'77: Denver, The Broncos, and a Coming of Age [Hardcover]

Terry Frei (Author), Kenn Bisio (Photographer), Ron Zappolo (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2007

Asserting that the 1977 AFC champion Denver Broncos were the tipping point for the transformation of Denver, Colorado from an outpost city with an inferiority complex to today's sports and entertainment mecca, award-winning author Terry Frei provides an intimate look at both a professional sports team and the city it brought together at a time of great change. Frei offers profiles of catalyst coach Red Miller and such legendary players as Randy Gradishar, Craig Morton, Louis Wright, Billy Thompson, Tom Jackson, and Lyle Alzado, but doesn't stop there, making readers feel as if they intimately know virtually everyone on the roster as the often ground-breaking narrative of that season continues. Frei describes Denver's evolving politics that year—when Richard Lamm was a young and controversial governor and Bill McNichols was one of the last machine-style mayors—plus the metro-area culture in the late 1970s as the Broncos go from victory to victory on their way to their first Super Bowl. As '77 wide receiver Haven Moses, part of the famed M&M Connection, put it, "Denver should have gotten the Nobel Peace Prize that year. There was more done that year to bring people together than I've ever seen in my life . . . And this brought attention to what Denver was about to become."

Editorial Reviews

Review

The games, the politics, and the culture that Frei deals with here unfolded thirty years ago, but they're brought to life again in this book with a clarity and a luster that make the story of Denver and the Broncos seem as fresh as the upcoming football season. (Michael Knisley )

No one knows more about Denver and its sports than Terry Frei does, and here in '77 he describes nothing less than the transformation of a city with a special focus on Denver's most magical team. To know why and how the Mile High City exists as it does today, this is essential reading. (Sandy Clough )

Terry Frei's book captures it perfectly, the coming of age that occurred for both a city and its football team when the Denver Broncos made it to their first Super Bowl. Few times in sports can match the passion and sheer joy of the original Broncomania. (Mile High Sports Magazine )

From the Publisher

NOT MANY PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAMS can claim to have changed a city forever. The 1977 Denver Broncos, coached by firebrand Red Miller and led by the stellar "Orange Crush" defense, can--because they did.

In '77, award-winning author Terry Frei compellingly argues that the AFC champions of that season were the tipping point for the transformation of Colorado's capital from an outpost with an inferiority complex to today's sports and entertainment mecca. As in his acclaimed earlier books, Frei--a rookie Denver newspaper reporter in 1977--displays a historian's ability to place sports within the context of evolving politics, culture, and society.

Drawing from voluminous research, many hours of interviews, and firsthand knowledge of both the city and football, Frei profiles such legendary ' 77 Broncos as Randy Gradishar, Lyle Alzado, Louis Wright, Billy Thompson, Tom Jackson, Craig Morton, and Haven Moses--but he doesn't stop there. As the often groundbreaking narrative of that Denver season continues, even the most fervent of Broncos fans from that era will come to more intimately understand both the stars and the lower-profile players they thought they knew, and the uninitiated will marvel at these compelling stories up and down the roster. It's all here: Tom Jackson's notorious taunt of Oakland coach John Madden ("It's all over, fat man!"); the journeymen quarterback and receiver, Morton and Moses, becoming the "M&M Connection," and Morton's amazing courage to even make it on the field for the AFC Championship Game; and Gradishar and Wright again experiencing the sort of stellar seasons that should have landed them in the Hall of Fame.

Of course, it didn't happen in a vacuum. Frei describes Denver's transformative politics that year-- when Richard Lamm was a young and controversial governor and Bill McNichols was one of the last machine-style mayors--plus the metro-area culture in the late 1970s as the Broncos, for so long one of the NFL's most downtrodden franchises, progressed toward their first Super Bowl.

The portrait emerges of a football team as uniquely influential in the transition of a city still smarting over the decision not to host the 1976 Winter Olympics-- a campaign Lamm led as a self-proclaimed "hippie" legislator. Certainly there have been many other teams in many sports that generated and earned fanatical support, won a lot of games in glorious seasons, and fleetingly brought a city together, but after this season Denver would never be the same again. And although the ' 77 Broncos came up short of an NFL championship, they were part of an atmosphere that was far different than the Denver of the late 1990s, when the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup and the Broncos won back-to-back Super Bowls.

Maybe you had to be there to truly understand it. So if you weren't, Terry Frei takes you there. If you were, '77 is a replay from countless heretofore unseen angles. As unique as this tale is, it also has its elements of universality for readers--not just sports fans--anywhere.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 325 pages
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing (December 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1589792130
• ISBN-13: 978-1589792135
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #973,607 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Terry Frei is a Denver-based journalist, author and screenwriter. He writes for The Denver Post and previously was with The Sporting News and The Oregonian in Portland.

He is a graduate of the University of Colorado, with degrees in history and journalism.

Terry's books are:
* "Playing Piano in a Brothel" (2010).
* "The Witch's Season" (novel, 2009).
* "'77: Denver, the Broncos, and A Coming of Age" (2008).
* "Third Down and a War to Go" (2005, with a foreword by David Maraniss).
* "Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming" (2002).

Taylor Trade will release his next book, a novel, in December 2012.

He also is collaborating with Patrick Ireland on Ireland's memoirs, a work in progress tentatively titled "Columbine's Boy in the Window."

His website: www.terryfrei.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for Denver Broncos fans, January 6, 2008

By 

J. Roulier - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: '77: Denver, The Broncos, and a Coming of Age (Hardcover)

If you are a Denver Broncos fan, this is a very fun read, and if you lived in Denver in 1977, then you have to have this. It brought back so many memories of that time, and the special feeling of the city that year.

Highly recommended.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Orange Crush!!!, January 16, 2008

By 

H. Argun (United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: '77: Denver, The Broncos, and a Coming of Age (Hardcover)

This a great book about the 1977 Denver Bronco's. The book gives a history of the season from training camp to the Super Bowl and profiles the players that made it all happen. It also provides information about what was going on in Denver during this time and how the town was caught up in Broncomania and the Orange crush defense.
There are some black and white photos in the middle of the book and there are stats at the end which summaries the season. The book gives a behind the scenes look at what happened in the 1977 season from the prospectives of the players and coaches. There is much detail including a nice description of the player revolt that let to John Ralston's firing and Red Miller's hiring.
At the end of the book there is a summary of each player that tells what they did after 1977 and where they are now. Overall, this a very well written book. If you are a football fan of the 1970's, or the Denver Bronco's in general, this is a must read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frei's '77 is a spectacular e-ticket ride in the time machine, December 17, 2007

By 

J. Marvel (SF Bay Area USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: '77: Denver, The Broncos, and a Coming of Age (Hardcover)

As someone who lived through '77 in Denver, it was like a trip back to the pre-Elway glory days of both Mile High Stadium and the Mile High City. I was entertained, moved and inspired all over again. Thanks for taking me back to a great time in my life ...