S-o-o-o-o, I was walking the sideline Saturday afternoon while working the Fort Morgan at Lutheran Colorado 7 League football game, when I head a voice.
“Neil Devlin? Joel Dreessen. How are you?”
It was cool. Hadn’t spoken to the Big Guy since he played for the Fort Morgan Mustangs and it was terrific to see him. He looks good. Yes, he said the knee that forced him to retire hurts, won’t get any better and he’s a candidate for a replacement, but he showed no outward signs of being in pain.
Dreessen said he lives about 5 minutes away from Lutheran in Parker and couldn’t pass on the chance to see the game.
As a senior in 1999, Dreessen was All-Colorado by The Denver Post and intricate in the Mustangs’ run to the Class 3A state championship. After Colorado State, he was with the Jets, Texans and Broncos before calling it quits.
Currently, Dreessen said he’s doing some television and radio sports work, and itap obvious the game hasn’t left him – he was running up and down the Mustangs’ sideline, shouting out instructions, talking with head coach Harrison Chisum and living and dying with every play as much as any player or parent on hand.
Clearly, he was enjoying himself while pulling for his high-school team.
Fort Morgan, now 4-2, fell to top-ranked Lutheran 22-16 after blowing a 16-0 lead, but we’ll hear more from them. The Mustangs’ personnel is good.
For me? It was good to see Dreessen again, the people in the stands appreciated having him there and the players definitely were moved when speaking with him.
Even with what I do for a living, itap still nice to be recognized by a former Bronco and even nicer to run into a guy who I covered years ago.
And yet another outstanding young man who I met while doing this job years ago evolved into a solid adult who’s well aware of his responsibility in terms of giving something back to the next generation.
I never get tired of seeing it.
