Denver, CO
How the legacy of Colorado’s first Black surgeon lives on in Denver’s Five Points
DENVER — A portrait hanging on the wall reminds Candace Lartigue of who came before.
“When I walk in the doors here, I am part of a legacy,” said Lartigue, a nurse practitioner at Denver Health’s Eastside Family Health Center.
In the heart of the historic Five Points neighborhood, African American history runs deep. And at the country’s second oldest community health clinic, that history revolves around one man: Dr. Bernard F. Gipson Sr.
“As a Black woman working in healthcare, you don’t see a ton of representation,” Lartigue said. Even today, “you don’t see a lot of Black surgeons.”
Especially not like Dr. Gipson, who became one of the first Black surgeons in the country, at a time when African Americans were deep in the Civil Rights movement.
“There have been a ton of contributions to civil rights, to the health equity movement, to social justice, coming out of Denver,” she said. And Dr. Gipson played a part.
“He actually took care of Dr. Martin Luther King, I think it was a second visit out here, for altitude sickness,” Lartigue said.
Eric Goody, Denver7
Denver7 wanted to learn more about Dr. Gipson’s life and legacy. That’s when we discovered that the man himself preserved his story before he died.
Tucked away into boxes donated to the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library, photographs, letters and certifications share a glimpse of his monumental achievements.
“People see the black and white photos and they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, that was a long time ago’ and we’re like ‘No, no,’” said Dexter Nelson III, the library’s museums and archives supervisor.
Nelson and his team are dedicated to preserving Denver’s African American history, but even they hadn’t heard of Dr. Gipson.
When they pulled these boxes from the archives, we learned about the doctor together.
Eric Goody, Denver7
The most stunning part of the collection: Audio recordings of Dr. Gipson telling his own life story 50 years ago.
“I was really just blown away with his tenacity,” Nelson said.
Gipson was born in Texas in the 1920s, as the youngest of nine children. He grew up poor, but his family rallied around him to get an education.
In the audio recordings, Dr. Gipson said his career in medicine began when he was only 11or 12 years old.
A Black doctor visited his town, and later performed life-saving surgery on him. Dr. Gipson said, “to influence a youngster like I was at that time, with no money, that I become educated… does go to show, as we move along in life, that we must be careful because you can’t tell who is watching and may get an idea.”
But his journey would be long, and rife with racism.
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Gipson left Texas to study at the most prestigious university a Black man could attend at the time: Morehouse University.
He completed all of the requirements to go to medical school. But then, World War II threatened to end his career before it started.
Army recruiters told him he needed to report for duty. But Dr. Benjamin Mays, president of Morehouse, made some phone calls to help Gipson. It was a Black Lieutenant Colonel, Campbell Johnson, who deferred Gipson’s military service so that he could study medicine.
“These men had the hard knocks, and they knew what we were going through, even though we were supposedly having it better,” Gipson said.
At first, Gipson hoped to study in his home state of Texas. But he said the State of Texas wouldn’t allow a Black man to attend the University of Texas. Instead, Texas actually paid him to study at Howard University.
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“I don’t know how I kept from being knocked down by some of these experiences. But each time, I seem to have gotten strength to do a little bit more,” Gipson said.
While at Howard, he studied under Dr. Charles Drew, a pioneer who invented new methods for preserving blood plasma, making large-scale blood banks possible. He was also the first Black professor of surgery at Howard.
“I had never heard of a Black surgeon in my life,” Gipson said. Learning from Dr. Drew inspired him to take on that specialty.
He went on to intern at Harlem Hospital in New York, and complete a surgical residency at Howard’s Freedmen’s Hospital, as well as the U.S. Public Health Hospital in Boston.
Eric Goody, Denver7
From there, the military brought Gipson to Colorado in 1954.
“They had never had a Black Chief of Surgery at Lowry Air Force Base,” Gipson said.
Dr. Gipson had already passed the first part of his American Board of Surgery specialty board — the highest board for surgeons in the country. But he still faced racism.
When he traveled to Kansas City to get his final board certification, the hotel where he expected to stay turned him away.
“Can you imagine having studied for five years postgraduate and gotten all your credentials ready, on the final lap… you’re welcomed to the hotel, and a little girl telling you can’t sleep?” Dr. Gipson said.
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Nevertheless, he became Colorado’s first Black surgeon to achieve the highest certifications. And after his time serving in the military, he went on the start his own family practice in Denver. There, he treated patients until his retirement in 1995.
Dr. Gipson was 93 years old when he died in 2015.
He left behind a lasting legacy — preserved in boxes at the Blair-Caldwell library.
Nelson, the archives supervisor, said the goal of preserving stories like this is to inspire and inform visitors. Now that he’s learned about Dr. Gipson, he hopes to pull these records out again, for a museum exhibit.
The goal: To show that “people from humble beginnings came up and did amazing things, and that you can do that, too,” he said.
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Denver, CO
Defensive lineman Jordan Miller has a tough battle to make the Broncos’ final 53-man roster
As the Denver Broncos prepare for the 2026 season, they have a lot of positives going for the franchise. One of them would be their defensive line. Once a position group with a lot of questions marks, it has ascended to one of the best units in the National Football League over the past few seasons.
The departure of John Franklin-Myers in free agency may have an impact on the group’s performance for the upcoming gridiron campaign. Though the Broncos are hoping a combination of young players they have drafted over the past several seasons can offset the loss of Franklin-Myers.
One player hoping to make the squad is defensive lineman Jordan Miller. At the conclusion of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Broncos signed Southern Methodist standout and gave him one of the biggest signing bonuses from that cycle. For the past two seasons, Miller has been a practice squad player for the Broncos. After two years learning the ropes, is Miller finally ready to earn a spot on Denver’s final 53-man roster? Let’s discuss.
Age: 26 | Experience: 2 | College: SMU (via Miami) | Height: 6’3” | Weight: 307 pounds
Arm Length: 33-3/8” | Bench: 27 reps | 40-Yard Dash: 5.18 seconds
Jordan Miller’s 2026 outlook with the Broncos
Several years ago, I highlighted Miller’s strengths in our 2024 roster review series. His strength and size at the point of attack are enticing. Additionally, he boasts a tremendous wingspan on the interior which routinely gave opposing offensive linemen in his collegiate career fits.
The physical traits Miller has are certainly promising. However, entering his third year with the Broncos, he faces steep competition in order to make the final 53-man roster. That’s no fault of his own—it’s just the reality of the situation—Denver’s defensive line is stacked.
I believe the franchise will keep six defensive lineman in the rotation once again this season. Having six players in their trenches will help keep the rotation fresh and give them a shot to be at their best. Zach Allen, Sai’vion Jones, Tyler Onyedim, D.J. Jones, Malcolm Roach, and Eyioma Uwazurike appear to be the favorites set to make the squad. With that in mind, it is hard to see a viable path for Miller to make the squad.
Given the aforementioned, it seems like Miller will once again be a practice squad candidate for the Broncos. In the event that something were to happen to Jones or Roach, I could see Miller getting called up to the active roster to help handle spot duty reps on the interior of Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph’s defensive front.
DENVER — A lieutenant with Berthoud Fire who was injured after he was struck head-on by a wrong-way driver in Denver last month is making progress, according to a Tuesday update.
The wrong-way driver, identified as 25-year-old Kevem Dos Santos, was killed in the May 17 crash inside the barrier-separated HOV lanes on Interstate 25.
Ken Bradley, the Berthoud Fire lieutenant, was traveling to work when the crash occurred. He was transported to the hospital with serious injuries.
The crash left Bradley with multiple fractures in both legs, fractures to his left arm, a dislocated right shoulder, several broken ribs, and a collapsed lung.
Bradley’s family said he is now able to get in and out of his wheelchair on his own. But he faces additional surgeries this week to reconstruct his ankles and feet.
His family thanked the more than 800 donors who have contributed $85,000 to his GoFundMe and said he remains in good spirits.
Police have not said how Dos Santos managed to access the gate-controlled HOV lanes, leaving many questions unanswered.
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Denver will reimburse developers working on reviving the Rossonian Hotel up to $15.5 million in sales and property taxes after the council approved the urban development proposal during its meeting Monday.
The decision comes after Denver Urban Renewal Authority found that the site was “blighted,” meaning there are unsafe living or working conditions and environmental contamination.
DURA recommended the city allow “tax increment financing,” or TIF, to remediate those problems and get the project off the ground.
“This tax increment financing is one of the final pieces that makes the Rossonian possible. Without it, this project does not happen,” said Paul Books, one of the owners of the building. “But with it, we are working through the last remaining steps to break ground this summer.”
The project, in the Five Points neighborhood, is part of the Welton Corridor Urban Redevelopment Plan. The six-parcel property is in the namesake intersection of Welton, 27th and Washington streets.
The building, once called the Baxter Hotel, was a popular event space for jazz performances between the 1930s and 1950s. Performers such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday took the stage there. It is on the National Register of Historic Buildings. The building has been vacant since the 1990s.
Palisade Partners, who purchased the property in 2017, plan to build 126 hotel rooms, a restaurant and an event space. They will also construct a new 8-story building between the Rossonian and the Hooper building as part of the redevelopment.
“We’ve concluded that the project does require assistance in order for it to be delivered as it has been contemplated,” said Bill Pruter, executive director of DURA.
Tax-increment financing, which is essentially a tax break or subsidy, allows developers to freeze how much is paid in property or sales taxes at a base level for up to 25 years, and then reinvest what would be paid above that back into certain elements of their projects.
For this project, the developers will be able to reinvest up to $15.5 million — which would otherwise go to the city’s bank account — into their project.
The city will reimburse the tax dollars for specific project costs mostly related to rehabilitation of the building. That includes up to $6.7 million on the plumbing and HVAC work in the new building and up to $2.3 million on the visible structure of the Rossonian Hotel.
The city will also reimburse up to $155,000 for “project art,” according to a presentation from DURA. DURA requires that 1% of the project’s costs be spent on art.
The tax freeze will last until the $15.5 million is reimbursed or in 25 years, whichever comes first.
“This project will bring new life to one of the most important corners in our neighborhood while preserving one of Denver’s most iconic cultural landmarks,” said Norman Harris, executive director of the Five Points Business Improvement District.
The total project is expected to cost $101 million and to be completed in 2028.
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