1983 Denver Gold Statistics
Team Record: 7-11
Finishing 3rd in the USFL's Pacific Division
Coach: Red Miller (4-7)
Coach: Charley Armey (0-1)
Coach: Craig Morton (3-3)
Location: Denver, Colorado
Attendance: 375,620, Avg. 41,736 in 9 home dates
1983 Denver Gold Results
The Denver Gold of the United States Football League ended the 1983 season with a record of 7 wins and 11 losses, finishing third in the USFL's Pacific Division.
Denver labored to change the scoreboard with just 284 points, while the defensive squad surrendered 304. Harry Sydney rushed for a team-leading 801 yards for the Gold, while Larry Canada also buoyed the ground attack.
Ken Johnson passed for 1,115 yards. Larry Canada topped all receivers, catching 42 balls, while Bob Niziolek added 373 receiving yards. Vic James and Harry Sydney were targeted regularly as well.
Dave Dumars picked off 7 opponent throws. Greg Gerken and Calvin Turner each dropped quarterbacks 6.5 times.
Red Miller, Charley Armey and Craig Morton coached the team.
Click on column headings to sort.
Passing:
| Player | Att | Comp | Comp % | Yds | Yds/Att | TDs | TD % | Ints | Int % | Long | Sacked | Yds Lost | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ken Johnson | 248 | 121 | 48.8 | 1115 | 4.5 | 6 | 2.4 | 12 | 4.8 | 56t | 16 | 139 | 49.4 |
| Craig Penrose | 84 | 48 | 57.1 | 621 | 7.4 | 5 | 6.0 | 8 | 9.5 | 75t | 14 | 124 | 60.8 |
| Fred Mortensen | 83 | 40 | 48.2 | 447 | 5.4 | 2 | 2.4 | 4 | 4.8 | 32 | 10 | 69 | 52.6 |
| Jeff Knapple | 49 | 23 | 46.9 | 174 | 3.6 | 0 | 0.0 | 9 | 18.4 | 19 | 2 | 24 | 16.4 |
| Steve Gortz | 2 | 2 | 100.0 | 100 | 50.0 | 1 | 50.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 75t | 0 | 0 | 158.3 |
| Harry Sydney | 3 | 1 | 33.3 | 46 | 15.3 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 33.3 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 42.4 |
| Alvin White | 7 | 2 | 28.6 | 38 | 5.4 | 1 | 14.3 | 2 | 28.6 | 31t | 0 | 0 | 49.7 |
| Totals | 476 | 237 | 49.8 | 2541 | 5.3 | 15 | 3.2 | 36 | 7.6 | 75 | 42 | 356 |
Rushing:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Sydney | 176 | 801 | 4.6 | 45 | 9 |
| Larry Canada | 142 | 631 | 4.4 | 24t | 3 |
| Vincent White | 52 | 291 | 5.6 | 29 | 0 |
| Bo Matthews | 67 | 257 | 3.8 | 16 | 0 |
| Terry Miller | 51 | 159 | 3.1 | 17 | 0 |
| Putt Choate | 5 | 145 | 29.0 | 58t | 1 |
| Ken Johnson | 27 | 141 | 5.2 | 17 | 3 |
| Glenn Ford | 10 | 42 | 4.2 | 11 | 0 |
| Fred Mortensen | 10 | 34 | 3.4 | 11 | 3 |
| Vic James | 3 | 25 | 8.3 | 17 | 0 |
| Craig Penrose | 4 | 12 | 3.0 | 9 | 0 |
| Scott Stamper | 3 | 11 | 3.7 | 6 | 0 |
| Bob Niziolek | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0 | |
| Jeff Knapple | 2 | -1 | -0.5 | 2 | 0 |
| Howard Ballage | 2 | -4 | -2.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Johnnie Dirden | 1 | -10 | -10.0 | -10 | 0 |
| Totals | 555 | 2540 | 4.6 | 58 | 19 |
Receiving:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Larry Canada | 42 | 242 | 5.8 | 24 | 0 |
| Bob Niziolek | 37 | 373 | 10.1 | 59 | 3 |
| Harry Sydney | 31 | 306 | 9.9 | 56t | 2 |
| Vic James | 25 | 348 | 13.9 | 27 | 4 |
| Bo Matthews | 19 | 109 | 5.7 | 21 | 1 |
| Johnnie Dirden | 17 | 301 | 17.7 | 75t | 2 |
| Lonell Phea | 13 | 206 | 15.8 | 46 | 0 |
| Terry Miller | 11 | 84 | 7.6 | 20 | 0 |
| Vincent White | 9 | 64 | 7.1 | 13 | 0 |
| Howard Ballage | 7 | 109 | 15.6 | 29 | 0 |
| Glenn Ford | 6 | 124 | 20.7 | 75t | 1 |
| Kevin Williams | 5 | 97 | 19.4 | 34 | 0 |
| Lloyd Jones | 5 | 77 | 15.4 | 22 | 0 |
| Kenny Brown | 3 | 45 | 15.0 | 19 | 0 |
| Tom Maher | 3 | 21 | 7.0 | 9 | 0 |
| Rich Matheney | 2 | 27 | 13.5 | 14 | 0 |
| Darryl Goosby | 2 | 8 | 4.0 | 5 | 2 |
| Totals | 237 | 2541 | 10.7 | 75 | 15 |
Kicking:
Punting:
Punt Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Martin | 35 | 380 | 10.9 | 29 | 0 |
| Lonell Phea | 2 | 13 | 6.5 | 13 | 0 |
| Scott Stamper | 1 | -2 | -2.0 | -2 | 0 |
| Totals | 38 | 391 | 10.3 | 29 | 0 |
Kick Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glenn Ford | 22 | 521 | 23.7 | 59 | 0 |
| Lonell Phea | 13 | 289 | 22.2 | 40 | 0 |
| Scott Stamper | 10 | 213 | 21.3 | 30 | 0 |
| Terry Miller | 3 | 76 | 25.3 | 35 | 0 |
| Howard Ballage | 3 | 51 | 17.0 | 26 | 0 |
| Vic James | 4 | 51 | 12.8 | 21 | 0 |
| Vincent White | 1 | 20 | 20.0 | 20 | 0 |
| Kenny Brown | 1 | 17 | 17.0 | 17 | 0 |
| Harry Sydney | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 13 | 0 |
| David Martin | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 13 | 0 |
| Tom Sullivan | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 7 | 0 |
| Totals | 60 | 1271 | 21.2 | 59 | 0 |
Interceptions:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Dumars | 7 | 242 | 34.6 | 81 | 1 |
| David Martin | 6 | 44 | 7.3 | 20 | 0 |
| Nate Miller | 2 | 4 | 2.0 | 4 | 0 |
| Kyle Whittingham | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 17 | 295 | 17.4 | 81 | 1 |
Sacks:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calvin Turner | 6.5 | 55 | 8.5 |
| Greg Gerken | 6.5 | 50 | 7.7 |
| Laval Short | 5.0 | 35 | 7.0 |
| Larry White | 3.0 | 21 | 7.0 |
| Andy Poremba | 3.0 | 18 | 6.0 |
| Pete Perry | 1.5 | 6 | 4.0 |
| John Barefield | 1.0 | 5 | 5.0 |
| Kyle Whittingham | 1.0 | 2 | 2.0 |
| Tom Maher | 0.5 | 3 | 6.0 |
| Totals | 28.0 | 195 | 7.0 |
Total Scoring:
| Touchdowns | Other | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rush | Rec | Punt | Kick | MFG | Int | Fum | Other | FG | X/C | Single | 2Pt | Saf | Points |
| Harry Sydney | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66 | |||
| Brian Speelman | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66 | |||
| Vic James | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | |||
| Larry Canada | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 22 | |||
| Bob Niziolek | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | |||
| Ken Johnson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | |||
| Fred Mortensen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | |||
| Darryl Goosby | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||
| Johnnie Dirden | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||
| Bo Matthews | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | |||
| Glenn Ford | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||
| Dave Dumars | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||
| Putt Choate | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||
| Jeff Knapple | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |||
| Totals | 19 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 27 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 284 |
