach Gary Kubiak and Broncos players to accept the trophy from Jim Nantz and thank the more than 77,000 fans in attendance.
Physically, Pat Bowlen, who purchased the team in 1984 but stepped down a year-and-a-half ago because of Alzheimer’s, wasn’t there. But in every other sense he was and still is.
The Bowlen-led Broncos paid for all employees — nearly 300 full-timers, part-timers and interns — to travel to Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, Calif.
