Cut Traded Fired Retired

He set receiving records at Colorado State University and eventually landed in their Athletics Hall of Fame. Not bad for a guy who didn’t have the size of a “typical” wide receiver in the early 2000’s. These days, David Anderson would fit right in.   David grew up in California and played at Thousand Oaks High School, a hot bed for college recruiting. Despite having numerous D1 scouts and coaches...

Growing up in California, Nate Jackson spent all his time in the swimming pool… because he wasn’t allowed to play football until high school. He excelled in the pool and figured out how to compete. Once he started high school, his football experience began as a running back. Nate had to catch up quickly with guys who had been playing for a while… and had hit puberty.   He caught up and moved to wi...

He grew up in St Louis and played a number of sports, except football. Jay Leeuwenburg’s dad wanted to make sure he was coached properly, so he had to wait until high school to hit the gridiron. In the meantime, Jay dealt with a setback: being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in middle school.   The diabetes diagnosis meant one thing: how to manage it and play sports. Jay figured it out with the pro...

Growing up in California, he wanted to be like his favorite Raider’s player, Howie Long. Coincidentally, Travis Kirschke paralleled Howie’s NFL position (defensive end) and longevity in the league (13 years). Howie stayed with the same team and won one Super Bowl. Travis made 3 stops in the NFL, with the final one providing him two Super Bowl rings.   Travis was a standout high school player in Th...

It was the event Nuggets fans had been waiting for since pro basketball came to Denver: a Championship Parade. On June 13, 2023, an estimated 750,000 people flocked to downtown Denver to celebrate their team who had just beat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.   The parade was like previous parades for the Broncos and the Avalanche with players and coaches on top of fire trucks, traveling slowly th...

Between high school, college and the NFL, he played with two future Pro Football Hall of Famers and one Heisman Trophy winner. Of course Kenny Bell had no idea when he played for Greenwich High School that his quarterback Steve Young would go on to be a 3-time Super Bowl Champion and wear a gold jacket. However, they did win a LOT of games and Kenny played a big role in that success. He was induct...

As the son of a Naval pilot, Bucky Dilts moved around a lot growing. At one point his family was based in Hawaii where he learned to surf and play football, specifically punting. He’d kick a football (with his left foot) over anything high that he could find.   Next came a move to Atlanta. Surfing wasn’t an option, so Bucky went 100% into football during high school. He went on to punt for the Uni...

His roots are in Illinois, along with most of his 12 seasons in the NFL. However, Emery Moorehead’s football career went through Colorado twice.   Emery had his choice of colleges as a star athlete out of Evanston and opted to head to Boulder and play for the Buffs. He played both running back and wide receiver and was a captain his senior year when CU won the Big 8 Conference Championship.   He g...

His first trip to Colorado came when the Broncos drafted him 31st overall in 1983.  Prior to that, Mark Cooper had spent nearly his entire life in Florida, growing up playing football and excelling on the offensive line at the University of Miami. When Coop got to Denver, he was reunited with a guy he met briefly a few months earlier when both played in the East-West Shrine Bowl: John Elway.    Ma...

Orlando Franklin’s unconventional path to the NFL started in Jamaica. He was born to a single mom who wanted a better life for her and her sons. She applied for Visa’s in three countries and only one accepted her: Canada. So, Orlando’s path went north.   His mom married, but then widowed when her husband tragically passed away. That life change put Orlando and his family in a women’s homeless shel...

She went to the Olympic Trials for swimming when she was 16. She became a pro triathlete after she graduated from Yale. She met her husband (also a pro triathlete) when he sat next to her on a plane. She designed the first running skirt and created a business that empowered women to feel amazing in their skin. She also became a mom.   Nicole DeBoom is always smiling, which may lead one to believe...

Most athletes walk away from sports because they “get too old.” The opposite can happen in the sport of golf and Matt Schalk is a prime example.   Growing up in Boulder, Matt was a baseball guy. Until his dad won a game of gin at the local country club and the losing golf pro didn’t have the money to pay up. So, Matt’s dad bartered and got the pro to give golf lessons to his sons. One lesson and M...

Ask anyone in the circle of baseball about Marc Johnson and chances are  they either have a tie to him or know someone who does.  That’s because for more than 50 years, Coach Johnson led one of the best baseball programs in the state of Colorado. A program that produced more than 50 professional players and several that became household names.   He grew up in Nebraska and followed his father’s pas...

Despite the fact he was a very accomplished swimmer in high school, Sean Moran’s dream was to play professional football. Which he did.   Sean graduated from Overland High School in Aurora and headed north to play for a coach he thought was perfect for his college career at Colorado State University: Earl Bruce. Unfortunately, Coach Bruce was fired after Sean’s first year and he considered transfe...

Growing up in Washington, Tyler Brayton played a lot of sports. His grandfather was a baseball coach and he thought he was destined for the diamond. That was until his lanky body got coordinated and he started to excel at football in high school.   He was recruited by a number of schools and felt drawn to Boulder where Rick Neuheisel was the head coach. After his first season, Coach Neuheisel left...

Growing up in Cheraw, South Carolina, Fisher DeBerry spent his time playing multiple sports: football, basketball, baseball and track. In high school, he was All-State in football and baseball. He’ll try to tell you that’s because there wasn’t much competition. Highly unlikely.   Fisher got a small scholarship to play football and baseball at Wofford College. He also worked a few jobs to pay for s...

It would have been easy to walk away from the NFL after being released over and over again. Afterall, Jordan Norwood could head into the real world with his degree from Penn State and find something right? But he didn’t. Instead, he used his down time to stay in shape, rehab injures, plan for the future and work in philanthropy. Today he’s reaping the rewards of his planning and charity work and h...

Many think he should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Afterall, he’s one of only four defensive players on the NFL 1970’s All-Decade team not in Canton and the only corner back on that same list without a bust. But to Louis Wright, all that matters is what his teammates thought of him.   He grew up in California and gravitated to track and football in high school. He spent one year at Arizona...

The path for this episode’s guest started in Wyoming where he was convinced, like so many other football players, that basketball was his ticket to pro sports.  Wyoming basketball worked fine for Clint Oldenburg, but to hit the next level, football became his ticket. He chose Colorado State University, where Sonny Lubick moved him from tight end to the offensive line. He wasn’t crazy about the swi...

Tony Boselli’s goal growing up was to play high school football for Sam Pagano. He attended Coach Pagano’s infamous Mile High Football camps and dreamt of running onto Knight’s field at Fairview High School. His home school was Boulder High, so he told his dad he had to figure out a way into Fairview, or he would go live with his aunt & uncle across town. Tony’s dad figured it out.   Once he w...

Growing up in Indiana, Matt Mauck’s favorite sport was basketball, followed by football, then baseball. He received some scholarship offers to play basketball but committed to Michigan State for football under Nick Saban. Then came spring of his senior year: he was drafted by the Cubs, his baseball team won a state championship and he was named Mr. Baseball. Matt leaned into the diamond.   He play...

He grew up in New York and went to college at the University of Maryland. Billy Van Heusen was all east coast until he stepped off a plane in Denver in 1968 and saw the Front Range for the first time. His goal as an undrafted free agent became not just to make the Broncos roster, but to stay in Denver. He did both.   In 2019, Billy was named to the Broncos All-Time Top 100 Team. He played 9 season...

He grew up in Pennsylvania with two older brothers and played in just about every sport.  Eventually football became Charlie Adam’s bread and butter – he could catch and run. Skills that served him well as a wide receiver and a return specialist. Which is why he was named All-Pennsylvania Special Teams in high school.   Charlie took a scholarship at Hofstra University where he figured he would see...

He came from a high school in Kentucky that produced a number of well-known athletes, like Steve Finley, George Wilson and Kurt Barber. Terry Shumpert thought basketball at Paducah Tilghman High School would take him to the next level, but a knee injury turned his focus to the diamond. Shump could hit, was fast around the bases and had quite the glove on defense. He took his baseball skills to the...

He started playing football as a junior at Smoky Hill High School. He made varsity as a senior. Chase Vaughn turned some heads in that short time and received three small offers at Division II and NAIA schools. He accepted one for Adams State and was there for 2 years until CSU-Pueblo started a football program. He took a leap of faith and transferred. Good move.   In his first game, Chase had 4 ½...