Denver Broncos linebacker Ian Gold experienced many "firsts" as a member of the Huron Valley Boys Club - his first catch, first throw, first touchdown. In August 2002, Gold added another "first" to the list when he helped open the Denver Broncos Boys & Girls Club, the first Club to be fully sponsored and funded by an NFL team.

Broncos blue and orange rafters hang over 22,000-sq. ft. of kid friendly space at the new Club, located in Denver's Montbello neighborhood. Kids come and go, many wearing dark blue T-shirts sporting both the Denver Broncos and Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver logos. On one wall, poster-size framed photographs of current and former Broncos bear messages encouraging members to stay positive.

Credit For Success

Gold knows firsthand the positive impact a Boys & Girls Club can have on a young person. Like many Club members, he grew up in a single-parent household. For him, the Club represented a safe place to go - and learn - during the summer months.

"When I was younger, my mom started taking us to the Boys & Girls Club," Gold recalls. "Every summer, we would spend every day there and I thought it was a great experience. We were able to meet all different types of kids from all different backgrounds."

Gold, who received his degree in political science while playing football at the University of Michigan, credits the Club with teaching him about the game of life.

"The Club was really good for my brothers and me because we learned a lot of our life skills there," Gold explains. "You go to school to get educated, but there is more than one way a child can learn. The Boys & Girls Club taught us everything else that school didn't teach us."

On August 28, Gold was one of 12 Denver Broncos players on hand for the grand opening celebration at the new Club. Many, including Ephraim Salaam, Rod Smith, Deltha O'Neal, Haven Moses and Billy Thompson, were Club members in their youth.

"I was standing there reminiscing about what it was like to be a part of the Boys & Girls Club," Gold says. "If it weren't for the Club, I wouldn't be where I am today."

Perfect Partnership

The Denver Broncos Boys & Girls Club includes a learning center, art room, technology lab, games room, teen room, gymnasium and multi-purpose area where special events are held and hot meals are served each afternoon. Looking at the freshly painted walls and shiny gym floor, it is hard to imagine that plans called for the building to be either locked up or demolished.

A former city recreation center, the structure was vacated when a new, larger recreation facility was built just three miles away. Neighbors, recognizing that kids in the area needed a place to go, pressed the city to find a way to keep the building open. The solution? Turn the building's operation and maintenance over to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver. The arrangement proved mutually beneficial for the city, neighborhood and Club.

That left only one problem: where to find the funds needed to staff the facility and provide programming for young people in the neighborhood. That's where the Denver Broncos take the field.

According to Cindy Galloway, senior director of community development for the Denver Broncos, the organization had been searching for a hands-on, grass- roots community partnership that could develop over a period of several years and have a tremendous impact on local youth.