Is Hunter Enis the richest former Broncos quarterback? | Sports reporting

Peyton Manning is estimated to be worth $250 million and John Elway is worth $145 million. But when it comes to the richest former Broncos quarterbacks, they may have to settle for second and third.

Hunter Enis, 87, played four games for the Broncos in 1962, completing one of two passes for 8 yards, before returning to the team as offensive backfield coach under head coach Lou Saban from 1967 to 1971. He later served as wide receivers coach for the New York Giants from 1974 to 1976.

Enis then left football and became an oil and gas wildcatter in Fort Worth, Texas, eventually founding Four Sevens Oil Company with his partner Dick Lowe in 1990. How successful was that?

“We sold our production three times,” said Enis. “In all three cases it was well over a billion dollars. We had no debt, so we did pretty well.”

So did Enis and Lowe both get around $500 million at the start of this century?

“Well, almost there, yeah,” Enis said.

The modest Enis declined to provide further estimates of his wealth, saying, “I don't miss meals.” But he has become a major supporter of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, where he was a star quarterback in the late 1950s.

Enis, who serves on TCU's Board of Trustees, played a key role in the renovation of Amon Carter Stadium. Four Sevens made a $15 million donation announced in 2012 to support the reconstruction of Amon G. Carter Stadium. Enis said more was actually donated, but did not give a number. The football program's team room is called the Four Sevens Meeting Room.

And to think that Enis was once an obscure backup quarterback for the Broncos.

“Yeah, I remember him,” said former Denver star wide receiver Lionel Taylor, Enis’ teammate in 1962. “Really nice guy. From Texas.”

After his college playing career, Enis joined the Dallas Texans in the first season of the American Football League in 1960, starting two games, both of which he won. He then spent 1961 as a backup for the San Diego Chargers before moving to the Broncos in 1962.

In the opening game, a 30-21 victory over the Chargers, Enis relieved starter Frank Tripucka late in the game and threw his only two Broncos passes. Enis doesn't remember much of that game, but he does remember what happened not long after.

“I got hurt,” he said. “I suspect the coaches had poor judgment and failed to assess the talent. I'm just kidding. Someone was probably better than me. That was part of the deal.”

Enis remained with the Oakland Raiders for the remainder of the season, starting one game, one loss. But after 1962 his professional career ended.

In three AFL seasons, Enis completed 80 of 160 passes for 947 yards with four touchdowns and six interceptions. Two of his TD passes came against the Broncos, for the Texans in 1960 and for the Chargers in 1961, so maybe that's why they took him.

Enis returned to Denver in 1967 to coach the quarterbacks and running backs under Saban. Former Broncos running back Bobby Anderson had him as a position coach from 1970 to 1971.

“He was a quiet guy, very detailed and very smart,” Anderson said. “He would speak to you with a Texas accent.”

Enis was the position coach in 1968 when Marlin Briscoe became the first black starting quarterback in professional history. He started in five games and completed 41.5% of his passes for 1,589 yards with 14 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

“It wasn’t a big deal,” Enis said of Briscoe’s start. “It was more of a big deal for the newspapers and everyone else. We had a lot of black players, so it didn’t make a difference.”

The following season, Saban decided to bring in Pete Liske from the Canadian Football League to replace Briscoe. Briscoe demanded his release and eventually became a 1,000-yard receiver for the Buffalo Bills and a receiver who won Super Bowl rings with the Miami Dolphins in 1972 and 1973.

Saban went 20-42-3 with the Broncos and never had a winning season. He resigned five games before the end of the 1971 season and was temporarily replaced by Jerry Smith. Enis was then not taken over by the new coach John Ralston in 1972.

“I loved Denver,” Enis said. “Before I left there in 1972, I skied for 60 days straight.”

Enis eventually became an assistant with the Giants under Bill Arnspargar for three seasons before the head coach and his staff were fired. Then Enis decided it was time to try something different.

During his playing days, Enis had earned a master's degree in geology from TCU. He wanted to use it and ended up teaming up with Lowe.

“We drilled the Barnett Shale and came out on top,” Enis said of how he and Lowe made their fortune exploring for natural gas. “We leased in Fort Worth and the surrounding areas, so we're at the forefront and have done pretty well. We drilled a lot of wells and put in a pipeline, and we sold out three times.”

So what was the key to so much natural gas?

“We drilled through the shale for a long time and no one knew how to get the gas out,” he said. “But then they started doing what’s called slickwater fracking and we started fracking and breaking up the rock. So we were able to get the gas out and it made it very profitable.”

While Lowe died in 2020 at the age of 92, Enis still works regularly at Four Sevens, although he no longer runs the company. Enis and Lowe were both inducted into the Fort Worth Business Hall of Fame and Enis is also a member of the TCU Athletics Hall of Fame.

Unlike Elway and Manning, Enis was never inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But in Taylor's words, “I'd say he did well.”

What I hear

— Former Saints quarterback Archie Manning had all sorts of memorabilia from his career and his two-star quarterback sons Peyton and Eli in his New Orleans home for years. “My wife would always say, 'Why do you keep this stuff?'” Manning said. “I would say, 'Sports Bar.'” Although it was mostly a joke, Manning eventually got an offer to partner with Harrah's and open Manning's Sports Bar and Grill in New Orleans in 2012. “So I put all the stuff away and put it in Manning’s Sports Bar,” he said. The bar contains all sorts of memorabilia from the careers of Manning and his quarterback sons, including items from when Peyton played for Denver from 2012 to 2015.

– When the Broncos have a good game on the ground, their running backs rarely miss a chance to praise the players on offense. “They were great,” Jaleel McLaughlin said after Denver ran for 225 yards in Thursday’s 33-10 win at New Orleans. “I love getting behind them and I want to keep working hard so we can show them the appreciation (the running backs) have.” Denver's rushing total against the Saints was its highest since they won on Nov. 24 Had 280 yards. 2013, in New England.

What I see

– Could the Broncos actually have found a tight end to provide some offense? Against the Saints, Lucas Krull caught three passes for 41 yards. After being inactive for the first four games, Krull has replaced Greg Dulcich as the active player in the last three games and has six catches for 57 yards. Meanwhile, Dulcich, Adam Trautman and Nate Adkins, Denver's other tight ends, have combined for a meager 11 catches for 79 yards this season.

–The Broncos had 12 different players in their 28 sacks. At least one player in each position group was involved in a sack, from defensive lineman to inside linebacker and outside linebacker to cornerback and safety. “We want everyone to participate,” defensive end Zach Allen said. “We have a very special group.”

What I think

– It's interesting that the Cleveland Browns have decided against renovating Huntington Bank Stadium, which opened in 1999, and are planning to move to a domed stadium in suburban Brook Park. I wonder if the Broncos will eventually try to do the same and abandon Empower Field at Mile High, which opened in 2001, for a dome. The benefits of a domed stadium include the ability to host events such as the Super Bowl, Final Four and college football playoff games. Folks in Denver might want to keep up with the Joneses and not just Jerry Jones, who has long owned a domed stadium outside Dallas that attracts big events.

– Next Sunday's game at Empower Field will be a rematch of Super Bowl 50 between the Broncos and Carolina Panthers. Fans of both teams can complain about how poor their seasons have been since then. The Broncos haven't made the playoffs since winning the Super Bowl 24-10 in Santa Clara, California. The Panthers have only made the playoffs once since then, in 2017. In the eight years that followed, both teams had seven defeats. Denver is at least 4-3 this season, while Carolina is 1-5 heading into Sunday's game in Washington.