In the summer of 1983, two young Broncos quarterbacks, who had barely met, stepped out from the team’s decrepit training facility in north Denver and onto the practice field together for the first time.
It was, as Rick said to Louis in “Casablanca,” “the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
In the 32 years since, John Elway and Gary Kubiak have been teammates, roommates, confidantes, golf partners, Sports Illustrated cover boys, quarterback and offensive coordinator, Super Bowl losers (three times), Super Bowl champions (twice), long-distance close friends and competitors as Texans coach and Broncos executive — grinning and posing for photos in Denver and Houston before games in 2012 (Kubiak’s team won) and 2013 (Elway’s team won).
The two QBs gave each other nicknames — Koobs and Woody.
On Sunday, barring the extraordinary, John and Gary will be reunited as Boss and Head Coach.
They are as close as brothers; they trust each other implicitly; and they have the same vision for more Super Bowl championships.
In 1983, Elway was drafted No. 1 overall and Kubiak 197th. One became a Hall of Fame quarterback and a general manager, the other a career quarterback-up, then a coach.
Both started games for the Broncos as rookies — Elway 11 and Kubiak one. John would start 243 games and win 160 (regular and postseason); Kubiak would start five and win three. They played quarterback 41 times in the same game.
As Elway’s backup for nine of John’s 16 seasons, the most memorable personal appearances at QB for Kubiak were: his first career start, a victory against Seattle in 1983; a 1984 start when he beat the Raiders, 22-19; a 1989 start when John got “bad fish” at a White House visit, and Kubiak led the Broncos to a 14-10 Monday night victory over Washington; and in the 1990 AFC championship at Buffalo, when Gary took over in the second half for an injured John and completed 11-of-12 passes and just missed pulling off a comeback victory.
Everyone remembers “The Drive” Elway engineered at Cleveland, but nobody remembers that Kubiak, the holder for the winning field goal, was featured on the SI cover with kicker Rich Karlis.
Kubiak — who retired as a player in 1991 and would become Mike Shanahan’s coaching protégé in San Francisco (where they won a world championship) and Denver — was the offensive coordinator when the Broncos prevailed in consecutive Super Bowls. Kubiak was named coach of the Texans in 2006.
In 2010, Kubiak lost the next-to-last game of the season (on a touchdown run by Tim Tebow in his first Broncos home start). Elway had agreed with Pat Bowlen to take over the Broncos’ football operations, and Kubiak was expected to be fired in Houston. Kubiak would have been Elway’s choice as coach in 2011, but the Texans’ owner gave Kubiak an extension.
So John and Gary waited four more years.
Can they return to the Super Bowl together for the sixth time? That is unknown.
Is Kubiak the right choice for the Broncos? There’s disagreement. However, fan surveys conducted by The Denver Post, and other media outlets reflect Kubiak as the man.
Will Peyton Manning want to play for Kubiak? (He did before, choosing Denver after the Texans stuck with Matt Schaub — a disastrous decision.)
I’m certain that Manning will return, and that Kubiak will adjust his offense.
Would the Broncos’ players be ecstatic about Kubiak?
Joel Dreessen, a former tight end for Kubiak in Houston and John Fox in Denver, :
“Saturday nights, when Coach Kubiak would speak, everybody in that room would get chills on their arms. We’d go to team snack just all fired up ready to run through a brick wall for the guy. There’s an element of ho-hum to John Fox, where Saturday nights you walked out of there like, ‘All right, it’s another ballgame.’ … I love Gary Kubiak. I’d take a bullet for that man. I think he’s a phenomenal football coach. I do.”
WATCH:
There’s soul and inspiration, and 20 seasons of history with the Broncos.
When Elway (23) and Kubiak (22) emerged from the locker room in 1983, the press surrounded John, while Gary stood with one curious columnist.
“What’s your ultimate dream?”
“I want to be a coach.”
John Elway and Gary Kubiak — a perfect match made in ’83, and reconnected in ’15.
Woody Paige: woody@woodypaige.com or
