Happy birthday, Colorado — and Colorado sports.

Leading into the state’s 150th birthday Aug. 1, The Denver Gazette has partnered with the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame to publicize the definitive list of Colorado’s top 150 sports moments.

Colorado Sports Hall of Fame historian Dave Plati and a committee of 10 compiled and will release the list every week until the No. 1 moment on July 31. Plati and Broncos icon Jim Saccomano will unveil the list weekly on a Colorado Sports Hall of Fame podcast at coloradosports.org/podcast/.

No. 76 — Dec. 9, 1979

Bruce Ford (1996 Colorado Sports Hall of Fame inductee), from Kersey, won his first of five world titles in rodeo bareback riding. He went on to capture the titles in 1980, 1982, 1983 and 1987. During his career, he shattered or tied every bareback riding record: all-time bareback earnings, most NFR bareback qualifications (19) and tied for the second-most world bareback champion titles with five. In 1982, he became the first cowboy to win more than $100,000 in a single event in one year and had over $1 million in career earnings.

— Dave Plati, Colorado Sports Hall of Fame historian