Broncos legend Barrel Man’s ashes spread at Empower Field to honor iconic super fan | NFL Insider
David Zalubowski/AP
Becky McKernan, the widow of the legendary Barrel Man, always has liked to say that Tim McKernan is at every Broncos home game in spirit.
Now she’s taken that a step further.
McKernan on Friday at her Denver residence told The Denver Gazette the story about how the Barrel Man’s ashes were spread on the field at then-named Invesco Field 15 years earlier on Jan. 3, 2010. That was a month after he had died Dec. 5, 2009, at age 69.
“I’m sure his ashes are still down in the dirt there,’’ McKernan said of the field at the now named Empower Field at Mile High.
The Barrel Man was the iconic Broncos super fan who from 1977-2007 cheered on the team from the stands wearing only a barrel over his bare body. He was inducted into the Hall of Fans at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, in 1999.
A statue of Tim McKernan, the famous Denver Broncos fan known as the Barrel Man, at the Mile High Monument in the parking lot of Empower Field at Mile High. McKernan attended Broncos games dressed only wearing a barrel from 1977-2007 and became very popular. He died in 2009. Photo by Chris Tomasson, Denver Gazette.
The Broncos on Sunday will play host in the regular-season finale to Kansas City and will wear throwback uniforms to honor the 1977 team, which made the playoffs for the first time in the team’s 18-year history before losing to Dallas 27-10 in Super Bowl XII. That was the season the legend of the Barrel Man was born at old Mile High Stadium and when Broncomania really started to gain steam.
“He was probably the most iconic figure in the stands, and we’d have some freezing games and we’d look up there and he’d be shirtless in that barrel,’’ said Steve Foley, a Denver defensive back from 1976-86 who was inducted into the team’s Ring of Fame at halftime of the Broncos’ 34-18 win over Las Vegas on Oct. 6, the first of two games this season of throwbacks being worn. “There was no bigger fan than the Barrel Man. He was an icon.”
The Barrel Man got his start when his brother Scott offered him $10 in a dare to wear a barrel to get on television during an early-season 1977 game. It was soon mission accomplished for Tim McKernan, who had worked throughout his career as a mechanic for United Airlines and had used a barrel that was filled with airline parts and had painted on it a Broncos logo.
“He thought it was going to be a one-game deal,’’ said Becky McKernan, 76, who was married to the Barrel Man from 2002 until his death. “It was hunting season, and he came back to another game in October wearing an orange hunting outfit, and everybody was like, ‘Where’s the barrel?’’’
He then continued to attend games for the next three decades wearing his famous barrel. Becky McKernan said he wore running shorts under the barrel at first but later was fully nude.
Becky McKernan, who was the wife of Tim McKernan, the famous Denver Broncos fan known as the Barrel Man, on Jan. 3, 2025 at her Denver residence. Tim McKernan, who died Dec. 5, 2009, attended Broncos games dressed only wearing a barrel from 1977-2007 and became very popular. Becky McKernan is holding a game ball given to her after the Broncos' 44-13 win at Kansas City on Dec. 6, 2009 and a photo of when his ashes were spread on the field at now named Empower Field at Mile High on Jan. 3, 2010 after the Broncos had lost to the Ciefs 44-24 in the season finale. Photo by Chris Tomasson, Denver Gazette.
After the Barrel Man died, the Broncos won 44-13 at Kansas City the next day. The Broncos then provided a game ball to the family.
The Broncos were set to play the Chiefs the following month in the regular-season finale, when Becky McKernan set a plan into place. She said her husband had wanted after his death for his ashes to be spread on the field in addition to at some wilderness sites in Colorado the outdoorsman had long visited.
McKernan delivered a film cannister with her husband’s ashes in it to a credentialed camera person. That individual after the game spread the ashes on the south end of the field in front of the goalpost. A photo was taken of the act, which McKernan has in a frame at her residence.
“It was all hush-hush,’’ McKernan said. “They waited until everybody had left before they spread them.”
McKernan said at the time she didn’t want to publicize the Barrel Man’s ashes having been placed on the field.
“It was kind of an illegal thing,’’ she said. “Or else I would have been shouting it out.”
McKernan figures now, though, the statute of limitations has passed.
“It was a way to honor him,’’ she said. “He is still there (at the stadium).”
Told that the Barrel Man’s ashes were spread on the field, Foley called it “deservedly so.” Former Denver defensive tackle Rubin Carter agreed.
Ashes of Tim McKernan, the famous Denver Broncos fan known as the Barrel Man, spread on the field at now named Empower Field at Mile HIgh on Jan. 3, 2010 after the Broncos had lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 44-24 in the season finale. McKernan, who died on Dec. 5, 2009, had become very popular attending Broncos games dressed only wearing a barrel from 1977-2007. Photo courtesy of Becky McKernan.
“That was a great gesture,’’ said Carter, who played for the Broncos from 1975-86. “He was quite an inspiration. He was just a wonderful true, dedicated Broncos fan.”
The Barrel Man inspired many. Keith Kunzig, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers super fan who is a fellow enshrinee in the Hall of Fans, told Denver Gazette sports editor Paul Klee in September that Tim McKernan was “like a father figure” to him and he learned plenty from him. That included doing work in the community since the Barrel Man would auction off some his barrels and have the money donated to charities.
Outside of Empower Field, there is a statue of the Barrel Man next to the Mile High Monument, a miniature replica of Mile High Stadium in the north parking lot. It reads that the statue “symbolizes the Denver Broncos fan base known as Broncos Country, an intensely passionate group that bleeds orange and blue.”
And inside of Empower Field there is another reminder of the Barrel Man that Becky McKernan cherishes.
Wright calls Surtain the best
Pat Surtain II has played just four NFL seasons, but former Broncos star Louis Wright called him already the best cornerback in team history.
Yes, Wright has him ranked ahead of Hall of Famer Champ Bailey and himself.
“He’s incredible,’’ said Wright, who made five Pro Bowls while playing for Denver from 1975-86. “I put him number one without a doubt. It’s a different era on defense. You used to play on one side of the field and you didn’t travel with receivers. What he’s doing now, I don’t know if I could have done it. His technique is impeccable, his ball skills are fantastic. He just has the whole package. I put him ahead of everybody, (Bailey), Aqib Talib, Chris Harris, you name it. They’re all great players, and I was decent, too, but Pat Surtain is better than all of us.”
After Surtain was named AFC defensive player of the week on Oct. 10, Broncos coach Sean Payton said it was too early to talk about his candidacy for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
“I can’t stand talking about those type of awards in the early part of October,’’ he said then.
It’s not too early now. Payton is touting Surtain for the award.
“When you look at the receivers he’s defended and the impact he’s had for us, and how we’ve played defensively and all those other things, it’s an easy case to make,’’ Payton said. “Certainly, he’s deserving of that type of award. He’s that good.”
What I’m hearing
–Broncos defensive end John Franklin-Myers shrugged off that Kansas City will rest its top players Sunday, including star quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs (15-1) have locked up the AFC’s top playoff seed, and Carson Wentz will step in for Mahomes. “I can’t control what they put on my plate,’’ Franklin-Myers said. “I just got to eat. That’s kind of my mindset going into it. It’s football and it’s any another opportunity, and if you put us against anybody, I’m going to choose us.” With a win or tie, the Broncos (9-7) would clinch their first playoff berth since 2015.
–Former star kick returner Rick Upchurch loves how the Broncos are wearing throwback uniforms twice this season to honor their first Super Bowl team of the 1977 season. “That’s good stuff,’’ said Upchurch, who played for Denver from 1975-83 and was on hand Oct. 6 when the Broncos wore the throwbacks against the Raiders. “It’s showing the fans what those jerseys looked like and giving them a chance to buy different jerseys. I’m definitely for old school.”
What I’m thinking
–How big is Sunday night’s Minnesota at Detroit game to close the regular season? The teams are both 14-2 and the winner will claim the NFC North title and the top seed in NFL playoffs, which means a first-round bye. So, the victor will have to win home games to make the Super Bowl and the loser, as the No. 5 seed, will likely need to win three road games to get there. Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown brought up a good point, saying NFL seeding is “one of the craziest rules ever” and it needs to be changed. He’s right. The NFL should seed playoff teams in each conference by record but at least guarantee all division winners will earn berths.
–Running back Saquon Barkley doesn’t seem too bothered that he will be rested for Philadelphia’s finale Sunday against the New York Giants, denying him a chance to break the single-season rushing record. Perhaps that’s not a surprise. Barkley has 2,005 yards in 16 games, and the NFL now plays a 17-game season. Eric Dickerson of the Los Angeles Rams set the mark of 2,105 in a 16-game season in 1984. The NFL should determine the record holder based on average yards per game, which would make Buffalo’s O.J. Simpson, who had 2,003 yards in a 14-game season in 1973, the real record holder.