DENVER — You could field a darn good football team with the number of Broncos who received senior nominations for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The HOF announced 183 nominees Tuesday for its class of 2025, with 11 having played a significant portion of their careers in Denver. The 11 Broncos nominated: Sammy Winder, running back; Bob Scarpitto, receiver; Lionel Taylor, receiver, Rick Upchurch, receiver/returner; Lyle Alzado, defensive end; Rich “Tombstone” Jackson, defensive end; Michael Dean Perry, defensive tackle; Tom Jackson, linebacker; Karl Mecklenberg, linebacker/defensive end; Dennis Smith, safety and Louis Wright, cornerback.
From this list of Broncos senior nominees, those who should get legitimate consideration as the pool is narrowed to 50, and then eventually three finalists for eventual election, are Taylor, Upchurch, Rich Jackson, Tom Jackson, Mecklenberg, Smith and Wright. Those seven are in the Broncos' Ring of Fame.
The most notable Broncos' snub was safety Billy Thompson, who had 40 career interceptions and seven defensive touchdown returns during his 13-year career from 1969-81
Also nominated were former University of Colorado players Boyd Dowler, a Green Bay Packers receiver, Byron "Whizzer" White, who played tailback and won two NFL rushing titles for the Detroit Lions, and Dick Anderson, a starting safety on the Miami Dolphins' 17-0 team in 1972.
Also nominated was Dallas Cowboys defensive back Cornell Green, who served 28 years as a Broncos scout.
Senior nominees had to have last played at least 25 years ago.
A closer look at the former Broncos' nominations as described by this author in the book "The 50 Greatest Players in Denver Broncos History" https://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Players-Denver-Broncos-History/dp/1493029177:
Lyle Alzado, defensive end
Lyle Alzado wanted so badly to be great, he crossed the line of fair play to get there.
Alzado was an admitted fraud. A liar and a cheat. Those wild, raging outbursts that popularized him with fans and broadcasters were, as it turns out, artificially enhanced.
Looking back, Alzado exhibited all the symptoms of a steroid user – in particular, the violent mood swings – before the sports world had caught on to the disease.
The steroids epidemic in sports largely remained behind bathroom stalls until the late-1980s. Alzado was a phony football star of the ‘70s to mid- ‘80s.
“Very sad,’’ Rubin Carter, the Broncos nose tackle who played alongside Alzado, said when upon hearing of how steroids led to Alzado’s demise. “Because I didn’t think he needed that.’’
Carter is a gentleman. Truth is, Lyle Alzado most likely would not have made it in the NFL, never mind played 15 seasons with a certain kind of celebrity and acclaim, if not for his sadistic, continual use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Without artificial aid, he would have been too small. This isn’t my opinion. This is Alzado’s own admission in a first-person Sports Illustrated 10 months before he died, at age 43, to complications from brain cancer.
“I lied,’’ Alzado wrote for his opener. He then described, in shocking detail, how far from the truth he had become since he started using steroids in 1969 – two years before he was selected by the Broncos in the fourth round of the 1971 draft.
“It wasn't until I got to college when I realized that, even though I'd been high school All-America, that wasn't enough to make it as a football player,’’ Alzado wrote. “I didn't have the size. I had the speed, but not the size.’’
Alzado deserves credit for publicly confessing his transgressions. Granted, he didn’t confess until well after his NFL playing career was finished. (I am ignoring his ludicrous comeback attempt with the Oakland Raiders in 1990 at the age of 41, five years after he had played his final game). And he didn’t confess until after he learned a brain tumor had brought him to death’s door.
But Alzado most likely was not the only standout NFL player who was artificially enhanced by steroids. It was also a time when football through its combative nature perpetuated the use of stimulants, substances and enhancers.
Baseball holds on to its romantic past to the point artificial enhancements are considered sacrilegious. Football fans expect their warriors to play at all costs to the point that pain-numbing agents are considered a badge of honor. Performance-enhancing drugs are considered taboo in the NFL today.
But the ethical line is far more blurred in football.
Doped up or not, there were times when Alzado was a terrific football player and he was always a fan favorite.
“Lyle was a very physical ballplayer,’’ said Barney Chavous, who played the defensive end opposite Alzado in defensive coordinator Joe Collier’s 3-4 front. “Lyle could get to the ball. Lyle was fast. That was one of his best assets. He had good speed and he could get to the ball.’’
Rich "Tombstone" Jackson
It was Ring of Fame weekend and a steady stream of Denver Broncos greats were checking into the Inverness Hotel in the Denver Tech Center.
The lobby bustled as the likes of Floyd Little, Dennis Smith, Steve Atwater, and, one of three guests of honor for the class of 2016, Simon Fletcher, passed through.
With much more tranquility, one of the roughest, toughest, strongest, and best Broncos of all time walked in slowly with a cane he didn’t really use, wearing his trademark kufi cap.
Let me check in here, said Rich Jackson, and I’ll give you all the time you need.
For a guy who was nicknamed “Tombstone,” Jackson sure is a polite, soft-spoken gentleman of the highest order.
“I always wanted to respect people,” Jackson said in his New Orleans drawl as he sat up in a lobby sectional, his two hands leaning forward on his cane. “My teachers, I would call Mister or Missus and their name. I wanted that to resonate with youngsters and have them pick up on that respect. I had a high school coach and he had a nickname, Zoo, and I would never call him that in any of our conversations. Zoo James. I called him Mr. James.
“I respected people so that I always wanted to make sure I was formal. I always wanted to make sure when people interacted with me, if they were having a bad day it would lead to a better day than had we not met. And if they were having a good day, I wanted to make sure I didn’t take away from that day.”
This would be a great day. For a guy who had just four healthy seasons in the NFL, Jackson’s career reached mythical proportions. Perhaps, the most glowing tribute he received was from Sports Illustrated’s Paul Zimmerman. This was at a time when the Internet was just starting to take off and before the cottage industry of NFL bloggers and social media experts began to mushroom.
During this time, “Dr. Z” was the NFL opinion that mattered. In naming his NFL All-Century team in 1999, Zimmerman placed “Tombstone” as one of his three defensive ends, alongside Reggie White and Deacon Jones. Zimmerman once wrote of Jackson, “In his prime, he was the very best run-pass defensive end the game has seen.”
Al Davis, the renegade Oakland Raiders owner, signed Jackson out of Southern University in 1966. But after playing sparingly as a linebacker in his rookie season, Jackson was traded to the Broncos in exchange for two of the best players in Denver history, receiver Lionel Taylor and center Jerry Sturm.
Several years later, Davis lamented trading Jackson away, saying “he was the best player they ever had.”
“He had me. He tried to get me back,” Jackson said of Davis. “I was with the Raiders. He said that was the biggest mistake he ever made when he traded me. [Broncos defensive line coach] Stan Jones saw me on some film. When they brought me here, again they tried me at linebacker—for one practice.
“And the next day they put me at right defensive end. I was there the whole year. And then the next year they switched me to left defensive end, and that’s where I stayed my whole career. And Mr. Davis tried to get me back. We remained friends throughout the years. And I guess whenever they came to town I would contact him and go by and say hello to him.”
Tom Jackson, linebacker
It was a special occasion all right, and not only because it was the first playoff game in Denver Broncos’ history.
What made this game Super Bowl special for Thomas Louis Jackson III was that his dad would be in attendance. Understand this was a different time. And Tom Jackson Jr. was no ordinary dad.
It was the 1977 season and the Orange Crush hype machine was revved at full throttle. The biggest personality in Broncos’ history, and its second-best outside linebacker, Tom Jackson III was 13 years old, happily growing up with his sister and loving parents in Cleveland, when he shockingly lost his mom, Katie.
“My mom went from being perfectly healthy to having a headache and within days she had passed,’’ Jackson said. “She had a stroke on Tuesday and she passed on Friday.’’
His father became a single parent who took on roles of both mom and dad. Thomas Jackson Jr. provided by day, cooked by night, shaped his kids throughout life’s twists, turns and tragedies.
“Back in those days my parents had the traditional roles of a household,’’ Jackson said. “My mom stayed home and cooked, my dad went to work. But watching my dad teach himself to cook is something that resonated with me as a person. He got to the point where his pot roast or his chicken was something he was so proud of. I watched him transition from man of the house to single parent and responsibility for me and my sister. That turned out to influence me in a great many ways as my life has gone on.’’
The nation’s economy on Christmas Eve, 1977, wasn’t what it was today. Eating out was something families did on payday, not three or six times a week. And when people did go out, they rarely ventured beyond their neighborhood or suburb.
“Back then, parents didn’t do what I do for my girls, which is travel around and watch them play soccer and getting on airplanes and going to watch the one (Morgan) that’s in college play,’’ Jackson said. “My dad saw me play in my 14 years probably a total of four times. But he was at that game. The Pittsburgh game. He came to our first playoff game.’’
Know how a player or coach or fan will say something like, “it was meant to be!’’
With 4:30 left in the first half and the score tied, 7-7, Steelers future Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris was smothered by Broncos’ defensive end Lyle Alzado behind the line and fumbled. Jackson picked it up and ran 25 yards to the Steelers’ 10.
On the next play, Otis Armstrong ran it in and the Broncos were up, 14-7.
There’s one turnover for Jackson. The Broncos were clinging to a 24-21 lead early in the fourth quarter but the Steelers took over at their own 40. Two plays later, Jackson intercepted a Terry Bradshaw pass and returned it 32 yards to the Steeler 9. The Broncos settled for a short field goal and a 27-21 lead.
There’s two turnovers for TJ. Very next series, Bradshaw converted two third-down passes and on first-and-10 from his 41, his pass to midfield was intercepted by, you guessed it, Jackson, who returned it 17 yards to the Steelers’ 33. Two plays later, Broncos quarterback Craig Morton threw a touchdown pass to Jack Dolbin.
Three Jackson turnovers and returns that were converted into 17 points, the key as the Broncos emerged victorious from their first-ever playoff game by defeating the mighty Steelers (who were Super Bowl champs in the recent 1974 and ‘75 seasons), 34-21. It was perhaps, the top individual highlight of Jackson’s career.
“I always think of not only the importance of the game, but the fact my dad was there watching was of ultimate importance to me,’’ Jackson said. “And to me that’s one of those moments I’ll never forget.
“Now, obviously, the next weekend when we punch our ticket to the Super Bowl (by defeating Oakland in the AFC Championship Game) certainly looms large. But that game against a Steelers team that good, to beat them and get us on the right track is a unique highlight for me.’’
Within those three defensive plays was the essence of Tom Jackson the player. He was a tremendous athletic linebacker who not only made plays, he went on the offensive and returned them.
In 1976, as the Orange Crush was formulating, Jackson had seven interceptions with 136 return yards. As a linebacker. It’s a single-season record among Broncos linebackers that will likely never be broken and only one other linebacker in the 95-year history of the NFL had more – Baltimore’s Stan White, who had 8 interceptions in 1975.
Karl Mecklenberg, defensive end/linebacker
When the Denver Broncos first laid eyes on Karl Mecklenburg, they didn’t know what to do with him. This was before they waited until the 12th and final round to take him in the 1983 NFL draft.
“The Broncos sent two different scouts to the University of Minnesota,’’ Mecklenburg said. “One of them came back and said he’s too slow to play linebacker, maybe he can be a lineman. The other came back and said he’s too small to play lineman maybe he can play linebacker.’’
It wasn’t the Broncos’ fault. Mecklenburg was a 240-pound nose guard for the Gophers who had a knack for slipping through and penetrating the backfield. The very definition of a tweener.
Twelve years and six Pro Bowls later, the Broncos never did figure out what to do with Mecklenburg. He wound up playing every position in the front seven: Nose tackle, both defensive ends, both outside linebacker positions and both inside linebacker positions.
No wonder he’s slipped through the Pro Football Hall of Fame cracks. Voters don’t know how to position his candidacy.
“Karl Mecklenburg, he’s a Hall of Famer because I’ve never seen a guy and I’ve never heard of one that’s in the Hall of Fame that could play inside (linebacker) and rush the passer,’’ said Wade Phillips, who was Mecklenburg’s defensive coordinator for four seasons and head coach for two. “It’s just a combination that nobody else had. He was a tremendous pass rusher.
“I’ve never been around anybody that played inside backer as well as he did. He was great at it. And then on third down, you’d put him outside and let him rush. He could have been a defensive end all the time. His stats would have gone up where his sacks are concerned, but he made so many tackles you had to play him inside at an inside backer.’’
Michael Dean Perry, defensive tackle
The younger brother of "The Fridge", Mcihael Dean Perry is a senior nominee based on his first seven seasons with the Cleveland Browns. He did not make the 50 Greatest Broncos Players book. He signed a then sizeable three-year, $7.2 million with the Broncos as a free agent in 1995 but turned out to be a bust, to the point his release late in the 1997 season is what helped inspire the team to break its minislump and go on to win its first Super Bowl.
Bob Scarpitto, receiver/halfback/punter
You will have a difficult time finding a better all-around performance in a single season than Scarpitto in 1966. Playing for a horrible offensive team that ranked last in the AFL with 14.0 points per game, Scarpitto led the AFL in punting that year with a 45.2-yard average, plus had 21 catches for 335 yards and four touchdowns, and had 110 yards rushing on just four carries, including a 63-yard touchdown run.
Named to the AFL’s all-time second team as a punter. He also led the AFL in punting in 1967, when he averaged 44.9 yards on an astounding 105 punts in a 14-game season – 7.5 punts per game.
Had seasons of 35, 35 and 32 receptions for the Broncos. In 1962, he had 35 catches for 667 yards – an incrdible 19.1 average – with six touchdowns. Hated to exclude him from the top 50.
Dennis Smith, safety
“As high as I ever got,’’ he said with a tinge of disappointment, but not a trace of conceit. “I couldn’t clear higher than 7-2.’’
At no other position did the Denver Broncos have more great players than at safety. It started from the beginning when Austin “Goose” Gonsoulin had five interceptions in the first two games the Broncos ever played in 1960.
With apologies to the great Goose Gonsoulin, it is generally agreed Steve Atwater and Smith were the paradigm in the Broncos’ proud safety tradition. Hotly debated is, who was better, Atwater or Smith, Smith or Atwater?
“You’ve got to put him in front of me,’’ Atwater said. “We were in a game, I don’t remember who we were playing, but I was running. I was full speed and I thought I was going to make the tackle and Dennis comes flying by me and slams into the guy. I’m like, ‘Oh man.’
“He was an amazing athlete. And one of the finest I got to personally witness, and I saw how he played and practiced. He taught me a lot. It was an honor to be play with him.’’
Said Mecklenberg: "I've always said if Dennis had a different last name he would have been in the Hall of Fame years ago."
Lionel Taylor, receiver
The truth about Lionel Taylor is he’s one of the least recognized great receivers in professional football history.
Let’s begin the story on Taylor by getting it straight.
It’s not quite true he went from playing linebacker with the Chicago Bears in 1959 to setting a professional football record with 92 catches as a receiver for the Denver Broncos in 1960.
Actually, it’s all true except the part about the linebacker. After starting for both the basketball and football teams for tiny New Mexico Highlands University, Taylor did attend the Bears’ training camp as a linebacker in 1958.
“It was the only way I could get invited to camp was as a linebacker,” Taylor said in a phone interview from his New Mexico home. “I ended up as a wide receiver which I wanted to be. Because I’ve got news for you: I never hit anybody in four years in college and three years of high school. So I wasn’t going to play no defense.”
It was different then. As a college linebacker, Taylor could cover would-be pass receivers extremely well – he was really more of a defensive back -- but the tackling he left to others.
Still, linebacker gave Taylor a chance to show George “Papa Bear” Halas what he could do. Only the Bears cut Taylor in 1958. He spent that year in Bakersfield, Calif. playing on the same semipro team as Tom Flores, the future quarterback and head coach of the Oakland Raiders.
Only Flores played defensive back in Bakersfield while Taylor played the first half of games at receiver and the second half as a shotgun receiver.
“We’d huddle and I’d draw up plays in the dirt,” Taylor said.
In 1959, Taylor returned to the Bears’ training camp, this time as a receiver. He was cut again, but this time re-signed after the Bears’ second game. He didn’t catch a pass in eight games that year.
“I was a starter those eight games,’’ Taylor said. “You know why? I was on special teams and you always start the game with a kickoff. I never was a starter with the Broncos.’’
Taylor went to a third training camp with the Bears in 1960. Again he was waived with Halas promising to bring him back after the second game. This time, Taylor was intrigued by the American Football League Denver Broncos. Dean Griffing, the Broncos’ first general manager, was scouting for his Canadian Football League team when he spotted Taylor play in Bakersfield.
During his two week waiting period with the Bears, Taylor decided to visit the Broncos. At the time, the team was out East, opening their inaugural season with a game at Boston and at Buffalo. Taylor met up with the team at their New Jersey hotel the week the Broncos were to play their third game against the New York Titans.
“I didn’t think the league was going to make it,” Taylor said. “But I thought if I could come over and make a name for myself I could go back to the NFL and get a little money, get a better deal.’’
Taylor’s first game was the Broncos’ third. It was at the Polo Grounds before a gathering of 20,462 on what was described on the official gamebook as a clear and mild afternoon.
Taylor didn’t have a catch in the first quarter but he wound up with six catches for 125 yards, including a 31-yard touchdown reception on a pass thrown by Broncos quarterback Frank Tripucka.
Taylor gave all the credit to his quarterback.
“I’ll never forget that first touchdown he ever threw to me at the Polo Grounds,’’ Taylor said. “I didn’t start. I just joined them. I didn’t know the terminology, I didn’t know Frank. So I said, “Hey can you throw me that down-and-in play?’
“And he didn’t say anything to me. So I went back to the bench and then in the huddle he said, “Hey you.’ He didn’t know my name, I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘Can you run that post pattern?’ He threw it for a touchdown. He was something.”
Taylor went on to have one of the most remarkable receiving seasons in American Football League-National Football League history in 1960. In just 12 games, Taylor had 92 catches – an all-time professional record at the time. The previous record, 84 catches by Tom Fears of the Los Angeles Rams in 1950, had stood for 10 years.
Taylor also ranked third in the AFL with 1,235 receiving yards and tied for second with 12 touchdowns.
Given the full 14 games the next year, Taylor in 1961 became the first-ever receiver to record 100 catches in a season. His 1,176 receiving yards ranked second.
“Frank got me started on the right track,’’ Taylor said.
The Broncos’ media guide said Taylor had “unquestionably the greatest hands in football.’’
“Lionel Taylor was not just a football player,’’ said Gene Mingo, a teammate of Taylor’s from 1960-64. “ He was a leader. You could ask him to do anything, he would do anything while playing his position. In my eyes he should have been in the Hall of Fame.’’
Rick Upchurch, receiver/returner
Drafted in the fourth round of the 1975 NFL Draft out of Minnesota, where he was a running back and returner, Upchurch delivered the most impressive rookie debut in Broncos history.
It was the season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs at Mile High Stadium when Bronco fans immediately fell in love with their new speedy weapon. Upchurch had three catches for 153 yards – including a 90-yard touchdown strike from Charley Johnson – all in the second half as Upchurch filled in for Haven Moses, who was injured late in the first half. There was a 13-yard touchdown run on an end around that started the Broncos’ come back from a 10-0 deficit in the first half.
Upchurch also had a 30-yard punt return and a 38-yard kickoff return. Throw in two more kickoff returns and one game into his NFL career, Upchurch had 284 combined yards, which was not only the best rookie debut output by a Bronco, but the best opening act in NFL history. The Broncos won, 37-33.
“When people say I was a returner, they might not have seen my first game,’’ Upchurch said. “I could play wide receiver. But they thought I was more valuable at returning kicks at that time because we had Haven and Jack Dolbin starting in front of me.’’
So what did Upchurch do for an encore? He had an 80-yard touchdown catch in his third game at Buffalo, plus another 110 yards on four returns. In game 7 of his rookie year against Oakland, Upchurch had three catches for 76 yards, five rushes for 17 yards, four kickoff returns for 129 yards and one punt return for 18 yards – another 240 yards in combined yardage.
And you should have seen Upchurch in 1976 when he became the first NFL player in history to return four punts for touchdowns.
“Tadpole,’’ said Steve Foley, a Broncos’ defensive back and Upchurch’s teammate. “His nickname was “Tadpole” because he could run sideways, backways. He was so fast, it was ridiculous what he could do with punt return and kickoff return – but punt return more than anything.
“That was the first time where I ever saw in a pro game where they stopped punting to a returner. That was the first time I had seen that. I think he had four touchdowns one year (in 1976) and they stopped punting to him.’’
Upchurch is one of the few NFL players to have made two All Decade teams as he was a first-team returner in the 1970s and second-team punt returner in the 1980s. His 8 career touchdowns off punt returns held as NFL record for 14 years after he retired.
His 3,008 yards off punt returns in nine seasons held as an NFL record for two years until Billy “White Shoes” Johnson went past that number 13 years after he entered the league.
Sammy Winder, running back
Had Woody Hayes first seen Sammy Winder before he spoke, his coined phrase would have been ‘’3.6 yards and a cloud of dust.’’
Winder was John Elway’s first starting running back. Winder started the famous “Drive” with a 5-yard reception from the shadow of the end zone, then picked up the first of seven first downs on The Drive with a 2-yard run to convert a third-and-2. Winder was unquestionably the best less-than-4.0 yards per carry running back in Broncos history.
Not once in Winder’s nine seasons did he average more than 3.9 yards per carry. The key stat in that sentence? Nine seasons.
“I don’t think by having the number 4.0 was the goal for backs,’’ Winder said in April, 2017. “I do think that’s reasonable and that’s fair. But I gave them the best I had. Playing with Elway, with the style he had, you had to step up and attack the pass rush and I think I helped out a lot. In that offense, you had to do both.’’
Winder averaged 3.9 yards as a part-time playing rookie out of Southern Mississippi in 1982. He averaged 3.9 yards per carry in his first season as a starter in 1983. He averaged 3.9 yards per carry in his only 1,000-yard season of 1984, when he made his first Pro Bowl.
The NFL became so enamored with Winder’s rugged, if unspectacular style of running, he made the Pro Bowl again in 1986 despite averaging just 3.3 yards per carry.
Winder finished his career with 5,427 rushing yards – at the time the Broncos’ second all-time rusher behind Floyd Little – on 3.6 yards per carry.
Here’s the thing about the Woody Hayes’ axiom, which is more accurately referred to as “three yards and a cloud of dust”: If you average just a little bit more than three yards per play, your offense picks up a first down and keeps moving down the field.
Winder was a chain mover.
“Mississippi Mud,’’ said Rubin Carter, a Broncos’ nose tackle during the first half of Winder’s career. “A special guy. Another guy who was really quiet, didn’t say very much. But when he had his hands on the football you talk about somebody electric. He could make people slide off his body like he did have mud on his body. He would slide through some holes and the next thing you know he was in the end zone and he’s picking one foot up and then his right leg up and the left leg up and he’s doing the Mississippi Mud Dance because he just scored a touchdown. Very electric and exciting young man.’’
Louis Wright, cornerback
There was the pick six off the Snake when the Broncos finally broke through against the Oakland Raiders in that magical season of 1977, the year Louis Wright came into his own as a Pro Bowl cornerback and Football Digest’s AFC Defensive Player of the Year.
There was that fumble recovery for a touchdown in the opening seconds of the Monday Night Blizzard game against the Green Bay Packers in mid-October.
There was his game-winning, 60-yard touchdown return in overtime off Dennis Smith’s blocked field goal against San Diego in 1985.
He had 26 interceptions in all and five touchdowns, including one off a lateral from linebacker Randy Gradishar, but when asked about the favorite play of Wright’s 12-year career with the Broncos, safety Billy Thompson brought up one of his teammate’s 846 tackles.
“I saw him make a play in Kansas City I’ll never forget,’’ Thompson said. “It was fourth down and a zillion to go and Kansas City came up with a fake punt. And the guy broke the line of scrimmage and was going for a touchdown. Louis came from the other side of the field, tracked him down and tackled him on the 1. We held the four downs on the 1 and won the football game. That’s one of the greatest plays I’ve ever seen.’’
It was the play Wright picked out, too, when asked in February, 2017, to name his favorite moment. He went back 40 years to that great 1977 season. The Broncos were 8-1 entering Arrowhead Stadium against their AFC West rival and leading the Chiefs, 14-7 with about 3 minutes remaining.
It was fourth-and-17 at the Kansas City 48 and Chiefs interim coach Tom Bettis sent out punter Jerrel Wilson. The snap was to the upback, Mark Bailey, who handed off to Ray Burks, a linebacker. Even though the situation all but screamed for a fake punt, the Broncos were caught off guard.
Burks, in his first and only NFL carry, ran 51 yards. He needed 52.
“In those days you played those special teams,’’ Wright said. “So I was outside and they do a fake, not a fumblerooski, but a fake to the upback and he takes off running. So I’m looking across the field and I’m like, ‘What’s going on over there?’ I started running over there and pretty soon I realize he’s got the ball and he started running for a touchdown.
“So I’m chasing him but not fast enough. I can see the big red end zone coming up. I dove, grabbed his foot, tripped him up and he fell at the 1-yard line. So everybody’s coming out on the field, (Bob) Swenson, (Randy) Gradishar, Tom Jackson and they think he scored and they’re talking about blocking the extra point.
“They’re coming out of the huddle, and meanwhile I’m still trying to convince everybody it’s not an extra point.’’
On first-and-goal at the 1, Ed Podolak rammed up the middle for no gain, stopped by Barney Chavous and Wright. Then it was Bailey up the middle. Gradishar nailed him. Again no gain. Now there’s 1:15 left in regulation.
There was a reverse to tight end Walter White. Jackson on the outside wasn’t fooled and the play lost 6.
On fourth and goal from the 7, quarterback Mike Livingston overthrew his intended receiver, incomplete. Denver’s ball with 25 seconds left. Ballgame.
“And that’s when I knew we had something special,’’ Thompson said.
“I’m really proud of that play,’’ Wright said.
Before they used the term, Wright was one of the NFL’s preeminent ‘‘cover corners.’’ It wasn’t until Deion Sanders in the early 1990s that “cover corner” became in vogue. By 2004, the Broncos’ Champ Bailey made more than $7 million a year as a cover corner and the price was more than $10 million per in 2011.
A tall cornerback at 6-foot-2, Wright never made more than $400,000, which was his salary in his final season of 1986. The rookie minimum salary in 2017 is now $465,000.
“Ahead of his time,’’ Tom Jackson said of Wright. “Ahead of his time not only in his skill set, but his size, his speed, his ability to cover. As complicated as the Orange Crush was, we went into a game with, ‘You 10 guys have to be totally coordinated with everything you do -- Louis you take their best receiver. You take Lynn Swann, you take Steve Largent, John Jefferson and you shut him down and we’ll win.’’’
Wright made five Pro Bowls in his career, played in every game in eight of his 12 seasons, 166 total, and helped the Broncos reach two Super Bowls (he started in The Drive game at Cleveland in the 1986-season AFC Championship).
The full list of senior nominees:
QUARTERBACKS (16): Ken Anderson, Charlie Conerly, Boomer Esiason, Roman Gabriel, James “Shack” Harris, Bobby Hebert, Jeff Hostetler, Ron Jaworski, Jack Kemp, Dave Krieg, Daryle Lamonica, Don Meredith, Jim Plunkett, Phil Simms, Joe Theismann, Doug Williams.
RUNNING BACKS (25): Alan Ameche, Ottis Anderson, Jon Arnett, Larry Brown, Timmy Brown, Earnest Byner, Roger Craig, John David Crow, Clem Daniels, Hewritt Dixon, Chuck Foreman, Willie Galimore, Pat Harder, Marv Hubbard, Cecil Isbell, Daryl Johnston, Verne Lewellen, Christian Okoye, Bill Osmanski, Glenn Presnell, Mark van Eeghen, Herschel Walker, Byron “Whizzer” White, Sammy Winder, Paul "Tank” Younger.
WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS (31): Mark Bavaro, Gino Cappelletti, Raymond Chester, Todd Christensen, Mark Clayton, Gary Collins, Isaac Curtis, Carroll Dale, Lavvie Dilweg, Boyd Dowler, Henry Ellard, Jimmie Giles, Billie Howton, Harold Jackson, Billy "White Shoes” Johnson, Brent Jones, Homer Jones, Ken Kavanaugh, Stanley Morgan, Art Powell, Mike Quick, Bob Scarpitto, Sterling Sharpe, Del Shofner, Pat Studstill, John Taylor, Lionel Taylor, Otis Taylor, Rick Upchurch, Bobby Walston, Billy Wilson.
OFFENSIVE LINEMEN (28): Harris Barton, Dick Barwegan, Ed Budde, Randy Cross, Ray Donaldson, Ox Emerson, Bill Fralic, Gale Gillingham, Kevin Glover, Charles "Buckets” Goldenberg, Wayne Hawkins, Jay Hilgenberg, Chris Hinton, Joe Jacoby, Mike Kenn, Bob Kuechenberg, George Kunz, Don Mosebar, Ralph Neely, Nate Newton, John Niland, Dick Schafrath, Luis Sharpe, Walt Sweeney, Fuzzy Thurston, Jim Tyrer, Ed White, Al Wistert.
DEFENSIVE LINEMEN (27): Lyle Alzado, George Andrie, Al “Bubba” Baker, Roger Brown, Ray Childress, Ben Davidson, Mark Gastineau, Bill Glass, L.C. Greenwood, Rosey Grier, Rich Jackson, Ed "Too Tall” Jones, Sean Jones, Tom Keating, Eugene "Big Daddy” Lipscomb, Jim Marshall, Leonard Marshall, Harvey Martin, Leslie O’Neal, Michael Dean Perry, Lou Rymkus, Tom Sestak, Otis Sistrunk, Fred Smerlas, Bubba Smith, Bill Stanfill, Greg Townsend.
LINEBACKERS (22): Carl Banks, Maxie Baughan, Bill Bergey, Dan Conners, Mike Curtis, Joe Fortunato, Larry Grantham, Tom Jackson, Vaughn Johnson, Lee Roy Jordan, Seth Joyner, Wilber Marshall, Rod Martin, Clay Matthews Jr., Karl Mecklenberg, Matt Millen, Tommy Nobis, Jack “Hacksaw” Reynolds, Andy Russell, Pat Swilling, Darryl Talley, Phil Villapiano.
DEFENSIVE BACKS (28): Dick Anderson, Bobby Boyd, Joey Browner, Deron Cherry, Nolan Cromwell, Thom Darden, Don Doll, Pat Fischer, Dave Grayson, Cornell Green, Merton Hanks, Lester Hayes, Albert Lewis, Terry McDaniel, Tim McDonald, Eddie Meador, Jim Norton, Lemar Parrish, Jimmy Patton, Jake Scott, Dennis Smith, Jack Tatum, Roosevelt Taylor, Mike Wagner, Everson Walls, Dave Whitsell, Fred Williamson, Louis Wright.
PUNTERS/KICKERS (4): Jim Bakken, Norm Johnson, Sean Landeta, Nick Lowery.
SPECIAL TEAMS (2): Mel Gray, Steve Tasker.
