With the draft now right around the corner, I thought it might be fun to revisit some of the greatest draft moments in Denver Broncos history.
Where else would one start besides the acquisition of John Elway. I know, I know, he was acquired by trade, but that’s just the end of the story, not the beginning.
The beginning came in San Diego on Sunday, November 28, 1982, while John was still a senior at Stanford. We were staying at the Town and Country Hotel in San Diego for a game against the Chargers, and Broncos owner Edgar Kaiser and general manager Hein Poulus called me into Mr. Kaiser’s suite. I didn’t know the topic, but left very excited.
He wanted to know the public relations value of acquiring John Elway. I said that it would be huge, but that we could never get Elway (boy, was I naïve) because he would be the first pick in the draft, which Baltimore would surely have. Mr. Kaiser informed me that anything can be done, anything could be purchased, any trade could be made, if you were committed to making it happen. Naturally, we all quickly agreed that Elway’s value was beyond enormous in every way possible.
Fast forward to the days before the draft, when every team in the NFL (seemingly) was making a pitch to either Colts’ general manager Ernie Accorsi or to head coach Frank Kush, or to both. But they Colts did not budge in their desire not to trade Elway.
But nobody was calling Bob Irsay, owner of the Colts. It turned out that he was going to call that shot-perhaps that is not the way it should have been, perhaps his GM or coach, or combination of the two, should have had total control of making the best deal for the Colts, but the reality is that as time went by, Bob Irsay was taking a greater and greater interest in making that decision.
Draft day came, and the Colts took Elway, to some degree of laughter and derision, for John had been very clear in his unwillingness to play there. Of course, he had been drafted by and signed with the Yankees, and he certainly was perceived to have a future in baseball (not like in football, but still he was regarded as a fine big league prospect).
Edgar Kaiser made his first call to Bob Irsay, and the first very, very general conversations were had-like a mating date in one of those animal kingdom nature films.
I was in the room when Mr. Kaiser announced to his coaches that he was working on a trade for Elway. Then he left the room and many of the coaches chuckled at him for what they knew about football and what he didn’t. I was a young PR guy then, but I did not feel it was right to chuckle at the owner, in front of or behind his back.
It turned out that they know more about football, but he knew more about business.
A couple of hours later I had cause to mention to Mr. Kaiser that Elway’s name had been mentioned by a staff member in the food room among the press (amazingly, no press member followed up, probably thinking it ridiculous), and the owner then took me into his confidence.
I’ll never forget it. He said, “Jim, we are moving on John Elway. We are halfway there, and we have halfway to go. I’ll let you know when we are there.” He left, and I did not chuckle. I knew serious when it stared me in the eyes.
So the draft continued, and ended, and when I discarded all the prepared biographies of all the players we did NOT take, I hung onto one. That Elway bio was going to take somebody a long time to write and type (no laptops in 1983, folks), and so I took the five page, single spaced legal page bio and placed it in my desk drawer.
Speculation continued like crazy for a week in the press about who would trade for Elway, and everybody in the NFL kept calling Accorsi and Kush.
But only one man kept calling Bob Irsay.
The deal was made one week later and Edgar Kaiser called Dan Reeves on the golf course, and in that phone call the owner told the coach that the deal was not a maybe, but was absolutely completed pending two factors, the approval of Dan Reeves, which came about as quickly as Dan could open his mouth to respond, and the actual signing of John Elway.
The deal was, Elway and his agent Marvin Demoff would fly into Denver that night by private plane and Bronco officials would meet them on the plane. If they could agree on a contract, the trade would be completed. If they could not agree on a contract, the officials would leave the plane, the plane would take off, and there would be no trade.
I was informed late morning that it was done, and of the confidence the team had in reaching a deal. I reached into my desk drawer, pulled out my already complete press release (the GM asked me how long it would take me to put one together, and I informed him that after my initial conversation with the owner, I saved everything from a week earlier, and could be ready in seconds-not a bad moment for me, by the way, personally or professionally).
I sat at my desk and waited when the workday ended.
The call came about 8:30 that the deal was done, and we called the press and told them there would be a 10:30 pm press conference at Broncos headquarters.
It was arguably one of the most significant press conferences in the history of not just the Denver Broncos, but for the entire state of Colorado.
And John Elway was a Bronco.
Tags: Bob Irsay, Broncos History, Dan Reeves, Edgar Kaiser, Ernie Accorsi, Frank Kush, Hein Poulus, John Elway
This one for the last regime lovers: Shanny just signed Ryan Torain.
wow, it’s going to get a response with that one… haha
I bet TorainATV has some choice words for the blog…ha.. fun stuff to see.. It keeps all of us interested.. anyway, isn’t he the first ex-Bronco player that Shanny has reached for?
Maybe we should start referring to the Redskins as “Broncos East”. LOL
OC, pretty much, but Torain wasn’t even on our roster, which tells me Shanahan may not be as big a man as I thought he was in regard to Bowlen, because he has not even attempted to seriously look into dealing with us about ANYBODY. I think it was Brian who way back then was wondering here if Shanny would be mad at Bowlen the way he was always mad at Al Davis, and I gave him all the reasons why I didn’t think so, there could be more there than I thought…
I just hope my boy Ryan can stay healthy.
For his sake, not the Redskins, LOL.
Probably his last chance if he gets hurt again. So yes for his sake.
verry cool.. ATV showed up like clockwork..haha
Bronc On ATV!!!
Obviously it makes no sense that with all the Shanny regime players McD is shipping out of Denver, none of them end up on Shanny’s radar. I’m starting to believe Shanahan is mad at our organization, what a childish thing to do, he got paid for 14 years plus full pay last year and half pay this year and next, what does a man need out of life??? I’m surprising myself with this analogy of what might be going on between Shanny and us, that would be sad if I’m right is all I’m gonna say about that.
Maybe shanny doesn’t like any of the players he drafted..? lol
And we haven’t had any serious talk about acquiring any of their players either, it’s like the Berlin Wall is up again, just saying…
We’ve finally cleaned house of all the guys labeled disgruntled on our team, now we can focus on moving forward. Gone are the days where players retire on the team they were drafted by, or class act guys like Rod Smith, Al Wilson, or Ed McCafferey’s, guys that stay out of trouble and play hard every play, not worried about getting hurt, they went out and played like true champions and were true professionals.
“Ed McCafferey not worried about getting hurt”, and he was the only one in the entire stadium not worried about it, all the licking he took was absolutely brutal and made me worry about him remaining healthy pretty much every time he caught the ball. I wonder how his body feels now, it would be interesting to find out. He earned his money all right, not so some of today’s punks, I won’t name anyone, we have argued those players long enough…
Sorry, McCaffrey, he earned the right to have his name spelled correctly.
OC
let’s just agree to disagree on this one.
I usually agree with you but not this time.
Of course Shannahan is not happy with the organization. He was fired because he refused to replace the D-coordinator.
Irony, how we are on our 5th in 5 years…
and the least stabilty among the coaching ranks since Ive been watching.
But everything is good, we have a firey young coach, who gets rid of all the bad apples and will lead the Broncos into…
… the future.
Yea I definitely disagree with you baylin… do you realize the amount of money the Skins are forking out for their current roster. With the addition of another big contract in McNabb it isn’t like the Skins can just continue to spend and award new contracts to guys like Marshall, Scheffler (when they have Davis and Cooley), Dumervil, Kuper, Hillis, especially when they still have to pay their incoming rookies.
It’s Shanny’s first year under a new team, I hardly agree that he is bitter towards us. I think even he understands that the same voice gets old after awhile and that he had a great run with us and because of his success, he got a great contract in Washington.
Hope you are right because he has no reason to be bitter, it was just a business decision Bowlen made just like Shanny made many with players…
Agreed, plus it appears that the Texans are usually first to jump the gun on guys we release. Always did love Kubiak…
I was thinking more along the lines of our worst record in two decades…
(scariest thing about that is, we are a couple of injuries to the D-line away)
and when was the last time a team of career backups ever make a deep playoff run?
sorry Champ, Dawk and DJ… no offense to yous three… but yous guys dont play offense either
REMINDER: TOMORROW 5 PM MTN TIME THE SCHEDULE COMES OUT!
Quite harsh to Orton who will never be confused with the flashiest QB on earth but he did put up solid numbers in his first year of the system. I know Marshall is gone but we can make up for his abscence with Moreno and Bucky stepping up behind a revamped (through the draft) and healthy OLINE (Harris’ injury killed us last year)
It’s tough to gage our team because the roster is FAR from set, draft day trades and the draft itself will infuse alot of new blood on the roster. Look what Eddie Royal did as a rookie (90 catches) hopefully he gets back to that point and we can find another sleeper. Too early to be THIS pessimistic
That’s sndvl’s job (to be pessimistic), LOL. He is like the fair and balanced anchor to hold all the die hard fans back…
Haha I’ve noticed, I just hope he realizes that that up to 10 new players will likely be added here in the next couple of weeks and the roster is far from finished.
I’m really curious to here people’s sleeper draft pick for the 1st round. Considering McDaniels took Moreno last year when I was expecting Raji, Orakpo, or Malcom Jenkins to be our selection.
It seems the favorites are: Rolando McClain, Trading back for Pouncey, Earl Thomas, Dez Bryant, and Dan Williams
Who are the sleepers? I really think we could go after Joe Haden… the kid is a stud anyone else?
I think we trade down for Pouncey if McClain is no longer on the board when we pick, to your sleepers I would add Claussen. Not that I agree with it, just thinking where McD could go.
Sorry, misread your post, Dez would be a sleeper for me also, Williams would be the third option. It really does seem that we could trade down, quite a few teams want to move up in the 10-12 spot like the Eagles and the Packers and I have a feeling we will oblige someone and pick Pouncey to get an extra second. Just my opinion.
And of course, to blow our minds once again, he might go Spiller.
I wouldnt put us past getting haden. Just doubt it
And i say this because ill bet you a million dollars i dont have that this is champs last year in a broncos jersey. He is too old to do the rebuilding crap. The reason he has stayed around and been so faithful is because he is a class act but also because, 2005/2006 we were a stones throw away from the superbowl…that we woulda won cuz NFCs representative sucked. But the steelers got the best of us. That sent a message of progress to Champ, only for us to start dwindling. Eric Berry would be the best option (safety, corner, dont matter lol) but thats just a pipe dream….
Yeah, I don’t see us moving up to get anybody, Berry or anyone else, just my opinion.
Jared Odrick, 5 tech, he is a sleeper.
At 11?
big difference being pessimistic and rational. I may come across pessimistic, but if thats the label ive been tagged with for taking a “RATIONAL” view on our current state, so be it!
As for Orton, I like the guy, always have. But a rational view is one where in Chicago he had a solid running game and stout defense. Then his first year here, Marshall.
My sleeper- Dan Williams DEFNSE, not to be confused with DEZ…
Just like Pouncey, you would have to move down to get him for it to make sense.
Berry, Haden, Williams, McClain, Okwasi(sp), Spikes, Lee, Price, Odrick, Cody, Paul-Pierre, Mays… I dont care who, I dont care where…I just hope and care. Because we still have superstar talent on that side of the ball. And they are our biggest chance to succeed this year!!!
DEFENSE, D-FENSE, D-FENCE…not to be confused with DEZ!
Til after the draft my fellow bloggers…
Humm “Last regime lovers”
Hey Baylin, let’s just “agree to disagree”. I would like to respond to your posts. But with our past I though I would respectfully ask if that was OK with you.
Just me!
FTR
FTR, call me just about anything you want, just don’t question my integrity is all I ask, I’ve led my whole life trying to uphold the best conduct I can, so I have a problem when I’m called out on it. But yeah, no problem here, glad you are the bigger man and came forth about it because I probably wouldn’t have. Feel free to respond to any of my posts however you wish as long as it doesn’t get personal like it did, thanks again and good seeing you on blogging. The schedule comes out tomorrow and the draft starts Thursday, so this will be a busy time for opinions, can’t wait.
Thanks Baylin.
Busy indeed. Looking forward to it!
baylinor – Are you going to have bloggers weigh in to see who they think we’ll pick before draft day? It would be fun to see how many of us get McD/Xanders right or how many are way off, at least w/ first pick anyway. I’m busy with baseball but would like to participate if you decide to do so.
rbf1 I definitely would lose that one,since the only one I got right last year was Ayers.
I hear ya TRB
Just a thought… I know it’s tough to predict.
By the way the last regime won us 2 world titles don’t be so quick to call out the best coach we ever had.Al Davis owed Shanny 400,000.00,Mr.B paid him,big difference.
I like the idea of a mock draft competition.
BFE92
I hear you!
Yup looks like the McD has purged the team of Shanny’s picks and made sure the Broncos old Fantastic Four!!! Cutler, Marshall, Royal, and the Shef are now in the so called disgruntled players list that are gone! I for one do “Like me some Tradition” and before a New blog begins let’s remember what subject this Blog is supposed to be about. If not for John Elway there would not have been an “Old regime” Just me!
FTR
im pretty excited for the draft, nfl.com had an interview with Mcd and they also talked about us possibly nabbing Tebow. Mcd hinted that we could move down for more picks since it is a deep draft at many positions. either way i will be happy for another step closer to the regular season!
Go Broncos!
Royal the exception.