On the evening of August 5, former Broncos running back Terrell Davis stood behind a podium in Canton, Ohio, alongside his bronze bust to talk about his storied and unlikely path to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Wearing his fitted gold jacket — No. 305 — he spoke of the many people who helped him along the way.

Pat Bowlen was one.

“Let’s make sure that this champion is enshrined in 2018,” Davis said as the crowd erupted in applause.

But Davis and his four fellow Broncos Hall of Famers will have to wait at least another year for their team’s beloved owner to join them in Canton.

The Hall of Fame’s contributor committee convened in Ohio on Friday and selected former Redskins and Chargers general manager Bobby Beathard, architect of four Super Bowl champions, as its lone finalist for the Class of 2018.

Beathard — as well as the seniors finalists, former linebacker Robert Brazile and guard Jerry Kramer — will be presented to the full 48-member selection committee for final approval on Feb. 3, 2018, the eve of Super Bowl LII in Minnesota. Their entry is not guaranteed. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was voted in and former commissioner Tagliabue, also a finalist, was denied this year. Along with the modern-era finalists, Brazile, Kramer and Beathard need an 80 percent vote from the full committee for enshrinement.

Since 2014, contributors were placed in a separate category to address the backlog of worthy candidates who weren’t players or coaches. The new bylaw allowed for up to two contributors to be selected for the classes 2015, ‘17 and ‘19. Only one will be selected for 2018, 2020 and thereafter.

Prior to Friday’s meeting, it was believed Bowlen faced a significant hurdle in swaying voters to make him the third owner selected in consecutive years, following Edward DeBartolo Jr. (49ers) in ‘16 and Jones in ‘17.

Bowlen’s name has often been raised in Hall of Fame discussions. He finished third in the 2017 voting, and with each passing year momentum has swelled in support. But never did he garner as much attention as he did this year, making the rejection especially painful for the Broncos and their fans.

“His work speaks for itself,” said Broncos president/CEO Joe Ellis. “He would never speak for it because that’s what he was, modest and humble. Nine committees, a key part of commissioner Tagliabue’s regime, commissioner (Roger) Goodell’s for a period of time. You look at the vision he had for television, you can go back to (former chairman of NBC Sports) Dick Ebersol, you can go back to David Hill at FOX Sports. Pat was an integral part of the growth of television in this league and television has been a huge driver for the success of the NFL. Then not only at that, he had his day job which was here. He was here every single day, and that’s not always the case with an owner. His success with this organization speaks for itself, 300 wins in 30 plus years.”

Bowlen paid $78 million for majority stake in the team in 1984, and in his more than 33 years of ownership the Broncos have boasted 21 winning seasons and the second-highest winning percentage (.612) among all American pro sports franchises. They’ve been to more Super Bowls (seven) than they’ve had losing seasons (five).

Although he stepped down from his daily duties in 2014 because of Alzheimer’s, the ways of “Mr. B,” as he’s known, have lasted. The team has sold out every regular- and postseason game to extend their league-best streak to 387 sellouts, they’ve made an NFL-high 337 national television appearances and are now, according to Forbes magazine, valued at a whopping $2.4 billion.

“If you looked at everything he’s done for the league and we had not been a winning team, he’d be a Hall of Famer,” said former Broncos vice president of corporate communications, Jim Saccomano. “If you ignore what he did for the league and just looked at being the first owner to have 300 wins and the record on the field and the Super Bowls, he’d still be a Hall of Famer.”

For now, however, he has to wait.