This profile of Bronco QB Club Member Lori Strait originally appeared in Broncos GameDay Magazine.
Lori Strait admits that her infatuation with the Broncos began with a crush.
Growing up in Iowa, Strait did not have much of a relationship with the team. With relatives living in Colorado, her family regularly gathered to watch Denver’s nationally televised games, and Strait casually monitored the team’s progress from afar.
However, her fervor for the club changed dramatically the first time she saw quarterback Craig Morton take the field in a Broncos uniform.
Instantly, she was enamored with everything about the signal caller, from the way he carried himself on the field to how he presented himself off of it. Inspired by Morton’s play, she made it a priority to watch him lead the orange and blue onto the field each and every Sunday throughout his career.
When Morton retired following the 1982 season, Strait, who was in elementary school at the time, didn’t take the news well.
“When Craig retired I cried and couldn’t understand why he was passing the No. 7 to John Elway,” Strait recalls.
But her attitude quickly changed. Strait flew out to Denver in 1983 for a family vacation and had an opportunity to meet Morton, then the head coach of the USFL’s Denver Gold, at his Colorado-based restaurant.
She also visited Broncos training camp, and liked what she saw from Elway. Consequently, she left with autographs from nearly the entire roster and an elevated passion for Broncos football.
“It was hotter than heck out that summer, but I still wore that sweatshirt to training camp and got about the entire team’s signature on it,” Strait said.
Now living in Greenwood Village, Colo., the 34 year old regularly makes it to Broncos games. Her company, Digitech Systems, owns club level season tickets. She also buys personal tickets in the South Stands at least once a year.
But following the team hasn’t always been easy. Up until two years ago when she moved back to Colorado, she hadn’t lived in the state but for a quick stretch in 1997.
Nonetheless, location has never hindered her ability to follow the team.
“I don’t remember ever not watching the Broncos,” she said. “They’ve always been my team. Whenever they are on, I’m watching.”
While most of the moves during her childhood and adolescent years kept her apart from Denver, Strait was placed in the heart of Broncos Country as a young adult in October of 1997, when her family moved to Colorado.
Talk about timing. For three months, Strait watched as the Broncos stormed through the AFC, putting themselves in position for a long playoff run.
That’s when she got a bit of bittersweet news. Fresh out of college, Strait, who graduated from Chapman University in Southern California with a broadcast journalism degree, landed a job at a TV station in Denison, Texas. While she was thrilled to have landed her first job out of college, she wasn’t exactly elated to be leaving Denver in the thick of the Broncos’ promising year.
But as the saying goes, all’s well that ends well.
The Broncos advance to Super Bowl XXXII and Strait made sure to fly back to Denver to watch the game with her family. The game is without question her favorite Broncos memory of all time.
“We all couldn’t move the entire game besides for halftime,” Strait said. “That last 90 seconds, we were holding our breath.”
After the game, Strait also remembers the atmosphere at Denver International Airport as she prepared to fly back to Texas. When se arrived at the terminal, a message was played over the loudspeaker saying: “Welcome to Denver International Airport, home of the Super Bowl Champion Broncos.”
The excitement didn’t stop on her flight back to Texas, either.
“People were so happy on the flight that the plane could have got to Dallas on its own,” Strait said. “Everybody was high-fiving each other.”
Now she’s hoping for more postseason high-fives in 2009.
Zach Eisendrath