Bo’s biggest believers aren’t new around these parts – they’ve been in the game for a while 

The Broncos are back in the saddle this season, but some fans have always kept riding along, even when the team was playing badly.  

Denver now sits atop the AFC West after clinching their second playoff berth in two years after a 34-26 victory against the Green Bay Packers, but the last 10 years have been nothing short of challenging for some Broncos fans. 

Even amidst the ups and downs of new quarterbacks, roster changes, and new ownership, Broncos die-hards like Danielle Pursley and Devin Hayes never hid their love for the team in the shadows – that is unless you count their basements.  

“When you love something, and you truly love it, you don’t give up on it because it’s kind of in a lull,” Pursley said. “The last 10 years have been really rough, there’s no question, but deep down you know at some point it’s going to turn around.” 

For these fans, the team is more than just a singular exciting moment, it’s being surrounded by the nostalgia of the combined 65 years of Mile High Magic.

“Enjoying your favorite team in a room that you pretty much dedicated to loving that team,” Hayes said, “I feel like they feel that energy in here and that helps them win the games.” 

The Crush Cave 

Pulling into the cul-de-sac of Pursley’s Windsor neighborhood, you are immediately greeted with the glowing exterior of her orange and blue house.  

Pursley has been a Broncos fan for nearly her entire life. After being born into season tickets, which her mom and dad possessed, she became hooked on the Broncos while she was in middle school, watching the team make their run in the 1998 and 1999 Super Bowls.  

“Instead of a normal teenage room where they had like JTT posters and stuff like that, my wall was newspaper clippings and posters of the Broncos,” Pursley said. 

Pursley carried her Broncos spirit into adulthood, hanging her posters and newspaper clippings, and memorabilia passed down to her from her family members. Her home was completely swallowed up by items of orange and blue, ones with a white horse, bobble heads in helmets, and limited edition foods like a box of Ed McCaffrey O’s.  

Pursley’s basement is decked out in wall-to-wall Broncos gear. Her living room is a treasure trove of vintage signatures from Tyrone Braxton, Ed McCaffrey and John Elway, and other players from the ‘golden era’ of the Broncos’ late 90s team.  

Pursley has taken being a Broncos fan to nearly every extreme she could. Her house is painted orange and blue, her car has a vintage Broncos logo on the hood, and nearly every room in her home has some kind of Broncos decor. 

Her kids – Braxton, named after Tyrone Braxton, Marshall Von, named after Brandon Marshall and Von Miller, and Mileigh, ‘Mile High without the H’ – are named after something Broncos.  

“I think what was so hard was that I knew how much I loved the Broncos, but I wanted everybody else to know,” she said. “Nobody’s going to see my house or see these kinds of things, so I came up with this crazy costume.” 

Pursley now attends every single game – rain, sleet or snow – as ‘Crush,’ sporting an all orange or all blue spandex jumpsuit, knee-high socks, a jersey while sporting Broncos colored hair.  

“I wear my spandex suit to those cold games, and it’s miserable, but I do it. You know it’s fun cause you get recognized because you do this no matter what,” Pursley said. “The cold games are my favorites cause that’s when your die-hards are there.” 

The Ring of Fame 

Opening the door to the basement at Devin Hayes’ Westminster home is like entering a tiny Denver Broncos museum.  

Vintage signs, records and magazines line the walls of the stairs, taking you into an orange dungeon below ground. Every item is meticulously hung and framed neatly on the walls like a giant game of Tetris.  

Interesting pieces sit inside exhibit cases, like an entire collection of ‘Crush cans’ exclusively released in 1977, a Broncos troll doll and most notably, carpet – an orange carpet.  

The basement is almost entirely orange from floor to ceiling, including the carpet, sans one navy blue accent wall.  

“The orange carpet is from the Super Bowl 50 Ring ceremony. So my brother lays carpet, and he does very high-end,” Hayes said. “My cousin and brother laid this carpet for the Broncos to walk on to get their Super Bowl Rings, so he got a chunk of it for me and installed it.” 

Hayes’ family works in the high-end carpet installation industry, installing luxury carpets for high-paying clients in the Cherry Hills and south Denver area.  

A lot of what Hayes owns might not be worth a lot of money, but he certainly has a plethora of unique pieces, like a marble slab made around 1977 showcasing the old Mile High Stadium and another piece of carpet.  

A corner of carpet from Von Miller’s home in Foxfield, which he framed next to a player’s card, is signed by Von Miller. 

“I just like to show other Broncos fans or people that it’s fun to collect, and when you can put a collection out that you can almost fill a room with, you might as well go all the way to the edge,” Hayes said. “Go crazy.” 

Hayes meticulously chooses items for his collection, scouring sites like eBay and Facebook Marketplace for specific oddities to add to his collection. He says he really likes the weird and old pieces, things you’d not find in other collections. His most treasured items are priceless, like a photograph of Hayes’ mother and brother that hangs on the wall of the room. 

Hayes also enjoys creating pieces of his own; his next project includes using his 3D laser printer to create a ‘Ring of Fame,’ which will showcase all the players, coaches, and owners’ names.