Letters from Coach John Ralston

[East Coast Fan]

The GREAT thread that Titan had been doing with the "Greatest moments in Broncos History" got me thinking about something from my past, so last night I went into a desk drawer and pulled out 3 letters from 1975 and 1976 that were sent to me by then head coach John Ralston. As a teenage Broncos fan here in Pennsylvania, I wrote the "usual" fan letter to the team that I loved as a kid, and much to my suprise each time that I wrote I got a dictated letter from Ralston that he personally took the time out to sign. The last letter has a part in it that says "to answer your specific questions, Barney Chavous is healthy and is playing excellent football so far this season. Paul Howard sustained a back injury and is out for the season. We released Bob Anderson, Ray May and Rick Volk in the preseason". That was from October, 1976.

I know that he was rather uncerimoniously "dumped" as head coach back then, but the man sure had an eye for talent and laid the foundation for the Broncos winning ways and first Super Bowl appearance. On the Broncos History DVD, Tom Jackson says "looking back on it now we made a mistake-we went to the Super Bowl, but we went with John Ralston's team; I think that we would have probably gone anyway".

I just think that it was a kind gesture for him to respond back to a 14 year-old kid many states away; how many people would do that today? They'd probably want to bill you for giving you their autograph...

Thanks, Coach Ralston..:salute:

[Brand]

I liked Ralston. He was a bit too "rah rah" for some guys, and his Carnegie approach seemed funky to some, but he did draft well and collected good talent. I always thought the Broncos should have klept him as the head Scout, and use him for trades and draft evaluations. Miller gets the credit for the first Bowl appearance but Ralston built the team.

[East Coast Fan]

I liked Ralston. He was a bit too "rah rah" for some guys, and his Carnegie approach seemed funky to some, but he did draft well and collected good talent. I always thought the Broncos should have klept him as the head Scout, and use him for trades and draft evaluations. Miller gets the credit for the first Bowl appearance but Ralston built the team.


Yes, him bringing in talent and Miller coaching would've been awesome, but I guess that he wanted out after the way that all of that "dirty dozen" stuff went down. I had read that Miller did acknowledge and give Ralston a lot of credit for building the team, which he did. And yes, some of the guys didn't care for the constant "positive thinking" theme, but he did get us our first-ever winning seasons. Didn't DT Dave Costa request a trade because he didn't like Ralston's ways?