Irv Moss, The Denver Post sportswriter who chronicled virtually every significant athletic event in town over a 60-year career, died Wednesday at the age of 85.
Moss started as a copyboy at the Post in the 1950s. Before long, prior to the presence of professional teams like the Nuggets, Rockies and Avalanche, he had positioned himself for some plum assignments — like dog racing and men's softball leagues.
When Denver did make the big-time sports scene, Moss was often front and center, at Broncos games, on campus at the Air Force Academy and the University of Colorado.
You could find him anywhere whistles blew and crowds roared.
Moss' stature was such that, in a pre-internet, pre-sports talk radio "hot take" age, readers of the Post, at times, didn't form their opinions about the latest up-and-coming athletic phenom or local team until they saw what he had said about them.
"The greatest thing about Irv was, he was just tireless," said CPR News Executive Editor Kevin Dale, who was the sports editor at the Post from 2000 to 2006. "You just could not keep him out of the press box. He would cover high school sports, college sports, he loved Air Force — and then he would go to the Rockies games just to be there."
"He just had to be in the press box, telling the story for Denver Post readers."
Moss' 60-year tenure at the Post made him one of the longest-serving newspaper employees in the country and even after he stopped writing, he didn't stop writing. Moss continued working on a freelance basis, doing features on minor-league players in the Rockies' system.
Jim Saccomano, who himself served in the Broncos' front office for the better part of 40 years, told the Post, “I think of Irv as the journalistic foundation of this city.”
Moss was inducted into the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame in 2017, one year after his retirement from the Post.
