Most Valuable Coloradan

“I will not be ‘famous,’ ‘great.’ I will go on adventuring, changing, opening my mind and my eyes, refusing to be stamped and stereotyped. The thing is to free one’s self: to let it find its dimensions, not be impeded.”

-Virginia Woolf

True greatness is a rarity in any universe, and professional sports recognizes true greatness in special ways. All-Star games, Captaincies, and starting jobs all revolve around the guys who can do their better than anyone else around them. But the best of the best see an award that doesn’t simply award them a spot above the others on their team or recognition in a weekly or monthly spot check. The very best win their league’s Most Valuable Player award, showing that they were the finest their sport had to offer that season.

Being a four-sport town, Denver, Colorado has seen the occasional MVP come through town, and set the city alight. Here are the guys who transcended their sport and shone a spotlight on the Mile High City.

Colorado Rockies

Only one player for the Colorado Rockies has ever won Major League Baseball’s MVP award, and he did it in style. Five-tool outfielder Larry Walker had one of baseball’s sterling seasons in 1997, leading the league in a number of categories, and pushing a good Rockies squad to greatness. That year, Walker was an All-Star, Gold Glove winner, and Silver Slugger recipient. That campaign, Walker hit . 366 with 49 home runs, 130 RBI, 208 hits, 143 runs scored, 33 stolen bases, a .720 slugging percentage, 1.172 OPS, 409 total bases and 9.8 WAR. Those who got to see it still speak of Walker with reverence and awe. One of the great seasons in baseball, and truly the finest in Rockies history.

Colorado Avalanche

Colorado hockey has been lucky to see two players land the Hart Memorial trophy, the NHL’s Most Valuable Player award, and even luckier for the team, they were contemporaries, teammates, and often line mates.

Joe Sakic’s 2001 season was one for the ages. Super Joe eclipsed the 100-point mark for the second straight season, knocking out 118 points and a career-high 54 goals. In addition to landing the Hart, Sakic also scored the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy and the Lester B. Pearson award. Captain Sakic led the Avs to their second Stanley Cup that year, wrapping it all up by showing his class and style, breaking with tradition, and skating the Cup directly to long-waiting defenseman Ray Bourque. A true paragon of class, talent, and brains, and now the uber-talented GM of that same Avalanche squad.

Two seasons later, Sakic’s linemate Peter Forsberg pushed himself to new heights in the 2003 season, centering the Avs second line and leading the league in points with 106. Forsberg went on to land the Hart Trophy that season and the Art Ross Trophy as well. If Sakic was the heart of the Avs, Forsberg was the face. At his healthiest and finest, there were very few players like Forsberg in the history of the league.

Denver Broncos

Denver’s NFL squad has been the most-fortunate of the teams in town, with three MVPs crossing the Broncos universe.

In 1987, the backbone of several decades of Broncos football scored the first league MVP the town had ever seen. John Elway had a career season in a truncated 12-game year. After throwing for nearly 3,200 yards, over seven yards per pass attempt, and being named to his second Pro Bowl, John netted the league’s Most Valuable award on his way to one of the league’s great careers.

Elway was still in a class by himself 11 seasons later when a killer running back came through town to lead him to the promised land. Terrell Davis was TD in so many ways when he and Elway guided the Broncos to consecutive Super Bowl wins. Davis was in his third Pro Bowl year when he ran for one of the NFL’s very few 2000-yard-plus seasons on the way to the league MVP. TD also hung 21 touchdowns on the competition in a 16-game year. While his career was truncated by injury, Davis was one of the league’s finest at his apex.

It would be another 15 seasons before the Broncos would see another MVP come through, and that one the least surprising. Peyton Manning had already won the award four times with the Indianapolis Colts before coming to the Broncos, but had a career year in Denver in 2013. Peyton set career records that year, throwing for 5,477 yards and 55 touchdowns in one of the most potent offenses the league has ever seen.

Denver Nuggets

Until last year, the Broncos had both the first and most-recent MVPs in Denver history. But last year, the Denver Nuggets finally rounded out Denver sports quadfecta with the first MVP in their 50+ year history. Nikola Jokic hung up one of the great seasons in Nuggets history, and was the lowest-drafted player to ever win the award. The Joker put together one of the best statistical seasons in league history, and is amazingly hanging up even better numbers this year. If you weren’t fortunate enough to catch any of the players above while they were lighting up the Denver landscape, you’ve got a chance to get out and see one right now.

With over 500 players in the NBA, nearly 1,700 in the NFL, nearly a thousand in the NHL, and over a thousand in Major League Baseball, there is a very rare chance that someone on your team is the Most Valuable Player. When you get that chance, you might as well get out and buy that ticket. It’s something you’ll never forget.