ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Steve “Greek” Antonopulos has had a similar routine for almost 40 years. As the head athletic trainer for the Denver Broncos, he gets into the building before the sun rises and begins to work on a long list of to-do items, mostly surrounding his main objective—to get and keep the Denver Broncos as healthy as possible.
For many years, that routine also included a talk with team owner Pat Bowlen.
“It all started with him coming in and asking about players,” he said. “Nobody cared about players more than Mr. Bowlen… His days started by parking that car in the [lot], walking down the hall, getting two sticks of gum from the equipment room and then to the training room. Our conversations went from the player’s injuries to the player’s families to his issues. The trusted relationship that we’ve had with each other has been phenomenal.”
Unfortunately, in July of 2014, one of the few real blips in Greek’s routine over the last four decades occurred when his boss and, by that point, good friend relinquished his daily control of the team due to his battle with Alzheimer’s disease. An extremely difficult day for the entire organization.
There was suddenly a hole in his morning.
On Tuesday, though, there was another blip in Greek’s daily pattern, when he got a call from Broncos President & CEO Joe Ellis.
Ellis was calling to inform the longest-tenured Broncos employee that the Bowlen family had chosen him, the man who began his career as an assistant athletic trainer for the team back in 1976, to present Mr. Bowlen when he is rightfully inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer.
“I broke down,” Antonopulos said on Tuesday afternoon, just hours after he received the news. “I was very emotional. I couldn’t say anything.”
“He’s a very good friend of mine,” he added. “I’m so humbled and honored that they have chosen me to do this. It means a lot to me. It’s a great honor to be able to do this… We developed a really neat relationship over all the years that he’s been here. It’s certainly unique—he’s not only my boss, but he’s my friend. That’s what makes it even more of an honor to do this, especially with the request coming from his family.”
Not any of the seven Bowlen children, not No. 7 himself, not Ellis. The Bowlen family collectively decided that it was Greek who should do the honors.
Now, it’s up to Antonopulos to honor the man who made the Denver Broncos the Denver Broncos.
“He changed the whole culture of the mindset around here—winning first and the compassion he had for his families,” he explained, briefly touching on what he wants to convey in his speech. “If you really think about it, he had more than one family—the Bowlen family, the Denver Broncos Organization was his family, the city of Denver was his family and the Denver Broncos fans. He was very family oriented in that concept.”
“Mr. Bowlen is very competitive,” he added with a laugh. “I really could tell you some stories about that, but probably I ought not to right now, but a very competitive man, a very humble man, cared about people. Obviously, it was all about winning.”
And win he did.
Together, Mr. B and Greek saw 27 winning seasons, 22 playoff berths, 15 AFC West titles, 10 AFC Championship Games, eight Super Bowls and three World Championships. Antonopulos is the only team employee to have been in Denver through the entirety of the Bowlen era, one of the most successful ownership eras in all of sports.
On Saturday, Aug. 3, at the Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio, in a ceremony that is long overdue, Steve “Greek” Antonopulos will do his best to honor the legend that is Pat Bowlen.
“It’s one of the greatest things I’ve ever been asked to do in my life.”
