DENVER — NFL games on Sundays are not just about the mega-million dollar players and head coaches.
There are also people behind the scenes who make it so the players and head coaches can get all their glory on Sunday.
People like longtime Broncos' trainer Steve "Greek" Antonopulos and longtime assistant coach Lionel Taylor, who before he got into coaching was one of the first great American Football League's receivers in the 1960s for the Broncos.
Antonopulos and Tayler were one of 15 recipients of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Awards of Excellence, it was announced Wednesday.
“In my opinion it’s ther biggest award in my lifetime,'' Antonopulos said in a phone interview with 9NEWS Thursday morning from Orlando, where he was honored by the Professional Football Athletic Trainer's Society for his HOF excellence award. "I’ve never been an awards kind of guy but I’m just so humbled and honored about the whole thing. To have my name on a plaque or whatever it is in the Hall of Fame with Mr. Bowlen and all the great Bronco players that are in there, it’s just really humbling. And to do it the same year Randy (Gradishar) is going in is just amazing.”
Antonopulos had a 45-year career with the Broncos and was the longest-tenured employee in team history when he retired following the 2020 season. He was the only person to be part of all eight Broncos Super Bowl teams, contributing to 27 winning seasons, 22 playoff berths, 15 AFC West titles, 10 AFC Championship Games and three Super Bowl victories.
In 2021, the Broncos named the training room at Centura Health Training Center the Steve "Greek" Antonopulos Athletic Training Room. The Award of Excellence winners will be honored in ceremonies June 26-27 in Canton, Ohio.
Antonopolus started his Broncos' career in 1976. Allen Hurst, the Broncos' head athletic trainer for 18 years before Greek took over, was the man who hired Antonopulos.
“I always thought I’d love to work for the Denver Broncos when I was growing up in Hugo and going to college (Northern Colorado) where I got involved in sports medicine,'' Antonopulos said. "I heard the job was open and I called (Hurst) out of the blue. He didn’t know me from Adam. I was at Fort Hays State, Kansas then as an (P.E.) instructor in college and head athletic trainer.
“Called him and said our basketball team is coming to Denver and I’d love to talk to him about the job. I knew they had some injury problems the year before, one of them being Otis Armstrong missed the year with a hamstring strain (suffered in game 4 of the 1975 season). I always had the mindset I was ahead of the game with some of the rehab stuff.
"I did some research on that and he was nice enough to have breakfast with me and five hours later we just meshed. John Ralston, the head coach, I interviewed with him a week later and I’ll never forget – you know he was the power of positive thinking, Carnegie guy and he went down my resume. 'Steve Antonopulos, you’re from Hugo, Colorado,' and then stopped. He did that and I thought, 'I’m not sure I’m going to get this job.' But I said some of the things they were after in terms of on-field rehab and it just kind of all clicked.
"Before training camp was over I was leading the stretching for the players because nobody else wanted to do it. Everything just fell together. It was a great opportunity at the time and I loved every minute of it.”
Anyone who played sports in their younger days knows there are some people who will let a sneeze or chipped fingernail cause them to miss practice or a game, There are others who could have a 102-degree temperature and beat-up knees and shoulders and they would still drag themselves out to practice.
We don't want to embarrass the former types. But Antonopulos was asked about the latter, guys who had to be dragged off the field.
“It’s kind of interesting, the great players, especially back in the day, were always those kind of guys,'' Antonopulos said. "They loved doing it, they never wanted to come out. Randy Gradishar, I remember Rob Lytle – I loved Rob Lytle, he was one of the tough guys. He once had a thumbnail torn off in pregame warmup and he ended up playing the game.
"John Elway, Gary Zimmerman. Did I mention Randy Gradishar? (Steve) Atwater, all those guys. Billy Thompson was one of those guys. Champ Bailey was a tough guy.''
Bailey suffered a separated shoulder in the Broncos' home-opening loss at Miami in 2005. The next week, Antonopulos fitted Champ with a shoulder harness and after the Broncos were booed by their home fans into the halftime locker room down 14-3 to San Diego in game 2 at Mile High, Bailey on the first play of the second half intercepted Drew Brees and returned it for a touchdown. The crowd roared in jubiliation, the Broncos went on to a 13-3 record and playoff win against the two-time Super Bowl-champion New England Patriots, and Bailey finished that season with 9 interceptions, including a 100-yard return off a Brady interception.
Current Broncos' cornerback Pat Surtain II may be close to supplanting Louis Wright as the second-best cornerback in Broncos' history -- Louis has said so, himself. But Surtain needs to keep playing a high level for a few more years before he approaches Champ's greatness.
“There’s something about those tough guys that make a team great,'' Antonopulos said. "Peyton Manning, he took care of his injuries. He probably wasn’t old-school (as far as rehab and recovery methods) but he did all the right things and he would always end up playing. You can just do the Hall of Fame guys and those are the tough guys. They don’t make it to the Hall of Fame unless they’re tough, in my opinion.”
‘Vonnie, he was a modern-day guy, Von Miller. He always played, he always took care of himself and played.”
Antonopulos didn't last from the start of the Orange Crush in 1976 through the COVID season of 2020 without adapting.
"To be good at anything you need an adaptability to your persona without a question,'' he said. "To me that’s part of longevity. When I first started I was the only person in the building doing rehab. The head athletic trainer, Allen, was doing paper and administrative type stuff. And there were 100 to 140 guys in training camp. You couldn’t do the job you can today where it’s more hands-on.
"That’s one of the things I’ve always believed in was the hands on. You’ve got to be on the floor, you’ve got to be involved with the players. Sure if you’re the head guy you’ve administrative things you have to make time for but you’ve got to touch the players. You’ve got to be in the (trainer’s) room to touch them. It’s players-centric. The players are the No. 1 thing.”
Today, Vince Garica, Greek's heir apparent, is one of seven full-time trainers on the Broncos' staff -- five of whom have direct lineage to Antonopulos.
The story has been well-told that in the 30 years Hall of Fame owner Pat Bowlen showed up at Broncos' headquarters each day, his first stop was to the trainer's room to visit with Antonopulos. Which means Greek was always the first one who showed up in the morning.
“It’s one of those things that evolved,'' Antonopulos said. "When I first started with the Broncos I didn’t like the traffic very much so I’d go in early. And then some players wanted to get in early and get some work done before everybody else came in. It just evolved to where I’d get in earlier each year.”
The players Greek remembers always showing up early?
“Gary Zimmerman and Stink (Mark Schlereth) always rivaled each other and would compete as to who would get there first,'' Antonopulos said.
No wonder Schlereth does the morning drive on the FAN (104.3 FM) radio.
Antonopulos learned of his HOF Award of Excellence from Elway.
“The committee asked me to be on a Zoom call which was kind of odd, and they said by the way we’ve got somebody here who wants to say something,'' Antonopulos said. "And so John introduced me to it. He said, 'Congratulations for being elected into the Hall of Fame.' That was really cool.
“I was very emotional. Everything comes back, the 45 years, Mr. Bowlen and our relationship, living the dream. All that stuff came back.''
Antonopulos and his wife of 26 years Susan now split their time between Limon - 15 miles from Hugo -- and Tucson, Arizona.
“At the end of every day I’m like, ‘What happened to today? I’m always so busy,” he said.
Taylor, the first professional receiver to have a 100-catch season when he did so for the Broncos in 1961, was honored as a receivers coach for the likes of Lynn Swann and John Stallworth for the Steelers in the 1970s and offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams in the early 1980s.
“It means more to those guys who put up with me,'' Taylor said from his home outside Albuquerque in an interview with 9NEWS. "The only way I got this was their hard work. And I give the guys that I coached as much as those who really made it. Some guys made it not as big. But just getting to the NFL tells those guys they had some talent. They don’t have to sell themselves short.”
Taylor found out about the award Tuesday night.
“I got a call last night and then Brad Johnson called me,'' Taylor said Wednesday. "I don’t know if you know the quarterback who won a Super Bowl for Tampa Bay (in 2002)? I coached him in London (in 1995). I haven’t talked to him in so long. He was a heckuva quarterback. We had a lot of fun together.
"If I made a call and he didn’t like it, I told him he could always change it. He liked that about me. I told him I’ll take the heat. Same thing with Pat Haden when I was with the Rams. You’ve got to let those quarterbacks have confidence in themselves.”
The Awards of Excellence program was created to recognize significant contributors to the game off the field. The categories for this year's recipients were assistant coaches, athletic trainers, equipment managers, film/video directors and public relations personnel, according to a release.
"This year's 15 outstanding Assistant Coaches, Athletic Trainers, Equipment Managers, Film/Video Directors and Public Relations personnel have no doubt left indelible marks on their respective clubs and professional football," Hall of Fame President Jim Porter said in the release. "Countless hours have been spent over many years by each of these individuals making their fields, their former clubs and the National Football League better."
VIDEO ABOVE: Steve "Greek" Antonopulos to present Pat Bowlen at Hall of Fame
This is the third year the Hall of Fame has honored the behind-the-scenes people. The Broncos' first recipients were longtime public relations director Jim Saccomano and assistant coach Alex Gibbs, who were honored in the first class of 2022.
Taylor, 88, was an original Bronco in 1960 and played seven seasons in Denver as part of a 10-year playing career before going on to become an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers. His coaching career spanned 29 years, including college and the World League of American Football in Eurpose. Before earning a coordinator position with the Los Angeles Rams and later the Cleveland Browns, he mentored future Hall of Famers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth during seven seasons with the Steelers as a wide receivers coach.
"I still root for the Broncos,'' said Taylor, who was inducted into the team's inaugural Ring of Fame class of 1984.
After his NFL coaching career, Taylor would coach college prospects for two months before the draft at the IMG Academy in Florida. His offseason clientele list included the likes of Eli Manning, Chad Pennington, LaDainian Tomlinson, Adrian Peterson, Anquan Boldin and the Bears' Anthony Thomas.
It has been suggested the primary reason for receiving the HOF excellence award was his stellar work with Swann and Stallworth.
“It’s nice to say they were part of it but hopefully they’re not the only reason because I had a lot others,'' Taylor said. "Ron Shanklin, Frank Lewis, Preston Dennard (Rams). I had a lot of good receivers. (Steelers TE) Randy Grossman could catch anything. (Steelers TE) Larry Brown was a great blocker. I was lucky, I had the best job in football.”
A true coach, one of Taylor's favorite players was Reggie Garrett. He played just two seasons with the mighty Steelers in 1974-75. Zero catches one year, 13 the next.
“We had Stallworth, Swann, Shanklin and Frank Lewis all made the Pro Bowl at one time,'' Taylor said. "And every day Reggie would say, ‘Coach you were going to cut me.' I said, 'Reg, we had you on the spot.' And every day at the end of practice he would make a great, great catch. A great catch every day. And we kept him. He got the most out of his ability.''
Award recipients will be invited to the 2024 Enshrinement Week and will be recognized in Canton this August.
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