Faculty member remembers his Broncos’ days
September 21, 2017
The NFL season is back, the Denver Broncos are still high off their Super Bowl 50 win two years ago, and Bronco country will never forget it. The Super Bowl victory was the first Super Bowl win for the franchise since 1999. The ’99 Super Bowl team was full of all-stars and great coaches, but there was one person that was a part of that team that has been a part of the West family for most of his teaching career.
Little did you know, West’s very own social studies teacher Mr. Mike Conner was a part of the Broncos back-to-back Super Bowl wins in 1998 and 1999. Conner would teach during the week and on the weekend’s drive or fly to be a part of the Broncos’ staff.
As you watched the Broncos’ Super Bowl 50 season, did you ever see old-school Payton Manning observing pictures on the field, making his adjustments mid-game?
Before the time of tablets and laptops on the sidelines, this is how the players would make their adjustments mid-game. That was Conner’s job. He would print off the pictures on the sidelines and staple them in the book so that the players could make their adjustments. He was a part of the video print crew for 15 years.
“It was awesome to know that I was a part of the process of the Broncos two Super Bowl victories,” Conner stated.
Conner would stay with the team, and eat with team.
“One day on our way to Super Bowl 33, I sat behind Elway on the way to the field and it was surreal to think about the position I was in,” Conner stated.
Back in the days of John Elway and Rod Smith, the Broncos had their training camp facilities in Greeley at the University of Northern Colorado facilities. This is where Conner had most of his interactions with the coaches and players. He was a “runner” who would run back and forth from Denver picking up equipment and sometimes even picking up traded players from DIA and taking them to the facilities.
Once Conner retired from the part-time job, he started coaching the golf team at Greeley West and has continued being, “one of the most liked teachers at West,” said sophomore Garrett Fink.
