Denver Dynamite (arena football)

In 1987, businessman and then-owner of the Denver Nuggets Sidney Shlenker announced the forming of the Denver Dynamite.[1] The franchise played in the inaugural four-team "demonstration" season of 1987.[1] Despite the team and league's doubters,[2] the Dynamite tied for the best record in the league with the Pittsburgh Gladiators, going 4–2. On August 1, 1987 the team participated in ArenaBowl I, which they won 45–16 over the Gladiators.[1] The Dynamite were led on offense by quarterback Whit Taylor,[3] and wide receiver Gary Mullen (Mullen won ArenaBowl I MVP).[1][4] After winning the ArenaBowl, Head Coach Tim Marcum was named the league's first ever Coach of the Year.[1] Despite averaging the league's best attendance with over 12,000 a game,[1] it did not return for the league's second season due to Shlenker refusing to abide by the AFL's financial rules.[1]

The franchise was restarted in 1989, with the ownership purchased by Englewood, Colorado investment banker Gary Graham for $125,000.[1] Graham's first move was to hire former NFL and AFL coach, Babe Parilli as the team's head coach.[5] The team struggled to earn money during the 1989 season due to only hosting one home game.[1] The team finished with a 3–1 regular season record, and lost in the first round of the playoffs, 37–39 to the Gladiators.[6]

With the same coaching staff in place from 1989, the Dynamite got off to a hot 4–1 start during the 1990 season. The Dynamite would finish the season with a record of 4-4, good enough to clinch the 3rd seed. The team lost 25–26 to the semi-finals to the Dallas Texans.[7] The attendance had been steadily rising during the season, with the final home game's attendance listed at 10,587. This was later found to be skewed as around 3,000 people were admitted for free.[1] The AFL stepped in and began to question the Dynamite operations and financial stability as some of the player's checks began to bounce during the season.[1] Graham cited that the only problem came from a bookkeeping error.[1]

Despite the financial turmoil that occurred the season before, the Dynamite once again fielded a team in 1991. The team finished 6–4 during the regular season,[8] again clinching the 3rd seed for the playoffs. The team lost to the relocated Gladiators, who became the Tampa Bay Storm, in the semi-finals. After the season, the franchise filed for bankruptcy after being sued by their public relations firm.[1] When he learned of the situation in Denver, AFL commissioner Jim Foster has this to say, "Three things can happen. One, he finds a buyer, or we find him a buyer, and the team stays in Denver. Two, a buyer is found and moves to another city. Three, no one is interested and the franchise goes down."[1] The Dynamite went up for sale, but with the city far more interested trying to attract investors to land a Major League Baseball franchise (Colorado Rockies), the team did not attract potential buyers.[1]

The owners retained the rights to operate an Arena Football franchise, however, which they sold in 1996 to a Nashville, Tennessee-based group which started the first Nashville Kats franchise (later the Georgia Force) the next year.[1]

Denver received a new arena football team in 2003, when the Colorado Crush, owned by Pat Bowlen and John Elway, was established.[1] That franchise has since folded and the Crush name was acquired by the Indoor Football League team for its name change in 2015 from the Colorado Ice, leading many to wonder if the Dynamite may return to the AFL in the future.

The following Dynamite players were named to All-Arena Teams:

• QB Whit Taylor (1)
• FB/LB Chris Brewer (1), Durell Taylor (1)
• WR/DB Gary Mullen (1), Wayne Coffey (1)
• OL/DL Kelly Kirchbaum (1), Patrick Cain (1), Quinton Knight (2), Mitch Young (1), Joe March (1)
• DS Alvin Williams (1)
• K Gary Gussman (1), Rusty Fricke (1)

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 1991 Arena Football League season.