Jim Saccomano - Game of My Life Denver Broncos: Memorable Stories of Broncos Football

Copyright 2007, 2012, 2016 by Jim Saccomano

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Tom Lau

Cover photo credit: Associated Press

ISBN: 978-1-61321-891-4

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-61321-911-9

Printed in the United States of America

TO JO ANN

MY CORNERSTONE AND MY MUSE

FOREVER AND EVER

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T he author wishes to thank a number of individuals for their assistance.

Special thanks go out to the 22 former Denver Broncos players and coaches who graciously gave their time and cooperation in the interview process.

Thanks as well to Dave Gaylinn, Rebecca Villanueva, Kate Doll, and Denver Parler for their assistance in the research and transcription process, and to Erich Schubert and Seth Medvin of the Broncos and Niels Aaboe of Skyhorse Publishing.

Also, thanks to the Denver Broncos and Clarkson and Associates for the photographs used in this book.

PROLOGUE

I n my nearly four decades working for the citys first major-league sports franchise, I have grown to strongly hold the opinion that the Denver Broncos are the soul of the city, and that belief has only been reinforced in getting the opportunity to write this book.

Not only has the city expressed unbridled love and passion for the Broncos over the past five decades, but in talking to the 22 notables who make up this book, it was apparent how much that feeling was mutually held by the players.

The attachment of Denvers fans to their football team stands out as unusual, but there were numerous times during the interview process when the subject would have to stop and compose himself. Invariably, that would happen when discussing the fans and that tremendous bond between fan and player.

Since the team began serving as the lightning rod for national attention in Denver, the passion has always seemed greater here than in many other cities.

But we always think of that emotional attachment as belonging to the fans, not taking into account that to the players it is a two-way street.

I didnt quite know what to expect as I began the process of talking to players about that game that meant the most to them, but ultimately I was humbled by the process.

At all levels, it was deeper, richer, more gratifying, and more satisfying than I anticipated going in. Their stories touched me, and I hope they touch the reader as well.

Each player told his own unique story, and together they weaved a tapestry of pro football and Bronco history in Denver, from the humblest beginnings to a present that has the team firmly established as one of the most successful franchises in Americas most popular sport.

I found that each player had his own driving force, his own reason to pick that particular game. Time after time it came back to peoplethe fans or the parentsbeing the common ground.

They were good enough to give me their time and their memories, and I found myself trying to do the right thing by every story, some now several decades old, because if the player was willing to give his time to the telling of it, I needed to do justice to the ultimate reading of it.

Some of those stories involve championships, and others seem ordinary save for extraordinary personal meaning. In each case, it was the player who singled out the gamethat moment in time, which to him is the most defining of his professional football career.

I hope justice has been done to their memories in this book, that the fan feels the passion and emotion of each player coming through the pages, and that together we can all light a candle to the state religion one more time.

Jim Saccomano

Chapter 1

FLOYD LITTLE

BEFORE THE BRONCOS

Floyd Little symbolized pro football in Denver for many years, certainly for the entire period before the Broncos made the playoffs and became annual championship contenders.

So meager was the state of the Denver franchise over most of its first two decades that Little was given and has since carried the nickname, The Franchise.

It seems only fitting that a book about the team start with The Franchise.

A Hall-of-Fame-quality player and then a successful businessman, Littles beginnings were humble. Very, very difficult and very challenging, he recalls. There was a lot of adversity, and I was able to deal with those adversities on a daily basis to get better. I think the situation that really stands out with me was one when I was young. Growing up my mom had six kidsI lost my dad when I was five or six years oldand I remember one day coming home from school and they had evicted us from our apartment. Our furniture was out on the sidewalk and the kids from the neighborhood were jumping up and down on the furniture and my mom was sitting on the couch crying. I remember putting my arms around her and telling her that as long as I lived they would never do that again to her and she would never be without a place to stay.

I got a job selling papers, shining shoes, working in a grocery store, and doing all that I could to be the leader of my family. So I learned skillsleadership skillsearly on in life because my mom was put on the street and I found a place for her to stay, and then worked for the people that owned the building.

An accomplished high school athlete, Little felt that his academics needed refinement to compete academically at the best colleges. I went on to a military school (Bordentown Academy) and learned to do the necessary things that were important in terms of discipline, integrity, and characterall of those things that are intangibles. Thanks to his efforts, Little earned a full scholarship to Syracuse, where he was given one of the ultimate honors in college football in the 1950s and 60s. Syracuse awarded him number 44, the number both Jim Brown and Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis had worn for the Orangemen.

Little fondly recalls the impact Davis made on him. The first African-American to win the Heisman, he was the pillar of what I wanted to be and what my family wanted me to be. He was the picture of what you would want anybody to be. So having met with Ernie and having dialogue with him about Syracuse and what it meant to him, and what it helped him to become was enormous.

Davis talked about Jim Brown and his influence on him. His obligation to replace Brown, and to replace himself with someone like me was inspiring.

Floyd The Franchise Little (44) played all nine seasons of his professional career with the Broncos, and his teammates chose him as their captain every year. Courtesy of the Denver Broncos

At a time when freshmen could not play varsity football, Little became a three-time, consensus All-America running back at Syracuse, the nations first three-time All-America halfback since Doak Walker. He shattered the records that Davis and Brown had set at Syracuse and scored in all but eight games during his entire college career.