After dementia has slowly taken over Pat Bowlen's good memory, he has finally made up his mind in giving up control of the Broncos. It was in 2009 when Bowlen acknowledged that he is suffering from short-term memory loss. Two years later, back in 2011, when he Joe Ellis as the President of the team and he stepped back from the day to day activity of the team. Ellis represented the Broncos at the annual owners meetings this season.

His presence was missed during the player's physical at Dove Valley headquarters on the eve of their training camp was felt. According to Bowlen's wife, Annabel"Alzheimer's has taken so much from Pat, but it will never take away his love for the Denver Broncos and his sincere appreciation for the fans."

General manager John Elway who was emotional during his statement said "''This place will never be the same. It's going to be very hard to not see him walk through the front doors every day."

But even if Bolwen won't be able to oversee the team, Elway and President Joe Ellis will make sure that they will continue his legacy. "Mr. Bowlen has entrusted Joe to take his spot and he couldn't have appointed a better guy to step in for Pat."Elway said "'Joe's a guy that bleeds orange and blue."

He added "'That family owns the Broncos. Pat Bowlen still owns the Broncos. We have total respect for that. ''They've hired me to run the football operations and I'm thrilled to do that. I work for Pat still, as well as the Bowlen family, and I'm going to continue to do that."

Many were endeared of Bolwen's personality and one of them is Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe. Bowlen also received the Mizel Institute's 2013 Community Enrichment Award and according to Sharpe "I would be hard-pressed to believe that there's an owner that cares more about his city, about his state, about his players than Mr. Bowlen does."

Another Hall of Famer, Gary Zimmerman has also seen the difference in Bolwen's dedication to his team. He has impressed a lot of players which garnered his team a lot of supporters.