Beginning in the fall of 1980, my freshman year at the University of Colorado in Boulder, I began to accumulate a large quantity of CU memorabilia. Programs, newspaper clippings, ticket stubs, pennants, hats, and clothing were acquired and stored. Each year, the stack of memories pertaining to the CU football team grew. I never had any inkling, however, that these boxes of “stuff” would ever amount to anything, much less a “book”. Still, over the next fifteen years, through several moves, I could never bring myself to throw any of my collection away.
In the spring of 1996, the inspiration came for this work. Suddenly, the programs and faded clippings not only had relevance; they had purpose. With my wife looking on in disbelief, I poured through the dusty piles of memories, filing and cataloging. After taking stock of my holdings, I sat down to work. Not to create the great American novel, mind you, but to have some fun re-living my memories as a Colorado Buffalo football fan.
From the outset, we need to be clear about a few things. There is that which I am not. I am not a lifelong University of Colorado football fan. I understand that this may well sound strange to those raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Lincoln, Nebraska. Fans raised in the historic hotbeds of college football often possess baby pictures their parents took of them showing them dressed up in the team colors, wearing a t-shirt with lettering along the lines of “Future Georgia Bulldog” or “Fighting Irish Class of 19??”. I do not. My career as a CU football “fanatic” did not begin until I enrolled at “dear old CU” in the fall of 1980.
Nor can I claim to be the most devoted Colorado football fan. Fred Casotti, long time CU sports information director, assistant athletic director, and CU’s official historian, witnessed over 500 Buff football games (I’m approaching 30 years, but have attended only a fraction of that number). I have also read accounts about Colorado fans like John Pilgrim, who commuted to Boulder from England for games in the early 1990’s (my commute for games since 1987 has been roughly 700 miles). My history as a CU fan simply does not rate me as “devoted”.
What I am, though, is a loyal CU football fan. I love the anticipation of the crowd just before Ralphie leads the team onto the field; the electricity surrounding the city before a game (especially a Nebraska game); the extracurricular activities after the game; and the autumn splendor which is Boulder during football season. I am a fan, and I write this for those who understand me when I say that when the football is kicked into the blue September afternoon sky in Boulder, Colorado, to start another season of CU football, there is no place on earth I would rather be.
As the title suggests, I am a follower of the University of Colorado football program. My story begins with my freshman year of 1980. Needless to say, my introduction to University of Colorado football in the fall of 1980 strained my fanaticism, as the Buffs and their fans struggled through a 1-10 campaign. Still, as with any true love, I stuck with my team, only to watch CU hit the pinnacle of the football world one decade later. The ride hasn’t always been easy, but the rewards have been all the more gratifying as a result.
The story for each season contains a (mostly) objective overview of the season covered. The idea was to provide the reader with the general information on all of CU’s games during that span; information which would have been available in the Sunday morning paper after the game. I have then taken the liberty to digress into stories and recollections from these years, along with a little history and a little opinionating.
Every football fan has their favorite teams, players, stories and memories. My favorite team is the University of Colorado Buffaloes, and these are my stories.