ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Wade Harman couldn’t get the ultimate courage award without his cancer battle going public.
Harman, the Broncos’ tight ends coach, and receiver Courtland Sutton were co-recipients of Denver’s Ed Block Courage Award, head coach Vic Fangio announced Thursday.
To explain why Harman was honored, Fangio revealed his assistant coach was diagnosed with prostate cancer eight months ago.
“Went through the treatment during training camp and the preseason,’’ Fangio said. “Many times we’d be stretching out here at 9:15 (a.m.) and he’d be pulling in from his treatment and walking right on the field for stretch.”
Sutton overcame a torn ACL injury that sidelined him for the final 14 games of the 2020 season, but he was ready to play in Game 1 this year and he had a career-best 9 catches and 159 yards in Game 2 at Jacksonville.
“Obviously very deserving. He had the tough ACL injury last year, had a tough rehab,’’ Fangio said. “But he fought through it with a great commitment. Not every day in rehab is a good day, but you wouldn’t know that by being around Courtland through his rehab. And I saw Courtland almost every day through his rehab. Even if he wasn’t having a good day, he had the attitude that tomorrow would be a better day.”
Fangio said Harman is about “as clean as you can be at this stage. As you know with cancer it’s a five-year type thing when you can ring the bell and that stuff. But he’s doing really good right now. And we’re all hoping.’’
Luckily for Harman, the NFL’s extensive physical exams helped team doctors detect his cancer early.
“When you do detect prostate cancer early, there’s a high rate of beating it,’’ Fangio said. “And that’s what we hope is the case here.”
The Broncos’ head coach added that few inside Broncos headquarters were aware of Harman’s fight, especially early in the process.
“He just kept truckin’ along,’’ Fangio said. “You guys know Wade, he’s an old country bumpkin from Iowa on the farm. He’s a tough sucker.”
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