When Lamar Hunt died in December 2006, tributes to his legacy rang out from all corners of the National Football League, as it was his vision, his investment and his family’s cash flow that helped the American Football League find stability, credibility and ultimately success to permanently transform the landscape of pro football.

But as much as the entire collection of original American Football League teams owes to Hunt, so too do the Broncos owe to Bob Howsam (lower left in the picture), who along with his father Earl and brother Lee had the idea of supplementing Denver’s flourishing minor-league and college-based sports scene of the late 1950s with an investment in the fledgling AFL.

Monday night, Howsam died in Sun City, Ariz., where he had been spending his retirement years. He was 89 years old.