Larry Zimmer

Larry Zimmer was one of the defining voices of Colorado sports broadcasting, a career that linked Denver radio, the University of Colorado and the Denver Broncos for more than half a century. Born in New Orleans in 1935, Zimmer studied at Louisiana State University before earning a journalism degree from the University of Missouri in 1957. His early broadcasting work included Missouri Tigers baseball and high-school sports, followed by a move to Ann Arbor, where he called University of Michigan football, basketball and hockey.

Zimmer arrived in Colorado in 1971 when KOA sports director Bob Martin hired him for play-by-play of University of Colorado football and color commentary on Denver Broncos broadcasts. The assignments became the foundation of an unusually durable career. Zimmer spent 19 seasons as the Broncos’ radio analyst and then seven seasons as play-by-play announcer, ultimately calling more than 500 Broncos games, including four Super Bowls. He also called the Denver Rockets of the American Basketball Association and the Colorado Caribous of the North American Soccer League.

His deepest association was with the Colorado Buffaloes. Across 42 seasons, Zimmer became known as the “Voice of the Buffaloes,” calling 486 football games and 525 men’s basketball games. During the three seasons when CU was away from KOA, from 1982 through 1984, he called Colorado State football before returning to the Buffaloes. He retired as KOA sports director in 2004 but remained in the CU football booth as an analyst through the 2015 season.

Zimmer’s work extended well beyond Colorado’s regular sports calendar. He covered Olympic competition, World Cup skiing, NCAA basketball, the College World Series and NFL Europe for national networks. Among the honors recognizing his career were the National Football Foundation’s Chris Schenkel Award, induction into the Broadcast Professionals of Colorado Hall of Fame, the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame and the University of Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame.

Zimmer died on January 20, 2024, at age 88. His career remains one of the longest and most consequential in Colorado sports broadcasting history, spanning generations of listeners and some of the state’s most enduring sports institutions.

Sources: Denver Broncos — Larry Zimmer remembrance; University of Colorado — Colorado Radio Icon Larry Zimmer Passes Away; Colorado Sports Hall of Fame — Larry Zimmer; CU Athletic Hall of Fame — Larry Zimmer; Broadcast Pioneers of Colorado — 2009 Hall of Fame.