Jerry McMorris

He was a 1962 graduate of the University of Colorado's School of Business. He bought a small company as a 19-year-old sophomore at CU and turned his small firm — started with $7,000 from his father and three trucks operating between Denver and Golden — into a $400 million trucking giant, NationsWay Transport, serving all of North America. McMorris' crucial role of ensuring that big-league baseball survived and thrived in Colorado will be his legacy among area sports fans. Denver, a city that had coveted a major-league team for decades, was awarded an expansion franchise on July 5, 1991, and scheduled to begin play in the National League in 1993. However, major problems soon arose with the Rockies' principal owners at the time, Mickey Monus and John Antonucci, both from Youngstown, Ohio. In July 1992, just nine months before the Rockies were scheduled to play their first regular-season game, Monus was charged in a multimillion-dollar fraud and embezzlement scheme. The Monus-Antonucci financial partnership crumbled, and the Rockies were faced with a $20 million shortfall. Major League Baseball was on the brink of pulling its expansion franchise from Denver until McMorris rode to the rescue. A businessman for most of his adult life, Jerry McMorris also invested heavily in land, primarily in Colorado and Wyoming. NationsWay Transport filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 1999, putting thousands of people out of work. The company employed about 3,000 workers nationwide, including 1,000 in Denver. Beginning in 1990, McMorris became heavily involved with the National Western Stock Show. He served as a member of its executive committee, treasurer and vice chairman. In May 2006 he was elected chairman of the board.