Mile High Sports
Editor’s note: To help support the Holiday Huddle through the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver, click here!
It’s tough to say which is more difficult: Assembling a 53-man NFL roster, or finding a coffee date that will work for six of Denver’s busiest women?
Barb Paton knows about both. Her husband, George, is the man in charge of putting together the Broncos’ best roster, each season and each Sunday. Barb took on the aforementioned coffee meeting.
But this particular meetup wasn’t akin to a typical Sunday brunch or girls’ night out. No, Barb Paton had a big – more accurately, important – idea. And the first step would be to get six women, who didn’t necessarily know each other, to sit down and discuss an idea that was born in Minnesota.
A friend planted an idea in Barb’s mind when George was the assistant GM of the Minnesota Vikings. Unfortunately, the timing and the landscape didn’t align; the concept was a good one, but it would have to wait in order to take flight.
So, in 2021, when George took the job as the GM of the Broncos, Barb picked up where she left off. In short, she wanted to connect the wives of every general manager in Denver for a mutual philanthropic effort to help her new community – Denver. Specifically, she had a soft spot for kids.
With the help of Tim Gelt, the former director of media relations for the Denver Nuggets, Barb researched the community initiatives already targeted by each team in town. It didn’t take long to discover that every single Denver team worked with A Precious Child and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver, both of which focused on children. She also quickly learned that Denver was a special place, one that would likely support such efforts on a different level.
“We just couldn’t believe how much people love their sports here,” Barb said. “I mean, it is really apparent.”
Back to that coffee date.
The initial guest list included: Linda Schmidt, wife of Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt; Debbie Sakic, wife of then Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic; and Negah Connelly, wife of former Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly.
After a considerable amount of schedule juggling – no easy task, since each sport has its own unique calendar – the gathering was set.
“When we all showed up, it was pretty much like we were all meeting each other for the first time,” Barb recalls.
Regardless, it didn’t take long to get on the same page.
Barb credits Debbie Sakic, who had organized countless charitable efforts on behalf of the Avalanche for many years, for offering the group its most beneficial piece of advice: “We don’t need to reinvent the wheel.”
Though the initial group was set, additions quickly took place. Keisha Booth, wife of new Nuggets GM Calvin Booth, stepped in as soon as Negah and Tim took a job with the Timberwolves. Alicia Self, wife of...
