THE MAGNIFICENT 7

By T.J. SIMERS

May 3, 1999 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

DENVER —

He limped onto the stage, dressed in a pin-striped suit complete with matching socks, the consummate grizzled pro coming so far from those camel-hair blazer days when he was introduced so shy and innocent to Denver, here now to tearfully call it quits.

“I can’t do it physically anymore,” said John Elway, 38, the admission choking him up. “That’s really hard for me to say. . . . it’s been just great.”

As a witness to developing stardom from bumpy start to satisfying finish--May 2, 1983 to May 2, 1999--here it was 1:15 p.m. Sunday in the ballroom of a suburban Denver hotel--the thrilling ride for everyone coming to an end.

I was there as Bronco beat reporter for the Rocky Mountain News--10:28 p.m. in the team’s headquarters now 16 years later some kind of chiropractor’s clinic--as the hot-shot kid with the athletic strut and toothy smile turned the corner to walk before the Denver media for the very first time.

So this was John Elway, the spoiled brat who told the Colts he would not play football in Baltimore, hanging up on Coach Frank Kush and claiming he would sign a $2.5-million contract to play baseball for the New York Yankees.

“He says he wants to play on the West Coast?” huffed Terry Bradshaw. “Fine. Then don’t play football. Let him play baseball. Who cares?”

So this was John Elway, the Golden Boy from California, now a Bronco, swiped from Baltimore owner Robert Irsay, who took guard Chris Hinton, quarterback Mark Herrmann and a No. 1 pick--his coach and general manager only learning of the deal from reporters after its completion.

“Elway who?” Irsay said. “He’ll never be any good.”

So much fanfare for someone so young. I was there along with 53 reporters--10:20 a.m. for his training camp debut, the Associated Press sending out a bulletin at 10:31 to the country: “John Elway weighed in at 206 1/2 pounds this morning.”

To understand how far Elway has come today adored by all in this hotel ballroom--12 surgeries and five Super Bowl appearances into his career--is to first appreciate the scrutiny thrust upon him as a 23-year-old rookie.

“Had I started talking about the media today I wouldn’t have cried,” cracked Elway, always a little truth mixed with humor.

There are not enough printed dollars to account for every time Elway’s name has been published in a Denver newspaper. I was there as the initial author of “The Elway Watch,” noting for posterity that Elway “watched the Beverly Hillbillies before Fantasy Island” and he had worn “flowered shorts two straight days”--the Elway Watch later becoming a badge of shame for a city seemingly intent on smothering Elway with unbridled attention.

His first step on Mile High turf came at 8:51 p.m. on an August night that would draw almost the entire front page of the Rocky Mountain News the following day with the headline: “It’s a bird. . . . It’s a plane. . . . It’s John Elway,” and that was just for a exhibition game.

The attention became relentless, frustrating Elway sometimes more than any opposing defense, and threatening to destroy his career in Denver.

“They talk about my hair,” he told Sports Illustrated midway through his career, “they talk about my teeth, how much I tip, how much I drink, how I’m playing, when I’ll talk to the media. I’m sick of it. . . . I’m about to suffocate.”

Seattle linebacker Brian Bosworth added to his woes, telling everyone Elway looked like “Mr. Ed” with that mouthful of teeth. The Denver Post ran a gossip column entitled “Pike’s Peek,” which regularly took aim at Elway, calling him, “Biff.”

The Rocky Mountain News pointed out what kind of candy Elway’s children passed out to others on Halloween: “Reese’s peanut butter cups and miniature Kit Kat bars.”

And Elway lost it for awhile. “The thing that really scares me is I want to be a normal person,” he said. “The way things are going, I don’t know where this will all end up.”

It ended on the finest note, of course, Elway running off the field in Pro Player Stadium in Miami as Super Bowl XXXIII Most Valuable Player, his reputation as a competitor solid, sacked an NFL record 559 times but tough enough to get up and win more games than any other quarterback.

“We couldn’t have asked for anything better,” Elway said with a nod toward his family now that it is over. “Denver has been so good to us.”

It did not start, however, as it ended. I was there--1:04 p.m for the first time Elway ran onto the field in his NFL regular-season debut, his every move in those days logged minute by minute by the Denver media--and for one day Robert Irsay looked pretty smart.

He was a Ryan Leaf-like one-for-eight passing in his first game with one interception and a fumble before being pulled in the third quarter in Pittsburgh in favor of Steve DeBerg, Elway would look back later and say it was the worst game of his career.

“After the first game I didn’t think I’d last a year,” he said. “I was standing right across the line from Jack Lambert, and he had no teeth and he was slobbering all over and I’m thinking ‘You can have your money back, just get me out of here. Let me go be an accountant.’ ”

One week later the Broncos were off to Baltimore, a city laying in wait on a sweltering, beer-filled day to exact its revenge for being spurned by Elway. Cursed and ducking thrown objects, he fell flat again in performance.

“The treatment of Elway was disgusting, totally devoid of decency, consideration and basic politeness,” wrote Baltimore newspaper columnist John Steadman. “It was close to seeing Baltimore at its low-level worst.”

Imagine a whole city fighting angry at you and you are only 23.

“Looking at it as a parent,” said Charlie Lee, team publicist at the time, “I hope my son never faces the pressure Elway has had to face.”

Two weeks on the job and he was a bust. Four weeks into his rookie debut and he was benched. Less than two months along and he was in a sideline yelling match with Dan Reeves, his coach.

“Once we get on the same page it will help a lot,” said Elway at the time, not knowing then it would never happen. “As much pressure as I am putting on myself, if he puts it on, it becomes too much.”

He finished last in passing in the AFC his first year, but before season’s end Baltimore came to Denver for a rematch, and Elway, the competitor a city would come to embrace later as Superman, put on the cape.

Down 19-0 in the fourth quarter, Elway led the Broncos to three touchdowns and a 21-19 victory over the Colts.

“You have to understand what a competitor he is,” said Bronco linebacker Bill Romanowski when reminded of Elway’s earlier exploits. “Bubby Brister was playing pool at Elway’s house on a Saturday night and Elway’s never been beaten on this pool table. But Bubby beat him, so on Monday John sold his pool table. That’s how competitive he is.”

Dogged by a town that could not get enough of him, Elway went nowhere without a crowd. Walking from a hospital with him after visiting a 3-year-old girl in need of a kidney transplant, Elway admitted to being baffled.

“Why me?” he said. “What can I do for a child like that?”

And like the quarterback who would learn to throw more touchdown passes than interceptions in the years to come, he would mature, establishing The Elway Foundation, which would raise millions of dollars for charity.

“He’s come a long, long way,” said Marvin Demoff, his Los Angeles-based attorney, and had his emotions allowed him, he would have said more.

He has a come a long, long way, all right, the quarterback and the beat reporter for the Rocky Mountain News were doing Ford commercials together for $50 to benefit the ailing youngster. Later the quarterback would go on his own, buy and then sell seven auto dealerships for more than $80 million, while the beat reporter drives a Ford Escort.

“I have been so blessed and I am so thankful,” Elway said, and it’s 1:35 p.m. in a local hotel and here it is--it’s over--the quarterback with the dynamic arm never again to deliver the Elway Cross.

Where do you start when it’s time to call it quits? He scored his first touchdown on a quarterback draw in the Coliseum end zone, spiking the ball so hard it could still be planted there. There were 47 fourth-quarter comebacks, untold squabbles with Reeves, and a statistical windfall with the arrival of offensive master Mike Shanahan as head coach.

And yet there are frozen moments. Standing there again as witness in the mush of Cleveland Stadium in the closing moments of the 1986 AFC title game, Elway 98 yards away from determining what path the rest of his career might follow.

In the Bronco huddle, as Elway later relayed the story, guard Keith Bishop told everyone, “We got them right where we want them.”

And so off they went, Elway laughing at Bishop’s remark, leading his team to a tying score and then an overtime win, the phenom delivering.

Three Super Bowl losses later, and Elway threatened to retire if Reeves remained head coach. But Reeves was fired, Wade Phillips replacing him, which would then lead to Shanahan, giving Elway the chance to top 50,000 passing yards and get 300 touchdown passes.

Under Shanahan the Broncos won two consecutive Super Bowls, and had Elway’s body obliged, he would have chased a third. Had Dan Marino announced his retirement before Elway, Elway would have played on, the competitor trying to top all of Marino’s statistics--although Marino would trade everything for just one of Elway’s Super Bowl rings.

If it was “The Drive” that vaulted Elway into another football stratosphere, it will probably be his spinning head-first dive for a first down against Green Bay to ignite a Super Bowl XXXII upset that will be replayed most often to represent Elway’s greatness.

But now Denver must wonder what life will be without John Albert Elway, who played in 22 postseason games for a franchise with only five postseason appearances in the 23 years before his arrival.

Elway lived his career here in floodlights, and in this day and age of athletic disappointment, he never embarrassed Denver, a city that wrapped itself around him like it was all it had. He conducted himself like a role model while never being so presumptuous as to consider himself one.

And witness to much of it, there’s this telling Elway quote written down 16 years ago before anyone could know how this journey would end.

“The only thing I worry about sometimes,” said Elway, “is that I’ll be able to live up to everything.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BY THE NUMBERS

16: Seasons with the Denver Broncos

148: Victories, NFL record for a quarterback

47: Drives led by Elway that led to scores-and Bronco victories-in final five minutes of a game

9: Pro Bowl selections

5: Super Bowl appearances

2: Super Bowl championships

300: Career touchdown passes, third all-time

The Drive

On Jan. 11, 1987, Denver quarterback John Elway drove the Broncos 98 yards for the tying touchdown in the final five minutes of regulation in the AFC championship game at Cleveland Stadium. The Broncos went on to win, 23-20, in overtime. Here’s a breakdown of the 15-play drive which began with 5:32 remaining:

1st and 10 at Denver 2: Elway 5-yard pass to Sammy Winder.

2nd and 5 at 7: Winder 3-yard run. Denver uses timeout.

3rd and 2 at 10: Winder 2-yard run.

1st and 10 at 12: Winder 3-yard run.

2nd and 7 at 15: Elway 11-yard run.

1st and 10 at 26: Elway 22-yard pass to Steve Sewell.

1st and 10 at 48: Elway 12-yard pass to Steve Watson.

1st and 10 at Cleveland 40: Elway incomplete pass.

2nd and 10 at 40: Elway sacked for 8-yard loss by Dave Puzzuoli.

3rd and 18 at 48: Elway 20-yard pass to Mark Jackson.

1st and 10 at 28: Elway incomplete pass.

2nd and 10 at 28: Elway 14-yard pass to Sewell.