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Denver Native (Carol)
10-05-2008, 07:20 AM
http://www.denverbroncos.com/page.php?id=334&storyID=8428

98 Champs, Zimmerman Honored at Alumni Dinner

DENVER -- Reunions, they are a great way to catch up with old friends. Be it a high school reunion, a college reunion or as the case was the 25th annual Denver Broncos Alumni Dinner Friday night, a Super Bowl reunion.

John Elway, Terrell Davis and Rod Smith were among 16 members of the Broncos XXXIII World Championship team on hand at the United Club Level at INVESCO Field at Mile High Stadium to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Broncos' second NFL title.

In addition to the players several members of the coaching staff, both then and now, were in attendance: Head Coach Mike Shanahan, Rick Dennison, Pat McPherson, Bobby Turner, Greg Saporta and head athletic trainer Steve Antonopulos. Also in the crowd were 10 members of the Broncos Ring of Fame.

One look around the room seeing the Super Bowl XXXIII logos displayed on television monitors and the pictures of No. 65 blown up and propped up it was clear the theme of the night was two fold. It was about honoring the 10th anniversary of the 1998 Super Bowl Championship team and honoring Gary Zimmerman, who this summer was the second Denver Bronco to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The night began with highlight video chronicling the team's Super Bowl a decade earlier.

After giving the various groups of Broncos legends time to catch up with one another over dinner, President and CEO Pat Bowlen gave his remarks to the crowd.

Bowlen discussed how has always found it important to honor the organization's past. He recalled what it was like after he purchased the team back in 1984.

"I had come to Denver as a young owner," Bowlen said. "I came into a town that absolutely loved their Broncos - I didn't know why. I knew John Elway but that was about as far as it went. I said 'Well how do we honor the guys that have been here and how do I get to know some of the players that made this team during the 60s and 70s?'."

That is why in his first year as owner Bowlen implemented the Ring of Fame and the team's annual alumni dinners to help reconnect to the team's past.

"It has been a great thing for this organization, it has been a great thing for these guys and it has been great for me," Bowlen said about reconnecting with former Broncos through the Ring of Fame.

Bowlen took the crowd back to 1998 when the Broncos were 13-0 and on the verge of a perfect season. The team's hopes of perfection ended losing to the Giants in Week 15 and the team dropped their second game in a row against the Dolphins.

Bowlen vividly remembered the speech that Shanahan gave the team in the locker room after the team's loss to Miami.

"I haven't heard anything like it since," Bowlen said. "It went on for the guys that were there for about 25 minutes. I felt bad, I felt like maybe I should sneak out the back door. The players took it to heart - that was probably one of the best moves because obviously they went on to win the Super Bowl."

Bowlen then asked Shanahan to come up and address the crowd.

"There is only one way that you really make something special in the National Football League," Shanahan said. "You have to win the championship. You can talk about it; you can do the things that you think are right. This group has done something that most people haven't done in the history of the game. This group won back-to-back Super Bowls and it is a credit to everybody in this room."

The accolades weren't reserved exclusively for the Super Bowl XXXIII team; Zimmerman received his fair share of them as well.

Zimmerman, a man known for few words, took the stage to thank the Broncos organization and his former teammates for supporting him and his induction into Canton. He thanked the Bowlen family and the Broncos organization for being one of the few team in the NFL that hosts an event for its alumni.

"I would like to thank everybody in this room because it takes a great supporting cast to be a Hall of Famer. There is no way in heck that I would be there without the guys in this room."

Zimmerman, joined Bowlen and Shanahan in saying that he believes not enough Broncos are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and will they will continue to campaign for more to be inducted.

And although Zimmerman retired after the Broncos' first Super Bowl victory, it wasn't like his teammates didn't want him to be part of the second.

Shanahan remembered back to the summer of 1998 when the Broncos were holding training camp in Greeley and the rather unusual request he got from his star quarterback.

Elway told Shanahan if he would allow him to go to the Sturgis bike rally in South Dakota that he could convince his future Hall of Fame left tackle to come out of retirement.

"I really thought it was a setup," Shanahan said. "But he had me convinced. He said Mike I will get him back in a day. Well three days later John is still in Sturgis - he didn't come back. That is two wily vets taking advantage of a young head coach."

Shanahan said that Zimmerman and the members of the Super Bowl team were able to accomplish the kinds of feats that the current Broncos squad works on day-in and day-out trying to obtain.

"You all should be proud of yourselves because that is what we are working for every day," he said. "To have the type of character and to have the type of team that gives you a chance to do something special. Sometimes it comes once in a lifetime -- sometimes it doesn't come at all. I have been very fortunate to be around men that made it happen."

Hobe
10-05-2008, 10:41 AM
Bowlen really has raised the Broncos to a first class organization. The facilities, the Ring of Fame, and so much more. We have been very lucky to have him at the helm. :2thumbs: