Denver Gold

The Denver Gold was an American football franchise in the United States Football League (USFL) from 1983 to 1985. The Gold played their home games at Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado; and were co-tenants in the spring with the Triple-A Denver Zephyrs baseball team (Denver Bears prior to 1984) The Gold's original coach was Red Miller, who led the Broncos to their first-ever Super Bowl and had known Ron Blanding for several years. The players used rented cars from Rent-a-Wreck, and traveled to training camp in old school buses, and only had 100 uniforms for the 120 men they invited to camp. The turning point of the season was a 20–18 loss at the Louisiana Superdome to the New Orleans Breakers on April 22, 1984. With starting QB Craig Penrose not dressed, the Gold dropped what would be the first of five consecutive losses. Their early success was attributed to an opportunistic offense and a bend-but-don't break defense that that helped them overcome their personnel issues. Unwilling to put the team on the market, Blanding sold the Gold to auto dealer Doug Spedding for $10 million in April 1984.