Jim Saccomano - Denver Broncos: The Complete Illustrated History

Denver Broncos

The Complete Illustrated History

The Complete Illustrated History

Jim Saccomano Foreword by John Elway

First published in 2009 by MVP Books, an imprint of MBI Publishing Company, 400 First Avenue N., Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA

Text copyright 2009, 2010 by Jim Saccomano Photos copyright 2009, 2010 by the Denver Broncos

All rights reserved. With the exception of quoting brief passages for the purposes of review, no part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the Publisher.

The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without any guarantee on the part of the author or Publisher, who also disclaims any liability incurred in connection with the use of this data or specific details.

This publication has not been prepared, approved, or licensed by the Denver Broncos or the National Football League.

We recognize, further, that some words, model names, and designations mentioned herein are the property of the trademark holder. We use them for identification purposes only. This is not an official publication.

MVP Books are also available at discounts in bulk quantity for industrial or sales-promotional use. For details write to Special Sales Manager at MBI Publishing Company, 400 First Avenue N., Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA.

To find out more about our books, visit us online at www.mvpbooks.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Digital Edition: 9781-6-1673-103-8
Hardcover Edition: 9780-7603-3476-8

Saccomano, Jim, 1948
Denver Broncos: the complete illustrated history/Jim Saccomano; foreword by John Elway.
p. cm.

Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-7603-3476-8 (hardbound with jacket)
1. Denver Broncos (Football team)History.
2. Denver Broncos (Football team)
HistoryPictorial works. I. Title.
GV956.D37S22 2009
796.332640978883dc22

2009002424

Editor: Leah Noel
Designer: Greg Nettles

Printed in China

For my wife Jo Ann, my children Jennifer and Jeffrey, and my grandchildren Lucas and Rhea.

You light up my life.

When you are a young kid playing football with your friendswhether in the backyard, on the playground, or in Pop Warner and high school gamesyou cant help but fantasize about scoring the winning touchdown or throwing the big pass as time expires. Thats part of the fun of playing games.

I was fortunate to develop my skills with great leadership from my father and my coaches along the way, so I was able to look forward to a college career and play the game of what if about colleges. And then again, with the kind of success I was able to have at the collegiate level, I started to wonder where I might play my professional career.

But in all these dreams and speculation, I never imagined that I would be fortunate enough to play a career as long as 16 years and with just one team. That just is not the way it usually works in professional sportsit usually only works out that way in fantasies and fairy tales.

On top of that, I was as lucky as any player could be to have done this in one of Americas great football cities and before fans who truly are the best in the National Football League.

In fact, in a lot of ways the fans in Denver remind me more of a college fan base than a pro one. The fans are passionate, so much so that the team has been sold out entirely for 40 years. It is much more common to find that kind of relationship on a college campus, with the extensive alumni base and the core community support of a smaller city.

That support was one of the first things I noticed in Denver, and it took me a few years to get used to it especially as the so-called star player on the Broncos. When you play for the Broncos, you learn that you are kind of living in a fishbowl. The interest in the team is so great that your every move is followed by the fans and analyzed by the media. After I adjusted to it, I knew it was all a natural result of the incredible love that the entire Rocky Mountain region feels for the team.

Really, the Broncos are like a religion to a lot of our fans. This is a humbling thing to consider, and, for me, it just made me want to play even harderif that was even possible.

Mile High Stadium was always sold out, and the excitement level was always palpable. Most fans know that I was able to engineer quite a number of fourth-quarter comebacks, but fans might not realize how big a role they played in those comebacks. No matter what the score was, no matter how late in the game it got, I always knew we had a chance and I always knew the fans would be there for us.

Elation and satisfaction: John Elway holds the Vince Lombardi Trophy in the locker room during the postgame celebration for his first Super Bowl win in 1997.

On more than one occasion, friends from the other team mentioned postgame that it was so loud they could not hear their signals, and that it was apparent we were going to come back, even before that final drive.

When I came to Denver, I did not know a lot about Bronco history, but I quickly learned about the tough times of the franchises early years and about the great players who had such huge roles in the growth of the Broncos.

A few years ago, a poll was taken in which Pat Bowlen was named the best owner in the NFL. As someone who played most of my career for him, I agree completely. When he lifted that Vince Lombardi trophy after Super Bowl XXXII and said, This ones for John, it was one of the greatest feelings in my life. But when I held the trophy on that stand and looked out at the sea of cheering fans in San Diego, I also knew that it was not just for me but for every fan who ever cheered or cried for the Broncos.

We all reached that pinnacle together, as part of one of the greatest organizations in NFL history. I was honored to have played for such a great organization and a passionate leader such as Mr. Bowlen and before fans who truly are uncompromising in their love and devotion to the Broncos. The city and the team are very fortunate to have him as the Broncos owner. He is one of the most respected owners in the NFL, and I know I can speak for every player in saying that we all have great respect and affection for him.

The happiness experienced in winning the Super Bowl, and then doing it back to back, was a surreal, out-of-body experience.

But before that moment and after it, win or lose, the Broncos go on as the heart of the city and state. I have a lot of friends who are former players, of course, and many of them do not have the close feeling of kinship that Bronco players have for each other. There is great truth to the saying, Once a Bronco, always a Bronco.

The Broncos celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2009, and it seems like a perfect time for this book to be written about the teama chronicle in words and pictures of the Broncos first half century.

One of the first administrators I met upon coming to Denver was Jim Saccomano. Jim and I worked together for my entire career, and it seems to me that he is the perfect person to detail the Broncos history. He, too, is forever Bronco, and is the perfect choice as team historian for the walk down memory lane presented in these pages.