They are Broncos for life and wanted to thank Pat Bowlen for inviting them into the family. Ed McCaffrey, Jake Plummer and Rod Smith sat around a table at the team’s Dove Valley headquarters. Outside, in the parking lot, the luxury cars of current Denver players sat gleaming in the Colorado sun.
“When you think about it,” Smith said, “Mr. B paid for all these friggin’ cars.”
When Bowlen is enshrined Sunday night in the Ring of Fame, the ceremony will serve dual purposes, as a way for the Broncos and their fans to thank the franchise owner of 32 years for all the victories, but also to allow a city to blow a kiss as an opening farewell to a 71-year-old man battling the cruel curse of dementia.
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The tougher the goodbye, the deeper the love.
As curator of the local NFL franchise since 1984, Bowlen’s work is distinguished by two Super Bowl rings and defined by a love affair between a team and a town so strong it is now nearly impossible to say Denver without thinking Broncos.
Everybody knows the big stuff. Here’s a peek at all the small ties that bind teammates forever and transform a football franchise into a family.
“I broke my leg on a Monday night game,” said McCaffrey, recalling a gruesome injury late in his nine-year Broncos career, when he got hurt against the New York Giants on opening night of the 2001 season.
What followed were months of grueling rehabilitation for McCaffrey. The veteran wide receiver would arrive at dawn to ride a stationary bicycle at the team’s practice facility. And who would be pedaling and dripping sweat alongside him? Mr. B.
In 2004, Plummer was filled with grief over the death of dear friend Pat Tillman, who quit the Arizona Cardinals to join the Army Rangers and fight in Afghanistan. The Broncos and every other league team wore a No. 40 decal on their helmets for a single game to honor Tillman, but Plummer was offended when informed if he wore the sticker all season it would be a violation of the NFL’s uniform code.
“The NFL was fining me and telling me to take it off, so I had to take it off,” Plummer said. “I was upset by it, and Mr. Bowlen knew that.”
So what did Mr. B do? He ordered a large replica of the No. 40 sticker installed near the 40-second play clock at the north end of the stadium in Denver.
“And that was solely for me,” Plummer said. “I wanted to honor (Tillman) more than just one game out of the season. Mr. Bowlen could see that, sense that and feel that. To do that, it meant a lot. He cared about me.”
With Mr. B in charge, there was never a wall between the owner’s suite and the locker room. On Friday afternoons during the season, Bowlen would put on his favorite pair of oversized Hollywood sunglasses, venture down the stairs from his office to argue about college football with players during lunch, with everybody predicting outcomes of games.
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“They’re sitting there with the owner of the club, and players are cracking jokes on him,” said Smith, remembering how teammates would poke fun at Bowlen’s beloved Oklahoma Sooners. “And I’m thinking: ‘That’s not real smart.’ “
As gratitude for working alongside Mr. B was expressed, what struck me was the common orange thread that runs from Smith to McCaffery to Plummer and so many alums who will be in the stadium to salute Bowlen. As a player, each man made big plays, but more than that, McCaffrey, Plummer and Smith were genuinely loved by teammates.
In a business where roster turnover of 40 percent per year is not uncommon, football franchises strive to create a sense of family. Mr. B got’r done. The Broncos have won through the decades, in no small part because the way Bowlen ran this organization fostered friendships that endure far longer than the here-today, gone-tomorrow nature of the NFL.
“Everything starts at the top,” Smith said.
With time, everything fades and even the most vivid memories slowly drift away from the man who built the Broncos. Because nothing is truly forever, it makes us cherish it all while we still can, from the Super Bowl heartaches to the joy of being able to finally lift the Lombardi Trophy and shout “This one’s for John!” Whether it’s the construction of a new stadium or that goofy fur coat he wore on the sideline way back in the day, the details in Bowlen’s mind have grown fuzzier, because that is the curse of Alzheimer’s disease.
During halftime of the game against Green Bay, however, 75,000 voices will fill Sports Authority Field at Mile High with a hymn of praise for Bowlen, with the tears being drowned out by cheers.
But, for me, there was another little scene last week that spoke even louder to the enduring strength of Bowlen’s legacy.
When the cameras were turned off, the recorders put away and the interview was done, Eddie Mac, Jake the Snake and Rod did not want to leave. They lingered, telling tall tales, punctuated by a slap to the shoulder and a laugh from deep in the belly. Just like brothers do at a family reunion.
This is the football family that Bowlen built.
You cannot spell Broncos without Mr. B.
Mark Kiszla: mkiszla@denverpost.com or @markkiszla
