DENVER — Before Dalton Risner was a Denver Broncos, he was a small-town kid in the stands, dreaming of one day becoming a professional football player.
12 years later, that dream is now a reality. And on the final day of training camp that was open to the public, Risner brought a whole busload of Wiggins dreamers to Dove Valley.
“My mom got a big crew together from Wiggins and brought out, I don’t even know what the final number was, but at least 50 kids to come out and watch practice which was really special,” Risner said following Tuesday’s practice. “Got a school bus, a couple of school bus drivers and got out here.”
“I thought it was really nice of him,” said Wiggins native Malea Koenig. “He’s a role model to all of them. Knowing that he started out where they are at and they could grow into what he could be.”
Tyler Dilka is one of those young football players who looks up to Risner.
“[He] Grew up in a small town and has gone very far and done big things. He’s gone a long ways and he encourages other people to do the same exact thing that he has done.”
Signing autographs and taking photos is a standard thing for any pro athlete, but when it comes from someone from the same small farm town as you – it’s beyond special.
“I had a lot of my teammates telling me like, giving me grief at first, but then saying bottom line dude, that’s really, really cool that you have kids come watch you practice and you’re from their town,” Risner said. “They just enjoyed the heck out of it. They thought it was so cool that I was out there. They all said I looked completely different without pads on, you know, all that kind of stuff, but they were in heaven, they were enjoying the heck out of it.”
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