Pittsburgh – He was born and raised far from the wide-open spaces where the wild horses roam, but he has been a Broncos fan in this sanctuary of Steelers since he was a little boy.
In a city where Broncos fans are difficult to find, David Rossi is rare indeed.
“I’ve taken a lot of good-natured ribbing over the years,” Rossi said by phone Thursday while on business in Los Angeles. “I have to admit, I root for the Steelers, but when they play Denver, I root for the Broncos.”
Rossi watches Denver games in his suburban Pittsburgh basement, wearing Broncos gear and surrounded by Broncos memorabilia. He made it a point to see the Broncos play at the old Mile High Stadium, and he saw the Broncos beat the Steelers 17-14 at Denver’s new stadium in 2003.
“Finally, I was in the majority,” he said. “Usually I’m with 60,000 fans for the Steelers and maybe four for the Broncos.”
Born here June 7, 1966, Rossi grew up as the Steelers rose to glory with four Super Bowl-winning seasons. All the while, Rossi cheered for the Broncos. His hero was and remains former Broncos quarterback John Elway.
It started when Rossi was 6. He wanted an NFL football jersey for his birthday. Since his favorite color was orange, his parents gave him a Broncos jersey with No. 7, in honor of the date of his birth.
The gift set in motion a transformation they surely never anticipated.
“That’s what started him being interested in the Broncos,” said his long-suffering wife, Brandy, a Steelers fan who now grudgingly cheers for her unorthodox husband’s team.
At home Thursday with their 15-month-old son, Xander, Brandy Rossi watched the toddler, decked out in a Broncos jersey, ride his wooden Broncos rocking horse. The proud, if conflicted, mother, wore a Steelers jersey that her husband has embossed with Elway’s name.
Supporting a team other than the Steelers can be difficult here, and the U.S. Postal Service air-mail securities officer says he has been called every name in the book, but never physically abused.
Rossi isn’t the only Pittsburgh-raised Broncos fan to feel the Steelers’ wrath. Bennie Walker, 37, has to be careful around his co-workers at Dave and Buster’s, or, when he’s not looking, they will put sauce in his cap.
Walker has been a fan ever since he saw a photograph of Colorado during the Broncos’ first Super Bowl in 1978. “I really loved the team,” he said.
So far, he has never been to Denver. But he has put in a request with his employer to move to its Denver franchise. “I want my last breath to be in Denver, God willing. I want to die in Colorado.”
If the pressure and ridicule Rossi endures ever had a chance of changing him, that was forever erased in 1999, when he fell into luck and served as a bodyguard to Elway as the former football great played golf at a Pittsburgh tournament sponsored by former hockey star Mario Lemieux. Rossi walked the full 18 holes, often side by side with Elway.
Remembering that Elway is said to have idolized a certain former Dallas Cowboy quarterback, Rossi said to his hero: “Do you remember what it felt like for you to meet Roger Staubach? That’s what it feels like for me right now to meet you.
“He put his arm around me and said, ‘We’re going to be great friends.”‘
Rossi took a breath to compose himself.
“I could talk to you about that day for hours,” he said. “Next to my son being born, it was the greatest day of my life.”
Staff researcher Regina Avila contributed information to this report.
Staff writer Chuck Plunkett can be reached at 303-820-1333 or cplunkett@denverpost.com.
