Nikola jomic1/9/2024 ![]() He prepared a four-page speech, running down Elway’s lengthy resume. In his first year of eligibility for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Paige was selected to give the nominating speech to the voting committee. Elway finished his career with 300 passing touchdowns and 51,475 yards. He engineered The Drive and The Drive 2, crushing the hopes of Cleveland fans two years in a row. He made nine Pro Bowls, quarterbacked 47 fourth-quarter comebacks. At 38 years old, in the last game he’d ever play, he was named the Super Bowl MVP after throwing for 336 yards in the win against the Falcons. At 37 years old, his helicopter run - sacrificing his body for a third-quarter first down - was the signature moment of the 1997 Super Bowl against Green Bay. He basically willed rag-tag Broncos teams to Super Bowl appearances in 1986, 19, then guided much better squads to Super Bowl titles in 19. It was the most important trade in the history of Denver professional sports.Įlway played 16 seasons with the Broncos. Shortly after the draft, Elway was dealt to Denver. 318 with 4 homers and 13 stolen bases in 42 games for the Yankees’ Low-A club in the summer of 1982 - but the Colts took him anyway. 1 pick, he absolutely would not play for them, that he’d rather play baseball - he batted. Elway told the Baltimore Colts, who owned the No. “I told him, ’I’ve been around this game for a long time, and I’ve never seen that.’" Reeves looked at me and said, ‘We can’t get him.’ The Broncos had the fourth draft pick, and there was no way he was going to slide down to the fourth pick.” Paige watched Elway at Stanford, saw the golden-armed quarterback throw a pass straight at a defensive back, 15 yards away, and the ball went through the defensive back’s hands before he could close them around the football. “He said, ‘What are you talking about?’ I said, ‘It’s John Elway.” ‘I have seen the future of the NFL,’ ” Paige said. “I went into Reeves’ office and I told him. With the NFL players strike wiping out the first part of the 1982 season, Paige had spent time traveling the country to look at the top draft prospects, the players the Broncos might be considering with the No. Back in the early 1980s, it was easy enough to saunter into an NFL head coach’s office with even the slightest bit of confidence and the right verifieds, and long-time Denver sportswriter Woody Paige lacked neither of those things. That’s something both Denver sports fans and its biggest stars value.īroncos head coach Dan Reeves was sitting in his office, eating a sub sandwich. "I really like the organization and really like the people who work here,” he said in April. Nikola Jokić, the two-time reigning NBA MVP, has played seven seasons with the Nuggets and signed a five-year, $270 million supermax extension this summer that locks him in Denver through 2027-28. He played the final 13 seasons of his career with the Avalanche and his front-office career with the franchise started soon after and continues to this day. Joe Sakic came to town when his Quebec Nordiques relocated to Denver, and he’s basically never left. Todd Helton played 17 years in Denver, arriving a few years after the Rockies did and he spent his entire career with the club. “That was the first time I felt like I was around a rock star,” longtime Denver sportswriter Woody Paige said, “and that was really true throughout his career.”Įlway played 16 years for the Broncos. His arrival signaled a new era in Denver. 1 pick of the 1983 NFL Draft who came to town when the Broncos pulled off the trade with the Baltimore Colts that pretty much every other NFL franchise had tried and failed to complete. John Elway was the first to arrive, the No. These four had - or in the case of Nikola Jokić, have - the type of staying power that’s earned with a career spent making a difference on and off the field. MORE: See The Sporting News Rushmore of all 13 cities Major League Baseball didn’t arrive until 1993 and the NHL didn’t permanently call Colorado home until 1995.īut the four players on Denver’s professional sports Mount Rushmore, well, their legacies are etched in stone in one of the country’s most scenic and dynamic communities. Its football team started in the AFL, not the NFL. ![]() Its basketball team started in the ABA, not the NBA. This is ours.ĭenver was a little late to the professional sports party. All sports fans have an opinion on this topic. Multiple players from the same franchise were allowed, and not every franchise needed to be represented. While there were no hard-and-fast rules pertaining to the athletes selected, our panel of experts considered individual resumes, team success and legacy within the sports landscape of each city. The SN Rushmore project named four pro athletes from the 13 cities that have had at least four of the following five leagues represented for at least 20 years – NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, WNBA.
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