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Seven on 7

John Elway has provided fond memories for SI's writers
Seven of them reminisce ...

Issue date: February 10, 1999 Special Collector's Edition: 1998 Denver Broncos

Good Wood

His nickname tells you that Denver's biggest celeb is just one of the boys

By Gerry Callahan

When I arrived at the Broncos' training camp in Greeley, Colo., I felt as if I were parachuting into enemy territory, another national-media mercenary swooping in to finish off the wounded hero. "You here to cover the knee replacement?" one member of the Broncos' organization asked sarcastically. He looked at me as if I were there to watch William Wallace on the rack.

A few days before I showed up, ESPN had reported that John Elway would need replacement surgery on his left knee and would have to quit before the start of the upcoming season. In Denver, this was kind of like reporting that the Rocky Mountains had been sold to Rhode Island. It was a big deal.

When he took the field for workouts at the University of Northern Colorado, the minicams swarmed after Elway. Though Elway and everyone in the Broncos' organization vehemently denied the story, the ominous question still hung like a buzzard in the hot July air: Was this really it, the end of the Elway era?

This was the summer of '95, three Pro Bowl seasons and two Super Bowl victories ago. The rumors of Elway's demise turned out, in retrospect, to be just another challenge for the guy who lived for such occasions. Laughing off the ESPN report as premature, he patiently explained why a left knee replacement made no sense. "Why would I do that?" he said. "My bad knee is actually more stable than my good one." Besides, he said, he couldn't retire because his kids wouldn't let him, and so he didn't. Instead, he would welcome a little-known sixth-round draft pick named Terrell Davis into the fold, tailor his gun-slinging style to fit Mike Shanahan's offense and flourish anew in the twilight of his brilliant career. As always, Elway found a way to win before time ran out. And have a good time doing it.

From the beginning, Elway had fun on the football field but never lost his focus or his will to win. The truth is, he was better than everyone else in almost everything he did but at times was almost embarrassed by his superior skills. A former outfielder in the New York Yankees' system, a scratch golfer and a wildly successful automobile dealer, Elway felt most comfortable sharing a few cold ones with his linemen or some special teams scrubs. To his teammates, he was never some supreme being. He was one of them, a guy they called Wood, which is short for Elwood, which sounds sort of like Elway. It's the kind of nickname you get when you're one of the boys.

"The thing is, the more you get to know him, the more he becomes just 'Wood,'" says Hugh Millen, Elway's backup in 1994 and '95. "He always put his teammates at ease because he truly has no insecurities. He never wanted to be treated differently than anyone on the team. All he wanted to do was be one of the guys, to go snowmobiling or play golf or just take his linemen out for a few beers."

And when he got a few beers in him, Elway would again distinguish himself from so many celebrity-athletes of his generation. "He'd start talking about how much he loves [his wife] Janet and the kids," Millen says. "That's how you know a guy is a great family man. He has a few beers with the boys and starts talking about his wife."

Millen remembers his first up-close look at Elway. It came shortly after he reported to his first preseason camp with the Broncos. As Millen sat down to get his ankles taped in the trainer's room, there he was, the future Hall of Famer, the Great Elway...dressed like a bunny.

"There was this big mural on the wall of the trainer's room," says Millen. "It's of Wood and [former Denver offensive lineman] Keith Bishop dressed like bunnies. I guess it was from a Halloween party, but it just makes you laugh every time you look up and see it."

On the practice field, Elway often brought a smile to his teammates' faces when it was time to work on special teams. Ever wonder how NFL coaches come up with their scout team to provide practice opposition for their special teams? Basically, they ask for a few volunteers, hand each of them a tackling dummy and tell them to run downfield and simulate the opposing kickoff unit. Not exactly anyone's idea of fun.

But in Denver, the scout special teams unit has occasionally featured Number 7, the guy called Wood who runs with the Walter Brennan wobble. You don't see a lot of superstar quarterbacks volunteer for such duty, but then you don't see a lot of superstar quarterbacks like John Elway. One of a kind, and still one of the boys.