Cut Traded Fired Retired

Howard Griffith has two Super Bowl rings to show for his NFL career, but the path to Denver wasn’t easy. A walk-on at the University of Illinois, Howard became a record-breaking team captain. One of those records was scoring EIGHT rushing touchdowns in a single game. He was drafted in a round that doesn’t exist anymore in the NFL (9th) and never saw the playing field with the team who picked him (...

After a decent college career at the University of Wisconsin, Ron Egloff didn’t hear his name on draft day in 1977. Two teams reached out with invitations to try out in their camps: the Falcons and the Broncos. The tight end wasn’t fond of the heat, so he chose Denver where he had to fight for a roster spot with 7 other tight ends. He won. Not only did Ron make the Broncos roster in 1977, he went...

He was the inspiration for this podcast. Nearly every day on the radio, Tyler Polumbus tells stories about his trials and tribulations in the NFL. One day his co-host remarked how his stories would make a great book called “How I Got Cut.” Susie Wargin was listening that day and that’s when the lightbulb to create Cut Traded Fired Retired. Tyler is a Colorado native who played football at Cherry C...

He played the sport he loved for over 2 decades and was eventually told by two NFL teams that he wasn’t good enough. Those words hurt, but Derek West didn’t allow football to be his only identity. Derek is a 5th generation Arvada, Colorado native. He won a state championship in high school at Pomona and was a freshman at CU when the Buffs won the National Championship. After a solid career at CU,...

John Howell lived out a dream. He played 8-man football in a very small Nebraska town. Some folks scoffed when John set his sights on playing Division I football, specifically at Colorado State University. When he got a call to be the last person in camp because another guy backed out, John drove straight to Fort Collins and joined the team as a walk on. While he did play and letter his freshman y...

He is literally the definition of a “Homegrown Player.” In the 2000’s, Major League Soccer started a Homegrown Player initiative which allowed clubs to develop their own youth players without exposing them to the MLS SuperDraft and thereby giving the club the opportunity to sign the player themselves. That’s exactly what the Colorado Rapids did with Davy Armstrong. Davy was born in Aurora and star...

One would assume that a 2-time All American, Butkus Award winner, National Champion and 2-time Super Bowl Champion played football his whole life. Not the case with Alfred Williams. He begrudgingly started playing in high school: Alfred wanted to be a quarterback and when he was switched to defensive line after a couple days of practice, he quit. Thankfully a coach kept after him and convinced Alf...

It wasn’t just an ice rink on every corner and growing up in Montreal that put Eric Lacroix on the ice at age 5. His affection for a stick and puck was also influenced by some guys who hung around his house like Patrick Roy, Michel Goulet, Pierre and Sylvain Turgeon. There were about 2 dozen of them, stars or up and comers, who were represented by Eric’s sports agent father, Pierre. So hockey was...

It's hard to believe a 2-time All-Big 10 safety who was a part of four Rose Bowls and two Super Bowls didn’t have football on his radar until high school. Mike Harden loved track growing up and his speed was impressive. So much so, when he was in 9th grade, his track coach (who was also an assistant football coach at the high school) had him run for the head football coach. It took two 40-yard das...

His football story is like many others: a star high school athlete who receives multiple college scholarships offers, gets into the NFL as an undrafted NFL free agent and is out of the league in a year or so. His personal story is unlike anyone else’s: before his senior year at Gateway High School in Aurora, a bullet entered and exited his neck in a movie theatre. The bullet came from the theatre...

When Broncos first year head coach Dan Reeves drafted him in 1981, Steve Busick had already played with some big-name defensive teammates at USC: Clay Matthews, Ronnie Lott, Dennis Smith and Jeff Fisher to name a few. During his college career, the Trojans won back-to-back Rose Bowls and were National Champions in 1978. When the linebacker came to Denver he joined the likes of Tom Jackson, Randy G...

Before he was a football coach in college and the NFL, Steve Fairchild was a player. He wasn’t recruited out of high school, but after spending a couple of successful seasons at San Diego Mesa Community College, big schools started calling. He opted for Colorado State University and proved to be a great fit at quarterback. He was 2nd Team All-WAC behind Jim McMahon and added a number of scholastic...

He went into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2002. That was during his 20-year stint as the head coach of Princeton men’s lacrosse team. Bill Tierney could have just sailed away with his HOF status and several other accolades, but he wanted another adventure. Seven years after his induction, Bill left the east coast and began to lead the men’s lacrosse team at the University of Denver. Durin...

On the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1978, he was labeled “This Year’s Phenom.” Sounds great, unless you’re a 21-year-old without the skills to handle the pressure and scrutiny from the media, teammates, other players and fans. It didn’t help when Clint Hurdle started drinking to help numb the realization he wasn’t living up to expectations. Clint bounced around several teams as a player and when...

You won’t find anyone else like her. At her Catholic high school and later in college at Kentucky, she competed at a high level in sports - even before Title IX was in full force. At age 23 she landed her first head coaching gig at Cincinnati. Four years later, she was offered two head coaching jobs, one in Washington state and the other in Colorado. She chose the University of Colorado because sh...

He was an athletic legend at East High School in Denver as well as the University of Colorado, which is why he’s in both of their Hall of Fames. Chuck Williams was also a journeyman through the ABA and NBA in the late 1960’s and into the 1970’s, but he almost wasn’t. Chuck was drafted by the 76’ers out of college, but he got ousted by a player who came over from the Lakers in a trade for Wilt Cham...

He's been a teammate, player or business associate with some of the biggest names in sports: Peyton Manning, Tony Dungy, John Elway, Tiger Woods and Arnold Schwarzenegger to name a few. Throughout Brad Pyatt’s football career he networked and learned from the best of the best. It started at Arvada West High School when he played under a brand-new high school coach named Dave Logan and the Wildcats...

Bo Scaife is a Denver native who grew up playing several sports and credits Tae Kwan Do for teaching him discipline. Eventually football and baseball became his favorites at Mullen High School and in 1999, the tight end helped the Mustangs to a 5A State Championship. Bo was noticed by college scouts throughout high school and was heavily recruited. He opted to head to Texas and play for Mack Brown...

He was always the best. Until Josh McDaniels told him he wasn’t. At the age of 9, Jarvis Moss set his sights on playing in the NFL. He achieved that goal as the Denver Broncos first round draft pick in 2007. Mike Shanahan even moved up to get the defensive end coming off a BCS Championship with Florida under Urban Meyer. Everyone had high expectations for Jarvis, including himself. Afterall, he’d...

“I think I’ll join the Air Force just like my dad.” That was Dave Veres’ plan after high school when he didn’t have a single offer from a college and figured his baseball career was done. Then a phone call came from a junior college coach and his path was completely altered. Dave went on to pitch for Mount Hood Community College, got drafted and spent 17 years in Major League Baseball between the...

Born into a military family, Reggie Rivers learned how to adapt to new situations early. Not only did he move from state to state, he also spent time in foreign countries where he found one common language: sports. During his high school years, he stayed in San Antonio and attended Randolph High School on the Randolph Air Force Base. He played several sports and football eventually rose to the top...

Mike Myers loves a challenge. Thank goodness, because the pitcher’s resume is filled with 10 different teams: Giants, Marlins, Tigers, Brewers, Rockies, Diamondbacks, Mariners, Red Sox, Yankees and White Sox. He was in the majors with most of those clubs, however if he hadn’t taken some advice during his stop in Detroit, his run may have stopped with the Tigers. That was when a Hall of Fame pitche...

He's the perfect example of how school and sports can coexist and be successful. David Bruton Jr. graduated with a double major in Political Science and Sociology from Notre Dame. He was also a starting safety for the Fighting Irish his junior and senior years and got noticed by NFL scouts. In 2009, he was chosen in the 4th round by the Denver Broncos where he would play for seven years. He became...

He's in the Hockey Hall of Fame, his jersey is retired and he holds a franchise record for goals scored in a single season (57). All that and you still may not recognize his name. Michel Goulet is too humble to boast about his incredible 15 years in the NHL or the fact that his name appears FOUR times in the top 10 list of single season goals scored in Colorado Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques franchise...

When Michael Jordan wrote about Mark Randall’s release from the Chicago Bulls in his book, the first round draft pick was ticked. But he also realized the underlying reason he was so mad: he was told in front of the Bull’s owner, GM, head coach and teammates that he wasn’t good enough to play. Tough words to swallow for a guy who had always been a standout player with a high basketball IQ. After h...