SOCALORADO.
11-12-2010, 12:38 PM
Here are ALL the DENVER BRONCO dates you'll ever need:
-- June 28, 1960: John Elway is born to Jack and Janet Elway in Port Angeles, Wash., along with twin sister Jana.
-- September 1970: As a 10-year-old running back, Elway scampers for four touchdowns in the first half in his pee-wee football debut for the Grizzlies in Missoula, Mont.
-- Fall 1976: Three games into his sophomore season, he becomes the starting quarterback for Granada Hills High School near Los Angeles. He wears jersey No. 11.
-- Fall 1977: As a junior, he throws for 3,039 yards, leading Granada Hills into the Los Angeles city semifinals.
-- Fall 1978: High hopes for a record-setting 4,000-yard senior season are wiped out four games in when Elway tears the ACL in his left knee. In those four games, Elway passes for 1,837 yards.
-- Spring 1979: Back from knee surgery, the third baseman and pitcher hits .491, leading Granada Hills to the L.A. city title. Elway, whose fastball is clocked at 93 mph, is named Southern California player of the year.
-- Fall 1979: As a Stanford freshman with a Prince Valiant haircut, Elway mostly backs up senior quarterback Turk Schonert.
-- Fall 1980: He earns second-team All-America honors as a sophomore, throwing a Pac-10 record 27 touchdown passes.
-- Spring 1981: He hits .361 with nine home runs and 50 RBIs in 49 games for the Cardinal baseball team. He hits .444 in the NCAA Central Regional.
-- Fall 1981: Stanford slumps to 4-7 despite Elway's 20 touchdown passes. Included is a painful 28-6 loss to San Jose State, coached by Elway's father.
-- Fall 1981: The New York Yankees offer Elway a $150,000 signing bonus to give pro baseball a shot. He takes it.
-- Summer 1982: Playing for the Yankees' New York-Pennsylvania Single-A team in Oneonta, N.Y., Elway shrugs off a poor start - a .111 average in his first eight games - and finishes his six-week season with a .318 average, a team-leading 24 RBIs and no errors in 42 games.
-- Fall 1982: The Stanford senior throws 24 touchdowns passes, is a consensus All-American and finishes second to Georgia running back Herschel Walker in the Heisman Trophy race. But the season is tarnished by a legendary loss to California in the finale.
Cal turns a chaotic kickoff return into the game-winning touchdown on the final play, with Kevin Moen plowing through the Stanford band and over trombone player Gary Tyrell. Elway's final numbers at Stanford: 774-of-1,246 passing (62.1 percent) for 9,349 yards, 77 touchdowns and 39 interceptions.
-- April 27, 1983: Although Elway vows he won't play for Baltimore Colts owner Robert Irsay or coach Frank Kush, the Colts take a chance and make Elway the No. 1 overall pick of the 1983 draft.
May 2, 1983: THE TRADE
Finally convinced Elway won't play for them, the Colts trade him to the Broncos in exchange for guard Chris Hinton, the Broncos' first-round pick in 1984 (which became Maryland guard Ron Solt), quarterback Mark Herrmann and $1 million the cash-strapped Colts will receive in guaranteed revenues from preseason games at Mile High Stadium in 1984 and 1985.
The deal is worked out in the coffee shop at the Marriott Hotel at I-25 and Hampden Ave.
John Beake, a Broncos executive who helped engineer the deal, says later: "In all honesty, it was a great moment in sports history. There should probably be a plaque in that Marriott coffee shop to commemorate the event."
Once his rights are transferred to Denver, Elway signs a five-year, $5 million contract with the Broncos, at the time the biggest deal in NFL history.
-- July 1983: Greeley is swamped with reporters covering Elway's first NFL training camp. It becomes known as "The Elway Watch," in which newspapers, television and radio report on everything from Elway's practice completion percentage to who he dances with at Greeley's Armory bar.
-- Aug. 5, 1983: Elway makes his preseason debut in a 10-7 win over Seattle on a rainy Friday night at Mile High Stadium, completing 5-of-6 passes on a 10-play scoring drive.
-- Sept. 4, 1983: His regular-season debut is a disaster, even though the Broncos win 14-10 at Pittsburgh. Elway completes 1-of-8 passes for 14 yards and an interception before he's yanked in favor of Steve DeBerg. Wide receiver Rick Upchurch catches the first pass of Elway's career.
-- Sept. 18, 1983: Elway throws the first of his 300 career-touchdown passes in a 13-10 loss to Philadelphia at Mile High Stadium. The recipient is Rick Parros, who catches a 33-yarder.
-- Dec. 11, 1983: Trailing the Colts 19-0 entering the fourth quarter at Mile High, Elway throws three touchdown passes: a 21-yarder to Clint Sampson, a 26-yarder to Jesse Myles and a game-winning 26-yarder, on fourth down, to Gerald Willhite. It's the first of Elway's 47 fourth-quarter game-winning or game-saving drives.
-- Dec. 24, 1984: Elway plays in his first playoff game, relieving DeBerg in a 31-7 wild-card loss in Seattle.
-- March 3, 1984: College sweethearts Janet Buchan and Elway tie the knot at a ceremony in Menlo Park, Calif.
-- Nov. 18, 1984: Denver beats Minnesota 42-21 at Mile High behind Elway's five touchdown passes - the only time he throws five TDs in one NFL game.
-- Dec. 30, 1984: After leading the Broncos to a 13-3 record, Elway makes a crucial mistake in his first playoff start. With the game tied 17-17 in the fourth quarter, Elway is picked off by Pittsburgh's Eric Williams, who returns the ball to the Denver 2, setting up the Steelers' winning score in their 24-17 upset victory.
-- 1985 season: Although the Broncos fail to qualify for the playoffs with an 11-5 record, Elway rewrites the Broncos' record book. He sets single-season records for pass attempts (605), completions (327), passing yards (3,891) and total offense (4,414).
-- Oct. 17, 1985: John and Janet celebrate the birth of their first child, daughter Jessica Gwen, now a senior at Cherry Creek High School who will attend Stanford on a basketball scholarship.
-- 1986 regular season: After throwing for 3,485 yards and 19 touchdowns, Elway earns his first trip to the Pro Bowl.
-- Jan. 4, 1987: Elway wins his first playoff game, throwing for 257 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in Denver's 22-17 divisional playoff victory over New England at Mile High.
Jan. 11, 1987: THE DRIVE
It begins just short of the 2-yard line with dog bones flying and Browns fans frothing at the mouth in the "Dawg Pound" at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. It ends 15 plays and 98 yards later with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Mark Jackson in the Browns' end zone with 39 seconds remaining in regulation. Elway's touchdown laser ties the game at 23-all. Denver goes on to win the AFC championship game 23-20 in overtime.
The Drive has so many critical moments, but none more thrilling than this: Facing third-and-18, Elway lines up in the shotgun and wide receiver Steve Watson goes in motion to the left. As the ball is snapped, it glances off Watson's rear end, forcing Elway to stoop low and scoop up the snap. Undeterred, he fires a 20-yard completion to Jackson for a first down.
This is how Elway remembers The Drive: "That was a huge confidence booster for me, the fact that it's an AFC championship game and you do it on the road. That, to me, was the single biggest moment that I can remember that really kind of said, 'All right, you're not bad. You're really pretty good. You're gonna make it in the NFL.'"
-- Jan. 25, 1987: The first of Elway's three Super Bowl losses comes at the Rose Bowl with a 39-20 defeat to the New York Giants. Elway throws for 304 yards, but the Giants' Phil Simms in nearly perfect, completing 22-of-25 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns.
-- June 1, 1987: Janet gives birth to the Elways' second daughter, Jordan Marie, now a standout field hockey player at Cherry Creek.
-- 1987 regular season: Elway is voted the NFL's MVP and the starting AFC quarterback in the Pro Bowl. In a strike-shortened season, he throws for 3,198 yards and 19 TDs.
-- Jan. 17, 1988: A 23-yard touchdown pass to Sammy Winder gives the Broncos a 38-33 AFC championship win over Cleveland. But it's a late fumble by Browns running back Earnest Byner near the Broncos' goal line that defines the game.
-- Jan. 31, 1988: Elway opens Super Bowl XXII in San Diego with a 56-yard touchdown bomb to Ricky Nattiel, but the Redskins score 35 unanswered points in the second quarter en route to a 42-10 blowout.
-- 1988 season: Elway makes the Pro Bowl again, but the Broncos suffer a Super Bowl hangover and fall to 8-8.
-- Aug. 11, 1989: Janet gives birth to a son, Jack, named for John's dad.
-- 1989 season: Although the Broncos make the playoffs again with an 11-5 record and Elway makes the Pro Bowl once more, he's not having any fun. Tired of living in a fishbowl in Denver, he tells Sports Illustrated, "I'm about to suffocate." There is plenty of backlash from fans and media.
-- Jan. 14, 1990: Playing Cleveland in the AFC title game for the third time in four years, Elway has one of the finest games of his career. He completes 20-of-36 passes for 385 yards and three touchdowns, including a 70-yarder to Michael Young. The Broncos rout the Browns 37-21.
Jan. 28, 1990: BLACK SUNDAY
The San Francisco 49ers humiliate the Broncos 55-10 in Super Bowl XXIV. Elway, clearly frustrated, is just 10-for-26 for 108 yards and two interceptions.
"This one is going to live with me for a long time," Elway said after the game. "I was doing everything I could. I'm definitely disappointed by the way I played. But I walked off that field knowing there was no lack of effort or anything like that."
Years later, Elway says it remains the most bitter loss of his career.
-- 1990 season: As Elway's feud with coach Dan Reeves begins to surface, the Broncos suffer through a 5-11 season.
-- March 7, 1991: The Elway's welcome their third daughter, Juliana, into the world.
-- 1991 season: Elway's numbers - 13 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions - aren't great, in part because of his sore throwing shoulder, but the Broncos go 12-4 and make the playoffs again.
Jan. 4, 1992: THE OVERDRIVE
It might well be the most dramatic comeback of Elway's career - yes even more dramatic than The Drive. In the divisional playoffs against the Houston Oilers, the Broncos trail 24-23 with 2:07 remaining and no timeouts left. The Broncos have the ball on their own 2.
"I remember thinking, 'Well, now we're going to see if the first one was a fluke or not,'" Elway recalled.
Elway converts twice on fourth downs on The Overdrive. Facing fourth-and-6 at the 28, he scrambles out of the pocket and runs out of bounds just beyond the first-down marker. After three straight incompletions, Elway faces fourth-and-10 at his own 35.
Pressured in the pocket, Elway steps up and shot-puts a wobbly pass to Vance Johnson, who turns the busted play into a 44-yard gain. David Treadwell's 28-yard field goal with 16 seconds left gives Denver a 26-24 victory.
Here's Elway's description of his pass to Johnson: "That may be one of the worst passes I've ever thrown, but I've never had a guy that wide open where I could almost just hand him the ball. So it wobbled a lot, but fortunately, it got there."
-- Jan. 12, 1992: In the AFC championship game in Buffalo, Elway injures a thigh muscle and backup Gary Kubiak nearly leads Denver to victory. But the Bills win 10-7.
-- Winter and spring 1992: First come the trade rumors sending Elway to the Redskins. Then Reeves fires Mike Shanahan - the offensive coordinator and Elway's friend and confidant. Finally, Reeves drafts UCLA quarterback Tommy Maddox in the first round. Those events fuel a simmering feud between Reeves and Elway and stretch their relationship to the breaking point.
-- Dec. 28, 1992: After an 8-8 season, Broncos owner Pat Bowlen fires Reeves.
-- 1993 season: Under new head coach Wade Phillips and new offensive coordinator Jim Fassel, Elway cuts loose. Armed with a new five-year, $20 million contract, he throws for a career-high 4,030 yards, leads the AFC with a quarterback rating of 92.8 and throws 25 touchdown passes. Elway is the AFC's most valuable player, but the Broncos lose the AFC wild-card game 42-24 to the Raiders, despite Elway's 302-yard, three-touchdown pass performance.
-- 1994 season: The Broncos open 0-4 for their worst start since 1964 and finish 7-9. Phillips is fired after the season.
-- Jan. 31, 1995: Shanahan, who as offensive coordinator helps lead the 49ers to a Super Bowl title, returns to Denver, this time as head coach.
-- 1995 season: The 8-8 record is a disappointment, but Elway is reborn. He throws a career-high 26 touchdowns, and the Broncos' offense sets franchise records in total yards (6,040) and points (388). Most important, a sixth-round rookie running back named Terrell Davis rushes for 1,117 yards with the promise of more to come.
-- 1996 season: The Broncos roar to a 13-3 record and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Elway completes 61.6 percent of his passes for 3,328 yards with 26 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. He's named to his seventh Pro Bowl and finishes second in the NFL MVP voting. In a Dec. 15 win at Mile High, Elway passes Fran Tarkenton as the NFL's all-time winningest quarterback. He'll finish his career with 148 regular-season wins, still the most in NFL history.
-- Jan. 4, 1997: In the most shocking playoff upset since the Jets beat the Colts in Super Bowl III, the upstart Jacksonville Jaguars, in just their second season, upset the Broncos 30-27 at Mile High in the AFC divisional playoffs. "I haven't committed hara-kiri yet, but I thought about it for a month," Elway said later. "I'm not sure I'll get over it. This is the most disappointed I've been."
-- Aug. 4, 1997: During a preseason game against Miami in Mexico City, Elway tears his right biceps muscle. His initial fears that his career is finished are wiped away when he returns to practice seven days later.
-- 1997 season: The Broncos go 12-4 and qualify as an AFC wild-card team. Elway throws for a career-best 27 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions, earning his eighth Pro Bowl.
-- Dec. 27, 1997-Jan. 11, 1998: The Broncos' revenge tour begins with a 42-17 win over Jacksonville in the wild-card game, followed by a 14-10 win in icy Kansas City in the divisional round. The Broncos win their fourth AFC title under Elway, defeating the Steelers 24-21 in Pittsburgh. On a critical third-down play near the end of the game, Elway and tight end Shannon Sharpe improvise in the huddle and come up with a game-clinching play. Elway recalls: "In the huddle, Shannon says: 'We don't have that play. It's not in the game plan!' I said: 'It is now. Get open!' He's coming back to me, I grab him and I say, 'Go down 6 yards and turn around.' So it's amazing. You think how it's the AFC championship game, big down, and you just say, 'Get open.'"
JAN. 25, 1998: THE HELICOPTER
The Broncos, four-time Super Bowl losers, enter Super Bowl XXXII as 12-point underdogs to the defending champion Green Bay Packers. Davis is the game's MVP, rushing for 157 yards and three touchdowns, but it's Elway who provides the fire for Denver's 31-24 victory. Although he throws for only 123 yards, through sheer force of will he creates one of the most memorable plays in Super Bowl history. In the third quarter, facing a third-and-6 play at the Green Bay 12, Elway sprints for the first down, then launches himself into the air. He's hit in midair by Packers safety Leroy Butler and spins like a helicopter rotor. Elway gets up pumping his fist after the 8-yard gain, and two plays later Davis scores a touchdown to put Denver ahead 24-17.
"I'll tell you what: I never had so much adrenaline flowing in my life. I mean, it was unbelievable," Elway recalled.
Even now, six years later, the play resonates.
"I was out in L.A., having dinner, and Dustin Hoffman is in the restaurant," Elway said. "He's walking out and I'm kind of close to the door. And he kind of makes a V and comes over and pats me on the shoulder while I'm sitting there at the table, and he just says, 'This guy doesn't slide.'"
-- 1998 season: Although he misses three starts because of a rib-cage injury, Elway leads the Broncos to a 14-2 record and earns his ninth Pro Bowl invitation. His 93.0 passer rating is the best of his 16-year career.
-- Nov. 22, 1998: With a 5-yard completion to Willie Green against the Raiders, Elway joins Miami's Dan Marino as the only quarterback in NFL history to throw for 50,000 yards in a career.
-- Jan. 17, 1999: Elway's final game at Mile High ends with a victory lap after the Broncos win a their sixth AFC title with a 23-10 come-from behind win over the Jets.
-- Jan. 31, 1999: In the final game of his career, Elway throws for 336 yards and one touchdown and runs for another score as the Broncos beat Reeves' Atlanta Falcons 34-19 in Super Bowl XXXIII. Elway is named Super Bowl MVP.
-- May 2, 1999: Voice choking, eyes brimming with tears, the 38-year-old Elway announces his retirement. "You have to put John up there with Halley's Comet - something that comes along once in a lifetime," Sharpe said.
-- April 15, 2001: Jack Elway, John's father, longtime mentor and best friend, dies of a heart attack in Palm Springs, Calif. He is 69.
-- June 19, 2002: Elway formerly unveils the Colorado Crush Arena League Football League team. Elway, a co-owner and team president, said: "I didn't want to lose my competitive juices when I retired. I wanted to get close to the game again. This is how I can do it." It its inaugural season, beginning in February 2003, the Crush goes 2-14 and fails to win a home game, but the average attendance of 17,427 is the highest in the league.
-- Aug. 23, 2002: Elway's twin sister, Jana Elway-Sever, dies at age 42 after a long battle against cancer.
-- December 2003: Elway and his wife, Janet, divorce. The couple originally separates in June 2002 after 18 years of marriage.
-- Jan. 31, 2004: Elway is elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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