And now there are none.
Tom Nalen is the last Bronco standing.
Nalen will talk to the press as often as a monk from Westvleteren Abbey. He looks like a rhythm guitarist from Metallica. He’s built like a concrete blockhouse and is as tough as a Diehard battery — reliable performance, low maintenance, long life. He is called “Nails” not because of his name, but because of his reputation. He has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s in crunching.
He was the center, but not the center of attention. He preferred it that way.
All Nalen was was the greatest grunt ever for the Broncos.
The man who never met a defensive tackle, a sports reporter or a barber he liked has started more games for the Broncos than anybody not named Elway, played in 13 postseason games in his 14 previous seasons, has been selected to five Pro Bowls (more than any other Broncos offensive lineman), played in every game of 10 different seasons, won two Super Bowl rings, played in conference championships in two different decades, played alongside 25 starting offensive guards and tackles and played in front of, and blocked for, six different 1,000-yard running backs — one who ran for 2,000 yards. With Nalen at center from 1995-2006, the Broncos produced the most rushing yardage and the most individual 100-yard games in the NFL.
He helped keep Broncos quarterbacks from being sacked on more than 7,000 pass plays. In 2004, as Nalen played every offensive snap, the Broncos allowed a franchise-low 15 sacks. He has snapped the ball through his legs to nine starting quarterbacks — from Elway to Jay Cutler.
And Nalen caught one pass for minus-1 yard — on a tipped ball in 1997.
Not bad for a guy who the Broncos got rid of in 1994. Nalen was the Broncos’ third pick in 1994 . . . their third pick in the seventh round. He was waived two days before the first game in 1994. When no other team wanted Nalen, he was signed to the Broncos’ practice squad two days after the first game. A month later, he was added to the active roster to start one game for an injured John Melander (who?) . . . at guard. He started 15 games the next season at his natural position, center, and started in the middle for 16 games each of the following six years.
Nalen has suffered the usual garden-variety football injuries — a hernia, a torn biceps, an ankle sprain — but he has suffered the worst kind of injuries to the knees — tears of the lateral meniscus, the medial collateral and the anterior cruciate. In 1995 he was supposed to miss a month after surgery. He came back a game later. In 1996 he was supposed to be out for the rest of the season, but continued to start.
Defensive tackles and linebackers couldn’t beat the man named the best offensive lineman in the NFL in 2003, but the knees ultimately did. After being scratched the final 11 games of last season, he again had knee surgery — and another arthroscopic procedure during this preseason. He wanted to work; the left knee refused to.
On Tuesday, Tom Nalen’s heart was buried at wounded knee. He has placed on injured reserve. He might be able to return next year, but don’t expect it. He will be 38.
Nalen grew up (to 6-feet-3, 286 pounds) in Foxborough, Mass. Does that town sound familiar? How did the Patriots let Nalen get away — especially after an All-America run at Boston College?
He’s an affable fellow, and we had many lively conversations, all something like this: “Go away,” he suggested. Nalen took the vow of silence with the other Broncos linemen of the late 1990s. At the Super Bowl, they were told they had to open their mouths — or their wallets. When the linemen were accused of chop blocking, Nalen gave his longest speech: “We block hard, and we do it within the rules. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.”
He threw up before most games and never washed his practice uniform, and his hair is a beaver’s dam. But, oh, he could play.
And he belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame — steps from Gary Zimmerman, both protecting Elway, as they did for years.
Centers get little love from Canton. Only six modern-day, one-way centers have been inducted. As a former longtime member of the Hall of Fame voting committee, I’m certain Nalen will qualify because of the favorable comparisons to the others in seasons played, Pro Bowl appearances, domination at his position for many seasons, world championships and the accomplishments of those who lined up behind him.
He is the last Bronco from the glory days to leave, but Tom Nalen will not turn out the light. It shines on.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com
