There are four major league professional sports teams in Colorado, all in Denver: the Broncos of the National Football League, the Nuggets of the National Basketball Association, the Avalanche of the National Hockey League, and the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball. The Broncos won the American Football Conference Championship in 1978, 1987, 1988, and 1990, losing each year in the Super Bowl. They won back-to-back Super Bowl titles in 1998 and 1999. The Avalanche, who moved to Denver from Quebec after the 1995 season, won the Stanley Cup in 1996. The Colorado Springs Sky Sox compete in the Pacific Coast division of minor league baseball, and the Colorado Gold Kings compete in the West Coast Hockey League.
Colorado is home to some of the world's finest alpine skiing resorts, such as Vail, Aspen, and Steamboat Springs.
The Buffaloes of the University of Colorado produced some excellent football teams in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and they were named National Champions in 1990 (with Georgia Tech). Colorado won the Orange Bowl in 1957 and 1991, the Fiesta Bowl in 1995, and the Cotton Bowl in 1996. The Buffaloes have won or shared five Big Eight titles, the last one in 1991. Since the conference expanded to the Big Twelve, the Buffaloes have won the title once, in 2001.
Jack Dempsey, the famous heavyweight boxer of the 1920s, was born in Manassa, Colorado, and was appropriately named the "Manassa Mauler."