Elvis had left the building for good - we think - and the world was all shook up.

The man whom many credit with breathing life into rock 'n' roll music was already a cultural deity by 1977, and when he died suddenly, the Rocky gave his death page 1 prominence.

The paper ran side-by-side photos of Presley, one from his 1968 television special, the other from a recent concert in Lincoln. Only former President Gerald Ford's support of President Jimmy Carter's pending Panama Canal agreement was bigger news.

"MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Elvis Presley, the Mississippi boy whose rock 'n' roll guitar and gyrating hips changed American music styles, died Tuesday afternoon of heart failure. He was 42.

"Dr. Jerry Francisco, medical examiner for Shelby County, said the cause of death was 'cardiac arythmia,' an irregular heartbeat. He said 'that's just another name for a form of heart attack.'

"Francisco said the three-hour autopsy uncovered no other sign of any other disease, and there was no sign of any drug abuse.

" . . . Presley, who had rarely emerged from his mansion grounds in recent years except for performances, had been hospitalized at Baptist (Hospital) in April. . . . His weight was said to have ballooned from the 175 pounds he weighed as a young man."

The paper ran several sidebars, local and national, inside. Elvis, who earned millions of dollars from selling his records, making 31 motion pictures and especially Las Vegas shows, made his first appearance in Denver in 1956. He earned $4,000 for two shows that drew 16,000 fans to a sold-out Denver Coliseum.

Presley performed in Denver only a handful of times over the next 20 years. When tickets went on sale for a 1973 concert, promoter Robert Garner said that more than 30,000 tickets were ordered, although only 11,000 were available.

But more than any song, more than any movie, Presley is remembered in Denver for the legendary habit of giving away Cadillacs to special friends he made during trips to the city.

Remembering Elvis

The Rocky was developing a star-studded lineup of columnists in 1977. The newspaper's own TV columnist, Walter "Dusty" Saunders, recalled Presley's few television appearances, and syndicated columnist Bob Greene covered Elvis' drug problems. On the editorial page, Jack Anderson criticized President Ford for botching an oil purchase from Iran and the Soviet Union. In Sports, Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder was giving odds on anything - except Elvis' return.

Michael Madigan 150@RockyMountainNews.com