The Denver Pioneers football team formerly represented the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1864, it has an enrollment of approximately 5,700 undergraduate students and 7,200 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: D ...

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

History

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

was once the most popular sport at the university; the first DU football game was played in 1885 against

Colorado College Colorado College is a private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory, the college offers over 40 majors a ...

, which is believed to be the first intercollegiate football game played west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. Coach John P. Koehler led the team to its first conference titles in 1908 and

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escapes death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Janu ...

, and the 1917 team won its league title and went undefeated at 9–0. DU also won the 1933 RMAC co-championship. DU's later football highlights include appearances in the

1946 Sun Bowl The 1946 Sun Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the New Mexico Lobos football, New Mexico Lobos and the Denver Pioneers. Background New Mexico was in their first Sun Bowl since 1939 Sun Bowl, 1939, while Mountain States Conf ...

, 1947 Alamo Bowl, and

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

Pineapple Bowl, but without wins. From 1938 to 1960, DU was a member of the Mountain States/Skyline Conference, winning titles in 1945, 1946 and its sixth and final conference title in

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

, which was DU's only national top-20 team, peaking at number 18. The football team played in a 30,000-seat stadium that stood on campus from 1926 to 1971. The final season for DU football was in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

; the program was discontinued in January 1961 for financial reasons. The Pioneers were in that last season, but won their final game, 21–12, over Colorado State at DU Stadium on Thanksgiving. Denver sent 12 players to the NFL or All-America Football Conference - with three of them becoming famous: John Woudenberg, a 1942 pro-bowl player for the San Francisco 49ers,

Sam Etcheverry Samuel Etcheverry (May 20, 1930 – August 29, 2009), nicknamed "the Rifle", was a professional American and Canadian football player and head coach. Etcheverry played the quarterback position, most famously with the Montreal Alouettes of the C ...

, a CFL Hall-of-Famer as player and coach who also played for the St. Louis Cardinals of the NFL, and Don Stansauk, a former Green Bay Packers player who became famous as Hard-Boiled Haggerty, a pro-wrestler.

Conference championships

† Co-champions

Bowl games

Denver participated in three bowl games, losing all three.

All-Americans

References

External links

College Football Data Warehouse
- Denver Pioneers {{Denver Pioneers football navbox American football teams established in 1885 American football teams disestablished in 1960 1885 establishments in Colorado 1960 disestablishments in Colorado