A annoyed Pat Bowlen, the previous proprietor of the Denver Broncos, known as Tom Clark, an financial developer well-known for expertise in getting offers throughout the end line, looking for recommendation.
Bowlen was failing to win public backing for a tax to fund a brand new Mile Excessive Stadium, a lot in order that he shared his plans to maneuver the Broncos to a extra supportive metropolis, recalled Clark’s spouse, Donna Alengi. The decision was particularly memorable to her as a result of it got here on Thanksgiving Day and delayed the household’s celebrations.
“You possibly can’t put on your fur coat down on the sphere. It alienates the followers,” Clark bluntly informed Bowlen, a Canadian who thought-about fur go-to cold-weather apparel. Bowlen shed the flamboyant coat, turned extra relatable to Broncos followers and the stadium measure ultimately handed.
Given Clark’s propensity to drop F-bombs with the benefit of a B-52 pilot, he in all probability used extra colourful language. However he was by no means one to refuse a name, or name it like he noticed it. He would typically postpone household plans to be there when wanted — whether or not it was a mayor in a pickle asking for an emergency assembly or a brand new rent in search of mentoring time, Alengi recollects.
Clark, 75, handed away on March 19 after a decade-long battle with frontotemporal dementia, which damages the components of the mind identified for character, conduct and language. The illness slowly stripped certainly one of Colorado’s sharpest minds of its energy, and within the ultimate two years, it stripped certainly one of its main voices of speech. However regardless of the powerful hand he was dealt, Clark by no means complained, Alengi stated.
“You possibly can’t think about Denver as it’s at this time with out Tom. He had an uncanny potential to convey folks collectively and overcome variations. Tom rebuilt Denver’s relationship with the encircling communities and developed new partnerships which have launched us all ahead. He knew that will make Denver, and all of us, stronger,” stated Sen. John Hickenlooper and former Denver mayor in an emailed assertion.
The record of Clark’s accomplishments is lengthy, even when he didn’t at all times obtain credit score for them. An avid baseball fan, he was crucial in securing a significant league franchise for Denver and laying the groundwork for Coors Subject. He helped persuade Adams County officers to cede land for a brand new airport and was there to clean out the quite a few disagreements and roadblocks that arose.
He guided a siting compromise that allowed the Colorado Conference Middle to go ahead and contributed to the passage of a number of regionwide poll measures, together with FasTracks and the Scientific and Cultures Amenities District.
In certainly one of his hardest sway jobs, he satisfied the politically highly effective Peter Coors, then head of Colorado’s most well-known and established brewery, to assist a contemporary bottling plant from rival Anheuser-Busch in Fort Collins. The plant was inbuilt 1988.
The achievement he shall be most remembered for, nevertheless, was convincing political leaders and financial builders throughout the area that they’d be a lot better off cooperating moderately than competing for jobs. Cutthroat rivalries turned particularly damaging after the oil and gasoline growth was a bust.
“We needed to cease this vary battle, notably after the financial system collapsed. We have been preventing over the scraps,” recalled Dick Fleming, who was Clark’s boss on the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce on the time.
Clark gathered a bunch of main financial builders from throughout the area, referred to as the Loopy 8, and hammered out guidelines on how they’d cease preventing one another and pursue financial alternatives with a united entrance. They fashioned the Metro Denver Community, an financial improvement consortium of 51 cities, counties, chambers of commerce and financial improvement organizations. Clark was put in command of it.
“It was Tom’s genius and the truth that folks trusted Tom amongst these numerous financial improvement teams,” stated Fleming, who took the regional cooperation mannequin with him when he led financial improvement efforts in St. Louis for almost 20 years.
That metropolis had misplaced out on billions of {dollars} in federal funding for a mid-continent airport after inner feuding blocked the challenge. Metro Denver, due to its potential to return collectively, received the federal backing for Denver Worldwide Airport, Fleming stated.
“Tom based the church of regionalism, and he preached it each single day. I’m so grateful to have been a pupil of his,” stated Kelly Brough, former president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber.
Alengi and Clark first met whereas working on the chamber within the Eighties, leading to a four-decade marriage. Early on, she recollects Clark sitting down along with her ex-husband and telling him how he wished their three kids to not should face divided holidays. The households discovered a option to rejoice the massive occasions collectively.
Over time, the connection grew so shut that when her first husband knew he was dealing with demise, he requested Clark give his eulogy, which he did.
Clark was born in Minnesota and moved to Colorado from Illinois. He was vice chairman of enterprise improvement on the Denver Metro Chamber from 1985 to 1994 and led the Boulder Chamber of Commerce from 1995 to 1998 earlier than heading up the Jefferson Financial Council after which returning to run the Metro Denver EDC from 2005 till his retirement in 2017.
Clark discovered a option to make chamber retreats partaking, creating skits that poked good-natured enjoyable at everybody, Brough stated. He and his employees took these skits to a different stage once they made movies for the EDC’s annual conferences.
In one of many earlier ones in 2010, he adopted a Darth Vader costume to keep away from questions on when the area’s financial system would get well. In others, he took on the title of Denver’s most attention-grabbing man, financial improvement guru and the godfather of regionalism.
Alengi stated Clark was misdiagnosed with gentle cognitive impairment initially and 4 years later acquired the extra severe prognosis. Clark determined to retire after he realized his reminiscence was slipping as was his always-firm grip on numbers and statistics.
In his final presentation earlier than the Metro Denver EDC in March 2017, Clark, who lived in Westminster, shared a ultimate parody video of how he can be spending retirement.
His day begins with a late breakfast of Cocoa Puffs, a number of loops across the cul-de-sac in his golf cart, scribbling in an grownup coloring e-book, taking part in guitar, and consuming a Nutella sandwich for lunch. He makes a presentation to his grandchildren’s stuffed animals on limiting migration from New York and Texas, leaves a bogus tip about Google relocating to Boulder on a reporter’s voicemail in hopes of getting a name again and kilos away on an previous typewriter.
Clark, nevertheless, left his viewers with a extra severe message — that the union of cooperation is at all times fragile, and pleasure is the hammer that the majority simply shatters it. He reminded everybody that humility is the best energy and that ultimately it’s not who will get the credit score that issues, however the high quality of the end result.
“I actually am Jimmy Stewart’s character in my favourite Christmas film. I’m George Bailey. And sure, I did have a beautiful life,” Clark stated in his ultimate phrases to the gang.
The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and Metro Denver EDC will host a gathering to rejoice Clark’s legacy and life from 5 -7 p.m. April 8. Extra particulars shall be obtainable at denverchamber.org.
