A Family Tradition

For generations of guests, the resort is a special place where they can return time after time to relive treasured memories and to make new ones.

BY BOB BOWS

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: BILL PRENTISS, SECOND FROM LEFT, ON A BROADMOOR TOUR WITH HIS FAMILY UP PIKES PEAK. PRENTISS’ MOTHER, GRACE, SITTING BY THE LAKE IN 1983. PRENTISS’ WIFE, DAYLE, IN THE GARDEN ROOM OF LA TAVERNE DURING THEIR HONEYMOON IN 1971, AND IN THE SAME LOCATION IN 2015.

mong its many wonderful facets, The Broadmoor provides a unique sense of place for those who return regularly to indulge in its pleasures. This feeling encompasses several qualities, beginning with the natural beauty that surrounds us, the impeccable golf links, and the Olmsted-designed gardens and landscaping. Within this dreamy setting are layers upon layers of the finest that life has to offer, including Colorado’s only Forbes Five-Star, AAA Five-Diamond restaurant, a Forbes Five-Star spa, the East Course (which has hosted seven USGA championships, with the eighth scheduled for 2025), a top-notch tennis facility, four outdoor and indoor pools, premier fly fishing, and one of the foremost collections of Western American art on the planet.

And while these unique amenities and The Broadmoor’s storied history draw guests from around the globe—as they have for more than a century—there are underlying qualities of hospitality, togetherness, and simple enjoyments many families sense as soon as they arrive. It’s one reason many guests have made cherished memories here and have even incorporated the resort into their own traditions.

A Lasting Impression

For some it began with the lasting impression it made on them in their youth. Bill Prentiss first came to The Broadmoor in 1958, when he was 11 years old.

“That week made an indelible impression on me, and when our two boys were young, we brought them to The Broadmoor,” Prentiss says. “In the last few years, we made Colorado Springs our summer home. We found a place close by, and each year part of our family—now grown children and grandchildren—visit us in Colorado, which always includes time at The Broadmoor.”

RICHARD COON DANCING WITH HIS SIX-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, BAILEY, AT PENROSE ROOM (BELOW), AND AT HER WEDDING, HELD AT THE BROADMOOR.

Home Away from Home

Richard Coon first came to The Broadmoor in the late 1960s, as a kid. “My dad started playing in The Broadmoor Invitation golf tournament, so we made it a family vacation. We really had fun—and we still do! I’ve been coming back here with my own family since 1982.”

The Coons liked it so much that they now have a home at The Broadmoor, in the West Residences. “I think it’s been about fifteen years,” says wife Karla Coon. “We live here part-time, literally on the property.

“We spend about eighty or ninety nights a year here,” says Richard. We enjoy both the summers and winters here. Our grandkids come now, so that’s four generations!”

For Tom White, it was his love of hockey. “My first visit to The

Broadmoor in 1972 was to see Colorado College play Denver

University in hockey. The strategy for DU fans was to spend the afternoon in the Golden Bee and make it to the Ice Arena by the lake around 7 p.m. The Bee was smaller then, and we made the most of their yards of beer. “After the game, a glint of sanity suggested it may be better to take a room rather than try to make it back to Denver. The front desk said they had a room available, but they could not accept my credit card. Panic was short-lived, though, when the clerk said: ‘But we would be happy to bill you.’ The bill came, I paid it, and we have been friends ever since. Two years from now, I’ll have been coming here for fifty years.”

A Dream Wedding Destination

Among its many draws, the inspired setting of The Broadmoor is nothing if not romantic. “The lake holds special memories for Karla and me,” says Richard Coon. “I came up to The Broadmoor with my family in 1984, and then she came up a few days later, only for a couple of days, but we were walking the lake one night and that’s when I knew that I was going to ask her to marry me. About a month later I asked her, and that was thirty-six years ago.”

For Richard and Karla’s daughter, her wedding was a dream come true.

“When our daughter, Bailey, was little,” Karla Coon recalls, “she spent so much time in the pool—right where the Main Terrace is now— which makes me think back when Bailey was probably 6. She was a well-behaved young lady, and we could take her to the Penrose Room, and we’d all get dressed up. Richard would take her to the dance floor. She just thought she was a princess.

“She had no doubt,” Coon continues, “that The Broadmoor was where she was going to get married, and she got married in an outdoor ceremony right there, outside on the Main Terrace, where it covers the pool that she spent so many hours swimming in. And talk about coming full circle—the father-daughter dance at the wedding reception brought me back to their time on the dance floor at the Penrose Room.”

Bill Prentiss and his bride married close to home, so The Broadmoor was their post-ceremony destination.

“The pull of The Broadmoor would bring me back in 1971 on my honeymoon. My wife and I stayed on the sixth floor of the South Tower in a room facing Cheyenne Mountain. I believe we still have the old key to that room. Each day the curtains would be drawn back to reveal the vision of sunrise on the mountain.”

Of course, there are plenty of other occasions, too, that are best celebrated with a large helping of elegance and pizzazz.

“We have enjoyed so many of our special family events there,” Tom White recalls, “birthdays, anniversaries, spring break. I loved staying on the fourth floor of the original hotel. One year, for my birthday, we reserved the whole floor for family and friends!”

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

The centerpiece of Broadmoor celebrations has always been memorable fine dining experiences, going back to founder Spencer Penrose himself, whose philosophy of food was drawn from the man who revolutionized the culinary arts, Auguste Escoffier. The Broadmoor’s first executive chef, Louis Stratta, was a protégé of Escoffier. When Stratta was hired by The Broadmoor in 1918, he incorporated his mentor’s emphasis on top-quality ingredients, innovative recipes, and service techniques—standards that remain to this day.

Stratta’s original dining room is now the featured breakfast and brunch venue, as Bill Prentiss recalls.

“My mother and aunt would have breakfast at the Lake Terrace Dining Room every morning before sauntering out to the lake patio to sit and take in the grandeur. The Broadmoor became an Eden of sorts to both of them. They came back many times. To them, The Broadmoor was an early glimpse of heaven.”

During White’s first visit, he was captured by the camaraderie and libations.

“Part of our [Denver University] group was Mr. J. J. Johnston, a practicing lawyer in Denver and law professor at DU. J.J. was a longtime and devout DU hockey fan. While having beer at the Bee with J.J., I noticed his cool mug with his name on it. He explained the mug club [officially known as the Order of the Pewter Tankard] and how someone needs to die before a new person could be invited. Long story short, it took me thirty years, but I am in. It’s been a lifetime since then, and I have so many wonderful memories of The Broadmoor.”

“He explained the mug club [officially known as the Order of the Pewter Tankard] and how someone needs to die before a new person could be invited. Long story short, it took me thirty years, but I am in.”

Links in Time

And there’s no better way to work up an appetite than a round of golf on one of The Broadmoor’s fine courses.

For Prentiss, The Broadmoor was where he got hooked on the game.

“During a week in August of ’63, one rainy afternoon, from a distance through the drizzle, I saw a lone golfer hitting balls on the practice field,” he says. “I asked who that might be and was told it was Dow Finsterwald. He was a well-known winning professional on the PGA TOUR, and he was also the head golf professional at The Broadmoor. For a closer look, I walked down to the range and stood about thirty yards away. Mr. Finsterwald noticed me ... ‘Don’t stand there in the rain. You can use my umbrella.’ So I watched as he hit 5-irons and 4-irons to his caddie some 190 yards out, never missing more than a couple of paces left or right. That was another Broadmoor lifetime experience! My family returned again in 1967, and this time I brought my clubs and played on the East and the West courses. From that point on, golf would be an indispensable part of my visits.” Golf played a role in White’s enchantment as well.

“I used to golf quite a bit, for fun and for business. I taught both my sons the game and loved to watch their competitive brotherly matches through the years.”

For Coon, The Broadmoor Invitation still casts a spell.

“Four hundred people playing in a golf tournament on both courses. It was one of the best amateur tournaments anywhere,” he says. “A lot of very famous amateurs would fly here. You’d qualify by stroke play for thirty-six holes to get into the match play for the championship. The format has changed now, but it’s still very popular.”

Taken as a whole, the years here are filled with quintessential moments. Clearly, Mr. Penrose’s vision of creating the “most wonderful hotel in the West—the most wonderful in the United States” is still with us, as the resort continually improves to maintain its status as the longest running Forbes Five-Star, AAA Five-Diamond resort on the planet.

And, while many of our fondest memories have evolved into something else today, the most important aspect remains unchanged— the people. There is no better feeling than running into the familiar faces of those who make The Broadmoor tick, from the bellhops and housekeepers to the maître d’s and wait staff, as well as management and leadership. The key values shared by all of these folks are friendly, top-of-the-line service and remarkable experiences for guests. It’s what keeps them coming back.

TOM WHITE, SEATED ABOVE, HAS ENJOYED VISITS TO THE BROADMOOR BEGINNING IN 1972 WITH A TRIP TO SEE A HOCKEY GAME. HE JOINED THE GOLDEN BEE’S ORDER OF THE PEWTER TANKARD THIRTY YEARS LATER.