Kick Off Football Season With These Classic Colorado Photos

Summer is winding down, and Football season is upon us. Grand Junction, and the rest of Western Colorado, really know how to celebrate our local football teams.

Recently, a few thousand more photos from late Daily Sentinel photographer Robert Grant were discovered. Okay, I finally got around to cleaning my basement and I found them. Most images in this gallery are the better part of 40 years old, with some images much older. Take a look back at some of your favorite Western Colorado school Football teams.

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Didn't You Say You Were Done With This Project?

I addressed this question in a similar post yesterday. For the last 23 years the effort has been underway to find, sort, and digitize my grandpa, Bob Grant's personal photo collection. He was the photographer at the Daily Sentinel for more than 40 years, and in addition to the prints published in the paper, he shot, developed, and kept thousands upon thousands of prints. Those, combined with an absolutely obscene amount of negatives, found their way to his garage after his retirement.

My dad, Bob Grant's son-in-law, Arlie Jordan initiated the monumental task of sorting out and scanning the collection. When he died in 2019, I took it over. Earlier this year, with a mountain of work staring me down, the decision was made to turn over the entire collection to the Museum of the West. At this time, this museum in Grand Junction, Colorado is hard at work putting together a permanent Robert Grant exhibit.

Where Did This Batch of Photos Come From?

You may recall about five months ago I said my part of the project was complete. At that time, it was believed all of Bob Grant's photo collection had been gathered and turned over to the museum.

Along comes Labor Day Weekend 2023, and yours truly decided to do a little housekeeping. Much to my surprise, another three boxes of prints were uncovered. These three boxes, like previous boxes and file cabinets full of tens of thousands of photos, were a random selection of images from around Western Colorado and Eastern Utah.

Football In Western Colorado

To be blunt, photographing sports wasn't Bob's passion. He was very much a newsman, and his interests revolved around straight news events. Let's remember, at the age of 18, Bob Grant joined the U.S. Army and served as a soldier, and photographer, during World War II.

Bob didn't like using filters, diffusion, or any "tricks" of the trade. He liked sharp, crisp photos. When it came to sports, just like any other photo subject matter, Bob had a tendency to ignore boundaries. Like he always told me, "Get in close, and then, just after you get in close, get in closer."

Like past galleries, these are prints Bob made that for one reason or another didn't make the cut. They never found their way to the newspaper or one of his calendars. These prints haven't seen the light of day in almost 40 years.

Unfortunately, like most of Bob's prints, since these had no real future, he opted not to include information as the event or subjects. That, though, is part of the fun of these galleries. Look closely, and then, look closer. You're bound to recognize someone you know. With each of these Bob Grant galleries, people recognize someone, oftentimes themselves, and get in touch with the info.