This year’s Citizen of the West raised more than $100 million for charity (and trained the Broncos mascot)

When a metropolis’s NFL mascot will get its personal Tremendous Bowl ring, you realize you’ve bought a champion in your arms.

That was the case with Thunder, the Denver Broncos’ real-life mascot, after the crew received the 2016 Tremendous Bowl. Sure, it was an actual ring, but in addition a symbolic gesture — identical to Thunder. A quartet of majestic, white Arabian horses, all owned by Denver entrepreneur and philanthropist Sharon Magness Blake, have appeared below the title at video games and occasions over the past three many years, even flying to pick cities and showing on TV reveals.

Simply as essential, Magness Blake stated, have been the superstar equine’s appearances on the Nationwide Western Inventory Present throughout its 16-day run on the Nationwide Western Heart, which takes place every January in Denver.

“All of the Thunders have been on the market,” stated Magness Blake, who has been offering Arabians to the Broncos since 1993. “They’ve been at roping lessons, or performed Dancing with the Horses on Child’s Day. Now we have a free children day on the (Inventory Present), however final time I used to be there with Thunder they’d uncared for to inform us it was going to be 3,000 children!”

The turnout stunned Magness Blake, who’s a trustee of the occasion, nevertheless it is sensible provided that attendance has been up year-over-year since 2021, with a complete of about 700,000 earlier this yr (with revenues “rising accordingly,” based on the Inventory Present).

In September, Inventory Present leaders named Magness Blake 2025’s Citizen of the West, a prestigious award that acknowledges not solely her work with animals, however her wide-ranging, massively profitable fundraising for nonprofits and worthy causes — to the tune of greater than $100 million by this level.

“I grew up in Philadelphia with modest means, so I gravitate towards ladies who’re abused, youngsters and the aged,” she stated of her fundraising work. “I additionally grew up loving horses, however didn’t have entry to them as a result of I lived in a metropolis of concrete.”

“What has all the time struck me about Sharon is how comfy she is with all folks,” stated Sen. John Hickenlooper, then governor of Colorado, in 2011 when Magness Blake received the Mizel Group Enrichment Award. “She is actually proper at dwelling with among the largest stars in present enterprise, however not on the expense of others. Few have her degree of grace; there’s all the time such a way of pleasure round her.”

Magness Blake’s capability to land stars equivalent to Garth Brooks for fundraisers has helped her success. However the forty sixth Citizen of the West award is specific to Denver, honoring these “who embody the spirit and willpower of the Western pioneer – a real consultant of Western way of life, beliefs, agricultural heritage, and traditions,” based on the Inventory Present. A panel of neighborhood leaders selects recipients, they stated. That features previous winners and honchos on the 118-year-old occasion.

“Sharon is a unprecedented citizen and philanthropist, supportive and giving away of her expertise, time and treasure,” wrote Pete Coors, chairman of the Inventory Present’s $150 million capital marketing campaign, Honoring the Legacy, in an e mail to The Denver Publish.

Magness Blake is a committee member of Honoring the Legacy, which is elevating funds to assist transformative building on the Nationwide Western Complicated’s grounds. She’s additionally an previous pal, and a recognized amount in terms of supporting key Denver causes, Coors stated. Like him, Magness Blake is one in all Colorado’s enterprise and philanthropic elite, but in addition a boots-on-the-ground sort in terms of Western tradition.

“Sharon’s love of horses is known; from proudly owning and elevating Arabian horses to thrilling Denver Broncos followers with Thunder she has made innumerable contributions to the world of horses,” he wrote.

Magness Blake, the widow of billionaire cable TV pioneer Bob Magness, who died in 1996, has lengthy raised and skilled horses. Because the Inventory Present rightly boasts, Magness Racing Ventures offered 900 racing horses worldwide at its peak. Since 2004, Magness Blake has been married to former Breckenridge mayor and retired legal professional Ernie Blake, who additionally shares her love of horses and travels with Thunder.

Magness, who lives with Blake in Cherry Hills, has sat on boards and raised cash for Volunteers of America, the Denver Council of Boy Scouts of America, the College of Colorado Hospital Basis, the Garth Brooks Teammates for Children Basis, Susan G. Komen for the Treatment, the International Down Syndrome Basis, Denver Heart for the Performing Arts and plenty of others. She’s additionally president of the Thunder Basis, a companion with Denver’s Epicurean Catering, and organizer of the Denver Broncos’ annual vacation celebration for the Boys & Women Golf equipment of Metro Denver.

Nonetheless, she’s most intently related in society circles with Western Fantasy, the principle fundraiser for Volunteers of America, via which she’s raised about $40 million over the past three many years. She’s stepping again from that now, she stated, following a few staph infections over the past yr that just about killed her, each from again surgical procedures.

Luckily, final yr’s Western Fantasy raised $2.8 million — thanks partly to her husband stepping in to promote tables whereas she was recovering.

“It’s humorous as a result of I’m very aggressive,” she stated of the 31-year-old occasion, which she co-founded with Jean Galloway. “We beat each different occasion in Denver final yr in (fundraising totals), which was our first yr ever to try this. So this was going out on a excessive notice for me.”

She’s assured that when the $1 billion Inventory Present venture is completed, the muddy attraction of the occasion will stay. With CEO Paul Andrews stepping down subsequent yr, it’s vitally essential to proceed the group’s legacy and character.