Year Inducted: 2007
Nominated By: Melvin L. Spence (father)
Sports Competed In: Cross Country
Athlete, Coach or Contributor: Athlete, Contributor
High School:
Attended Pueblo Centennial H.S. in 1971...Two year team participant in cross country for the Bulldogs (1968-70).
College:
Went to Southern Colorado State College (SCSC)...Ran on the cross country team at SCSC for three years (1971-73).
Achievements:
● Author of the Book "BRONCOS: THREE DECADES OF FOOTBALL" Published October 1987, by Foghorn Press.
● The SCFA kept track of all scores, who did the scoring, the date and place of each game and was used to document the Central-Centennial game as the oldest high school rivalry west of the Mississippi.
Honors:
● While at The Pueblo Chieftain, served as the organizer and race director of The Spring Runoff road race, helping to launch an event that is still going 29 years later.
● Voted Colorado "Sportswriter-of-the-Year" by the National Sportscasters and Sportwriters Association in 1998 (The first writer outside of The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News to win the award in more than 30 years and the only writer with Pueblo roots to ever win the award).
● Earned Fourth place nationally from the APSE for an event story from the 1984 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.
● Traveled with the PRCA's world champions in 1999 and met President George W. Bush.
● Covered numerous Olympic trials and major amateur sports events. Covered the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit when Nancy Kerrigan was attacked (by associates of rival Tonya Harding). Covered the ensuing legal hoopla, as well as the figure skating competition at the Olympics in Lillehammer.
Related Activities:
● Pikes Peak Marathon Participant (1970-74)
● Denver Marathon Participant (1971-72)
--- Finished 10th with a time of 2:54 (1972)
--- Finished 18th (second among high school runners) with a time of 3:04 (1971)
● Mount Evans Ascent Participant (1971)
--- Finished Eighth in the first ever Mount Evans Ascent with a time of 3:08
● Amateur Athlete Union (AAU) 20-Kilo Junior Nationals Participant
● AAU 25-Kilo Rocky Mountain Participant (1972-73)
--- Finished Fifth in 1973 Championships
--- Finished Eighth in 1972 (2nd High School Runners) time of 3:04
Occupation:
● The Pueblo Chieftain (1975-84).
● Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph (1984-00)
● Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame (2000-05)
● The Pueblo Chieftain (Since 2005)
Personal:
Lives in Pueblo West, CO with his wife, Kathleen.
