Sunday after the Broncos’ final game of the season, Rudy Leyva III of Laredo, Texas, stood in the stands of Invesco Field and cried.
Leyva’s beloved team had lost and wouldn’t be going to the playoffs.
Tears would flow again hours later, when Leyva learned one of his favorite Broncos, cornerback Darrent Williams, was shot dead on a Denver street in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
On Tuesday, Leyva knelt in the snow at Broncos headquarters, praying and weeping again at a makeshift memorial that fans had created near the training facility’s entrance.
“All the people who are Broncos fans, their hearts are bleeding,” Levya, 21, said.
In the snow, Leyva left red and white roses and a rosary with orange beads beneath the Broncos sign.
In Leyva’s bag was a Broncos T-shirt caught at Sunday’s game after it was shot from a cannon for fans. After the game, Leyva threw it to Williams, who signed his autograph beneath the collar.
“It’s one of his last autographs,” Leyva said.
Leyva’s mementos joined balloons, pictures, drawings and other messages to Williams outside of the team’s Dove Valley headquarters.
Roxanne Lucero and Ron Trujillo of Superior brought their 6-month-old daughter, Alexis, to the memorial and placed a bouquet of flowers in the snow.
“We were just paying our respects,” Trujillo said.
Sydney Roll of Colorado Springs brought her grandchildren – Manhattan Trull, 4, and Gage Trull, both of Rawlings, Wyo. – to the makeshift shrine. They placed flowers and balloons at the site.
“We loved him,” Roll said, adding that Williams gave Manhattan an autograph and hugged her after a recent game.
“I haven’t been able to stop crying,” Roll said.
Rick Fauland of Colorado Springs watched Roll and the grandkids in their Broncos clothing place their souvenirs.
“It’s very depressing,” he said. “You do all of the right things, and it still don’t work out.”
Another memorial is growing at Speer Boulevard and 11th Avenue, where Williams was shot and two others were injured.
Broncos hats, a jacket, photographs, newspaper clippings and store-bought bouquets hung from a chain-link fence guarding a construction site.
On Tuesday, fans drove up and added more flowers and signed posters mourning Williams.
“Makes me sick,” said Richard Crockett, who drove from Aurora to visit the shooting location.
“It kind of killed the whole New Year for me,” Crockett said.
Steven Davis, a longtime Broncos fan, awoke to the news of Williams’ death. Davis sleeps with the television on, and the phrase “Tragedy in Broncoland” jolted him awake.
“It kind of puts perspective on their getting knocked out of the playoffs,” he said.
Jeremy P. Meyer can be reached at 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
