September 12, 2023 • 39 mins
After a decent college career at the University of Wisconsin, Ron Egloff didn’t hear his name on draft day in 1977. Two teams reached out with invitations to try out in their camps: the Falcons and the Broncos. The tight end wasn’t fond of the heat, so he chose Denver where he had to fight for a roster spot with 7 other tight ends. He won.
Not only did Ron make the Broncos roster in 1977, he went to their first Super Bowl that year. The Broncos got behind early in that game and Ron couldn’t make the impact he was hoping. But he was just a rookie and he thought getting to the Super Bowl was easy. He never made it back.
Ron did make an impact with the Broncos for several years, until Dan Reeves cut him out of the blue. He was shocked but signed nearly immediately with the Chargers where he spent another season as his career was winding down.
In retirement, Ron invested in and helped run the iconic Jackson’s Hole in Lakewood, Colorado for two decades. He also lent his name and marketing savvy to a couple of companies and continues to stay involved in the community as a board member of the Denver Broncos Alumni Association.
Hosted by Susie Wargin
Not only did Ron make the Broncos roster in 1977, he went to their first Super Bowl that year. The Broncos got behind early in that game and Ron couldn’t make the impact he was hoping. But he was just a rookie and he thought getting to the Super Bowl was easy. He never made it back.
Ron did make an impact with the Broncos for several years, until Dan Reeves cut him out of the blue. He was shocked but signed nearly immediately with the Chargers where he spent another season as his career was winding down.
In retirement, Ron invested in and helped run the iconic Jackson’s Hole in Lakewood, Colorado for two decades. He also lent his name and marketing savvy to a couple of companies and continues to stay involved in the community as a board member of the Denver Broncos Alumni Association.
Hosted by Susie Wargin
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
He couldn't look me in the eye. He looked out the window and he
said, we're just going to goin a different direction. And that's all
he had to say. And Isaid, wow, okay, And I
was just very shocked, very surprisedbecause I wasn't ready for it, even
though coach told me that to beready for something if it comes down.
Welcome to Cut Traded, Fired Retired, a weekly podcast featuring conversations with professional
(00:22):
athletes and coaches who have sat downto tell their stories of setbacks and how
they were able to move forward.I'm your host, Susie Wargin. This
episode's guest is another Blast from mychildhood past. Ron Egloff came to the
Broncos as an undrafted free agent andcompeted with seven other tight ends. In
nineteen seventy seven, he made theteam and went to the bronchos first Super
(00:43):
Bowl that year. He'd stay inOrange and Blue for several more years until
Dan Reeves cut him out of nowhere. Ron would go on to play for
the Chargers and briefly with Washington.After his playing days were over, he
bought into and started up the infamousJackson's Hole in Lakewood and ran a very
successful business for two decades. He'sbeen a friendly face to Broncos fans for
years and continues to stay heavily involvedwith the Bronchos Alumni Association, as well
(01:08):
as his family and lots of travelingladies and gentlemen. Ron Egloff Cut,
Trading, Fired, Reck Tired Podcastswith Susie Wargin ron Egloff, how are
you? I'm great. It's goingto have you in. Yeah, thanks
thanks for having you. Look amazing. You look like you could still play.
I do, Yeah, you do. You should see those guys that
(01:30):
well, you have seen those guys. Have seen those guys. Yeah,
they're a lot bigger and a lotfaster and h but thank you. Try
to get in the gym every morning, and I can tell you know,
you got to stay with it orelse you'll end up part of the chair.
You don't want to do that.You don't want to do that.
No, you were a tight endwith the Broncos back in the heyday of
the Orange Crush and the seventy sevenSuper Bowl, and we're going to kind
(01:53):
of get into that, but Iwant to go back to your beginnings.
You grew up you were born inGarden City, Michigan. That's because Plymouth,
Michigan didn't have a hospital. Okay, So whenever it said where were
you born, well, I wasborn in Garden City because that's where the
hospital was. But Plymouth, Michiganwas my home, okay. And that
in location to Detroit for people thatdon't know Michigan very well, where were
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you? The West Side suburb halfabout halfway on the to ann Arbor,
furthest West suburb out there and whereit's nice and quiet. Not in Detroit.
Not in Detroit, okay, nothingagainst Detroit. No, not in
the city limits. Right when didfootball come into your life? Did you
play a lot of other sports growingup? I know you played football and
basketball in high school, football,basketball, baseball. Baseball was my favorite
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sport. You know, football istakes such a toll on your body,
even at that age, you knowyou're getting banged up. And in basketball,
run run, run, run,run back and forth. You know
a lot of running. And baseballwas awesome because you can stand at first
base and you don't have to goanywhere. So I love baseball. We
had some really good baseball teams whenI was growing up, But football was
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I was gonna if I was goingto have a future in sports, that
it was going to be that sports, right, That's where I focused all
my energy. And you know,my dad played all all sports. I
had three older brothers, They allplayed sports. My oldest brother went to
Yale on a football and baseball grant. He played two sports there. My
second oldest brother played linebacker at ArizonaState. My third oldest brother, he
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was more of a draft dodger kindof guy, and so he was always
against the authority kind of guy.And then I came along and I felt
like I needed to keep up withthe family tradition. And and we grew
up on a street in Plymouth,Michigan, Adams Street, and it was
full of guys that played all thesports and all the way up to my
(03:44):
older brothers, and so it wasjust kind of instilled in you when you
were youngers. You know, youplayed football, and then you play basketball,
and then you play baseball and thengoes right into football the next year,
and that's what you do. Sothat's where I how I grew up.
Aren't those fun memories? I thinkabout the block I grew up on
in Brufield, and it was verysimilar. All the kids at the same
age, and we were always doingsomething. I was the only girl and
(04:04):
they hated it that I showed upevery time, but I was still there
and I wanted to play football.I wanted to play basketball, I wanted
to play baseball. But that's justwhat kids did in those blocks back then.
And maybe it was more of ayou know, neighborhoods were newly built
seventies sixties, and then all thefamilies moved in that we're kind of in
the same place, and it's justI feel like it's really different now and
that doesn't happen as much. Yeah, I agree with you. We were
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never inside. We were always outside, you know, riding our bikes,
playing baseball. Adams Street where Igrew up, as right behind the high
school, so the tennis courts wewere always in. The tennis courts,
were always on the football, youknow, running around, you know,
summertime, we'd make our own baseballfield, and sometimes we played whiffleball and
you know, all those little things. We were always outside, and I
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think our mom had to She eitherrang a bell or blew a whistle or
something when it was time to comein. In ours was the street light.
As soon as the street light wason, you better be home.
The street lights came on, youhad to be home. Yeah, Ed
Wargin was going to get the wrathon. Yes, So football kind of
became your thing. Was it alwaystight end? Did you play defense as
well? Or do you play otherpositions? Good linebacker on defense? In
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fact, when I got to theUniversity of Wisconsin, they as a freshman,
they didn't know whether to put mea tight end or linebacker. And
you know, I went through drills, and I guess as soon as I
caught a few passes and showed himthat I could block halfway decent, then
they said, yeah, we're goingto keep you at tight end. And
pretty interesting growing up, my dadwas an usher at the University of Michigan
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stadium, and so as little kids, my brother that was closest to me,
two years older than me, hewould sneak us into the home games
and we'd go way up to thetop where there was no seats, you
know, the top of the row, and try to sit there and then
we'd get bumped out of there andwe'd move over to somewhere else. But
that's when you could do that.He sack us in and I always wanted
to go to Michigan. But BoSchembeckler was the coach back then, and
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he actually came by my high schooland we were talking and he kind of
made a slip of the tongue wherehe said, you know, we're bringing
in a great freshman class. You'llbe like, you know, the third
tight end we'll bring in. Andhe was just talking about all these people
that are bringing in. I saidto myself, I said, did he
just say third tight end? Idon't I don't want to be the third
tight ends. Elroy Hirsch crazy Legs. Elroy Hirsch was the athletic director at
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Wisconsin at the time. He wasin my living room twice and he said,
you're a Wisconsin guy. You knowyou need to come here because we
run the ball, that's what wedo. And you're gonna learn how to
block, and you're gonna play aton because we run two tight ends all
the time and all we do isrun the ball and give you a chance
to make it to the next level. And I heard that and I said,
that sounds more like what I needto do. Absolutely. So then
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I went to the University of Wisconsin, and what was that experience like?
It was awesome. I learned howto drink beer there. Imagine that,
right, They do that well there, Yeah, they do very well.
And it was a it was agreat experience. We didn't win a ton.
We were five hundred ball except formy sophomore year. It was a
year we were seven and four,and that was a year we beat in
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Nebraska. I caught my first touchdownpass as a sophomore in college. They
were number one in the nation atthe time, I believe, And but
the problem was you had to winthe Big Ten back then to go to
the Rose Bowl. You couldn't goto any other bowl games. So as
it is now, they played fortytwo forty three bowl games. We would
have been assured to be in abowl game at seven and four back then,
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but it wasn't so, so Ididn't get to play in any of
those bowl games. I played ina couple of those postseason Blue Gray Bowl
and All American Bowl and those kindof things. But it was a great
experience. Had a ton of funplaying football for the University of Wisconsin,
and we tried to get back thereonce a year maybe for a little reunion,
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see a game, or it's greatcity by the way, Madison,
Wisconsin. I don't know if you'veever been there. I have not been
to lambeau Field and been around there, but that's the only place in Wisconsin
I've been going to need to goto Madison. Yeah, ideas surrounded by
three lakes and the campuses there instate Capitol right up at the other end
of State Street, and very similarto say the sixteenth Street mall without the
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homeless people. Right, So you'vegot the campus at one end and the
state capitols at the other end.That's cool. Yeah, really nice setting,
beautiful lakes and sailboats out there allthe time, and really had a
wonderful experience at Wisconsin. That's good. So your senior year, then,
Ron, do you figure out,Okay, I probably can make it to
the next level, as you weretold by the athletic director. Well,
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you watched the guys in the prosplay back then, and I'm watching these
tight ends and I'm like, Ican do that. You know. Problem
was my junior year. Right aftermy junior year spring ball, going into
my senior year, I blew outmy left knee, not a good side.
So you know, I was alreadynot the fastest guy in the world
anyway. And then you have surgeryon your left knee, and back then
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they didn't have the surgery like theydo now where they can actually make it
better, right, they actually madeit worse, and so you lose a
half a step. And so Ididn't get drafted, and I didn't get
the phone call until a day laterwhen the bronch was called in the Atlanta
Falcons called. Only two teams calledand said, hey, we want to
bring in as a free agent.And I didn't want to go to Atlanta.
It's hot down there, and Ihad no desire to go there.
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And I'd never been out west,and I said, let me go out
to Denver and see if I cando anything out there. So it was
your first time coming out west.Well, we actually as a sophomore in
at seventy four season, we actuallyplayed University of Colorado. Oh okay,
that year, I think they beatUS twenty eight twenty one and something like
that. It was one of ourfour losses that year. But that was
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my only experience coming out west.But you don't get to see anything,
you know, you fly in playthe game. Oh Yeah, it's a
thirty six hour trip, right,Yeah, you don't really get to visit.
So you come to Denver and thisis nineteen seventy seven. Nineteen seventy
seven, came to training. Minicamp was in May, sat right next
to Rob Lytell, who was asecond round pick that year. He ended
up being my best buddy and wewere roommates for seven years that he was
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here. Where did they have minicamp in seventy seven. Well, they
put us up that old Continental DenverHotel and in fact, the hotel is
still there, and we had minicamp up on fifty eight where the old
double wide trailer was our locker room. And I said, wow, this
just must be the way it is, you know, I didn't think anything
of it. I remember coming inand they had a depth charted and they
had eight tight ends and I wasnumber eight eight. Yeah, they had
(10:20):
eight. Back then we had sixweeks of two days and they were two
days every day, full pads.Yeah, so you needed a lot of
bodies. We had one hundred andtwenty two hundred and thirty guys in camp.
Wow. And so you had tohave depth at every position, especially
receiver position, because you're not onlyrunning a ton but you're you know,
you're blocking and and you lose guys. So I was number eight and I
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said, boy, I got it. You know, a long hill to
climb. And one by one theykept, you know, releasing guys,
and Riley Odams was the other tightend and in me and that was it.
That's crazy. So undrafted free agentin nineteen seventy seven. Then your
rookie season, the Broncos win theAFC Championship and they go to the Super
Bowl at seventy seven was also thebig resurgence with Red Miller here, Craig
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Morton and then the orange crush defensethat had to be going into that team.
What a crazy, amazing experience itprobably was, but also a welcome
to the NFL because you're practicing upagainst that orange crush defense all the time.
Yeah, it allowed me to honein my block and sure because we
had some of the best linebackers inthe league. And it was awesome because
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it was different for me in away because I was a rookie and you
got a lot of guys on theteam that had been there several years,
paving the way for this finally gettingto the Super Bowl. But whereas I
was a happy, go lucky twentyyear old kid. You know, I
didn't turn twenty one until October thatyear, so I was wow, I
was a young kid, and uh, you know, just with men.
(11:46):
Yeah, learning as I went.And I'll never forget the day I finally
made the team. Was Rob Lytleagain, was my roommate, and he
was already on the team because hewas a draft pick, but I wasn't.
So you always wait for that knockon the door, and it never
came. And so I went downto breakfast that morning final cuts, and
I'm looking around. I'm waiting forsomebody to tap me on the shoulder and
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say, oh, by the way, you know, bring your playbook.
Coach wants to see a kind ofthing. Never got that, eat breakfast
and went into the training room toget to take my ankles and get ready
for practice. And the first guywas Bobby Maples. He was an old
center by then, he was probablyhis fourteenth year in the league, and
he said, welcome to the NFL. Kid, you made the team.
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And I said really, I said, that's great. Well, you keep
waiting for that tap on the shoulder. I just and that's all I've heard
guys talk about that about you goto breakfast and you look around, You're
like, where's that coach is goingto come? Give me? He's coming,
you know where Reaper. I literallyhad to do that every every year,
you know, in my situation becauseI wasn't a draft pick, and
so I had to bust my bucket, had to prove yourself every every time.
(12:48):
Yeah, did you have a welcometo the NFL moment ronness? Maybe
that rookie season and especially when youdo walk into that locker room with some
of those names that you mentioned.I mean, Haven's there, you got
up Church there, and some ofthe guys on defense, Randy gretischar who
is is going to go into theHall of Fame? Lyle Alzado's there.
I mean that that was a crazyroster, and I was so focused on
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what I was doing. I reallydidn't think about or worry about all those
other guys. Interested so focused onwhat I had to do every day at
practice to make the team. Andlike I say, one by one they'd
cut a guy and I'd move up, and you know, I'd say,
that's that's good. I'm making myway up this roster and like I said
that last day, I was theonly one left besides Riley. And now,
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shoot, they keep four tight endsnow and back then we only had
two. We only had forty fiveguys on the roster. Six preseason games,
fourteen regular season games, and youonly had forty five guys on the
roster, didn't have a practice squad. Although you have nobody to go to,
right, what they would do istell a certain guys that they cut.
Hey, we're going to put youup in the hotel, right,
stick around, stick around, yeah, because we don't know what's going to
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happen in our host hotel Up bythe practice facility was the Inn at the
Mart on fifty eight and luxury atits finest, right. Yeah, that
double wide trailer though, the wasthe kicker. You really had a double
wide trailer as a locker room.Yeah, still up there on fifty eighth,
and the old folks will remember thatthat have been around for a while,
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a double wide trailer up there,and that was our locker room.
Barely had a weight room down atthe one end. In fact, we
had to tell the story we havea foosball table in there. Well,
get these weights out of the way. So we have more room for our
foosball table in here, you know, so we had something to do between
practices. And then the shower alwayshad about six inches of standing water in
it. Oh, you know,it's just the way it was. Right.
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We had an artificial turf field amongstthe grass fields, but it was
only fifty yards long. Don't gotoo fast, don't run into that wall
down there. What do you thinkron about the tight end position and how
it has morphed through the years fromwhen you played to what it is now.
The biggest thing that stands out isthese athletes that him in to play
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tight end, that we're basketball players. It's evident that they don't know how
to block. Nobody ever taught himhow to block because they never played football.
Right before their sport was basketball.Well, what a perfect sport for
a guy that played basketball to comein and play tight end. You know,
he's going to be tall, he'sgonna be athletic, he can run
like a deer. All you gottado is teach him how to run pass
patterns. Don't worry about teaching himhow to block, because that's what the
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other guy'll do. You know,the other tight end'll learn how to block,
or he'll know how to block.Let's get this guy out in space
and create mismatches. So that's thebiggest thing I see. Back when I
played, it was every team hadtwo tight ends. One was more of
a receiving guy, one was moreof a blocking guy. I was more
of a blocking guy. And soit's really turned into a position where you've
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got to have multiple talent level tobe able to play that position. If
you're going to be the guy that'sgoing to be the receiving tight end.
I mean, you'll watch Travis Kelseywith Kansas City. He's either in motion
he's so elusive, or they splithim out so that he doesn't get held
up at the line of scrimmage.You know, that's all about creating those
mismatches. We didn't do that backthen. When you went to the Super
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Bowl. Then that seventy seven season, so it was nineteen seventy eight when
you were at the Super Bowl.What was that like as a rookie had
to just be mind blowing. It'sunbelievable. We were down in New Orleans
and we were down there for twoweeks and they put us up and I
don't know who made the arrangements,whether the league did it or the team
was responsible to pick the hotel youstayed at. But we were at the
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Sheridan at the airport that had cockroaches, and it was just like your run
of the mill you holiday in downthe street kind of place. Our practice
facility was two Lane Stadium where theywere doing a renovation, so they had
the artificial turf was rolled up atthe end of the one of the fields,
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so you could only about an eightyyard field. Still didn't have a
hundred yard field to practice on.The showers weren't working there, so they
picked us up in yellow school busesand we had to dress, put our
pads and for practice in our hotelroom and then walk down and get on
a bus, walk down, geton yellow school buses, take us at
two Lane Stadium. After practices over, get back on the school bus and
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come back and shower in your hotelroom. Yeah, the Super Bowl was
a little different back then compared towhat it is now. Absolutely a circus
now, we didn't have that.I remember Media Day some of us never
even got interviewed. We just satover on the side and waited until wait
until, oh, it was okay, Well, plus it was the Cowboys.
The Cowboys got all the glory backthen. Well they did you know?
They had Pro Bowl players at everyposition. They were staying at the
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nice Hilton downtown, whereas we wereout at the airport. And I was
always wonder who said I think nowthe NFL does? I believe they have
them set up like years in advancewhen they figure out the city, they
figure out the hotels. But backthen, who knows. Maybe that's why
we were out of They are America'steam, right, God, don't say
that. I know it's one ofthose things. Yes, But anyway,
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Super Bowl, I was supposed toplay a lot. They told me to
go ahead and beef up because you'regonna be doing a lot of block and
we're gonna run ball control. We'regoing to keep the ball out of their
hands. So I got up toabout two fifty two, was going to
do a lot of block and wewere going to run the ball. We
got behind early, so we hadto trash that and try to play catchup.
We started turning the ball over andthat was not good. One thing
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led to another. Yeah, wehung in there as long as we could.
But so after experiencing that your rookieyear. What did you learn from
it? You never got back tothe big game again, never got back.
I thought, in my mind,it's like, once you've been there,
you've got a chance to get thereevery year. Without their defense the
way we next year, we startedgetting injuries and it just wasn't the same.
Craig our quarterback, he was gettingolder, less effective in the passing
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game, and we just couldn't getback there. You played with John four.
That's what shipped me off to SanDiego. So let's talk about that
going to San Diego. What happenswith that story? Well, you know,
Dan Reeves, I don't know whathe was all about. You're not
the only one. I mean.I had a great seventh year in the
(19:00):
league, nineteen eighty three. Iplayed very well. I even remember a
quote in the paper. He said, you know, back then we were
using the h back, which isa guy who goes in motion lone.
I was doing all that stuff.Played very well. I had a good
year. And he said, yeah, Ron is one of our most valuable
offensive players because all the things hecan do. And I played all the
special teams and everything, and thenmy position coach Frank Polsfoot came to me
(19:23):
one day and he said, Ineed to talk to you, and I
said, what's up? And hesays, well, there's some funny things
being said in the meetings that hesaid, you just better be ready for
something that goes down, and Isaid, oh, and sure enough,
he cut me. You know,about a week later Kellen Winslow, who
was a tight ending in San Diego, Yes here, Yeah, he blew
his knee out and he ran threetight ends all the time, and so
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they needed another tight end, sothey picked me up right away. And
so you were cut from the Broncos. They didn't trade you right cut from
the Broncos. Did Dan talk toyou? What's the story there? Call
me? And he couldn't look mein the eye. He looked out the
window and he said, we're justgoing to go in a differ direction.
And that's all I had to say. And I said, wow, okay.
And I was just very shocked,very surprised because I wasn't ready for
(20:07):
it, even though coach told methat to be ready for something if it
comes down, in your mind,you just never think that it's not time
yet. I'm not screwing up badenough, right, I'm playing pretty well.
I'm at Yeah. So I playeda year out in San Diego and
and what was that like going toa different franchise and the realization it was
weird playing against him for seven yearstwice a year and not liking them because
(20:30):
they're your adversary twice a year.But I made the most of it.
Julie and I went out there.We rented a little beach house and just
tried to have fun with it.I ended up starting four games, and
I had a little incentive clause inmy contract. If you start four games
or more, you get twenty fivethousand dollars. Ooh, that's big money.
Back then it's still big money,but back then it's really big money.
(20:52):
Yeah. So I made that becauseother guys started getting hurt there and
I end up starting four games,and wow, I had a good time.
Dan Fouts was the quarterback and theytook me in. I'll never forget.
Dan Fouts was the first quarterback Iever saw that was allowed to drink
beer in the locker room. Inthe locker room, in the locker room
after practices, they would have thebig ice pack on his throwing arm,
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and that one of the trainers wouldcome over with a little pail, a
little bucket, and he'd have likea six beers ice down and just like
a get in the bar a littlebucket and set it in front of his
locker. And so he's got themedia all over there, and he's got
his shoulder ice down, and allthe media comes over to him after every
practice, and you know, hepops a beer and he takes a drink
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and sets it off to the sideand while he's talking to the media,
talking to the media. First timeI ever saw that, and I said,
Wow, this guy's got some cloutfor sure. So I knew I
was in with San Diego. Theone after the one practice, when all
the media finally left and he hadtwo beers left, he looked over at
me and he says, hey,Hey, do you want a beer?
I looked over, I said,I have a beer with you with Dan
(21:56):
Fouts in locker room. That wasawesome, but it was a It was
a fun experience. The practices werenowhere near demanding compared to what Dan Reeves
ran here, so I felt likeit was a lot more fun. We
didn't have very good team. Itwas all offense, oriented, throw the
ball all over the field. Theoffense was so easy to learn, and
the defense was we weren't very good. Who was your coach in San Diego?
(22:18):
It was Don Corriell. Okay hereCorriell. So yeah, he was
one of the first ones to takethat West Coast offense. The similar to
a Bill Walsh up at San Francisco, where they just throw the ball all
over and you know, get theball in the guy in space and create
the mismatches and short passes and lethim run kind of thing. I really
enjoyed it. But after that thenCoryell called a bunch of us old guys
(22:41):
and said, hey, we're goingto start all over with our roster,
so we're just gonna let all youold guys go, which was fine because
I was already working on the restaurant. Okay, so you were ready to
go. So while it sucked gettingcut from the Broncos, it gave you
the opportunity to check out something totallydifferent. Are you glad you had that
experience with San Diego? Absolutely?Yeah, got an extra year in.
I made some good money back then. Comparatively speaking. The one thing I
(23:04):
did when I was with the Broncowas. You know, we didn't make
much money, so and I knewthat as soon as football is over,
I gotta go to work because I'mgonna have to support my family. And
uh, you know, I madetwenty five thousand my first year. That
was my salary. When did youguys start having kids? Right there at
the year first one? Okay,In fact, we brought the baby dating
(23:25):
out to San Diego with us.Okay, But anyway, every offseason I
went to work with somebody and triedto learn a job. So one year,
one year I went with an insuranceguy. One year I went with
a realtor. One year I workedin a bank. I was actually a
bank teller, you know. Oneyear I went down to work the oil
field in Oklahoma where my wife isfrom. Her brother in law had a
(23:47):
pipe company, and so I wentto work with him one offseason, and
you know, I kind of seewhat I wanted to do, see what
I liked, see what I didn'tlike. Right toward my final year,
one of the guys from the oldJackson's Hole, John came up to me
and he says, you know,you'd be a natural in this business.
I said, yeah, I neverreally thought about it, and he says,
you ought to give it a try, and so I said, well,
(24:07):
set me up. So I tooktwo weeks in the kitchen flip burgers,
you know, learn how the kitchenoperated, then in two weeks with
a waitress waiting tables, and thenas soon as I got behind the bar,
I knew that's what I wanted todo. Really. Yeah, it's
like you're on stage and oh yeah, you're performing and being a bartender's fun.
Oh yeah, ninety nine percent ofthe people that are in there there
(24:29):
they have fun as well. SoI said, you know, this is
what I want to do. Sothat's what I did, as I sunk
my money that I had into thepartnership at Jackson's and we opened up the
place at six in Kipling in eightysix, and that was a great place.
I missed Jackson's Hole. I missedthe food, I missed the atmosphere,
I missed everything about that. Wewere one of the first sports bars
(24:49):
way back then that in fact,we were one of the first ones.
I had a big screen TV.Is that one of those whole things that
screen and the pictures all blurry?But it was huge. Yeah, but
it was huge. Yeah, sowe were. It was us Zangs and
Bull and Bush. There were threesports bars back then, and Zangs too.
So many good ones that are Bulland Bush are still around. But
(25:11):
Jackson's is the only location that webuilt when I was there. Is the
one across the street from Course Feedsright, the one downtown. Yeah,
that's still there, but it's ownedby people in Chicago that owned the building,
and it's not the same. Infact, I went in there one
time and there's a Pittsburgh Steelers muralon the wall, and I asked the
bar train and said, what theheck is that? He says, Well,
the general manager is a big Steelersfan. That's it. I haven't
(25:33):
been in there since. Oh that'shorrible. I know that's not good at
all. So when you were donewith when you got released from San Diego,
basically, were you having injuries oranything like that, or did you
just kind of know that I'm justdone, I'm ready to move on.
I was done eight years, andI figured I'd already been cut now by
two teams. I was approaching theold age of thirty at that point,
which is ancient in NFL. Yeah, and so I figured let me go
(25:56):
to work on this restaurant gig,and that's what I was doing. I
had a day off. We werebuilding the Lakewood location and getting that all
finalized to get that open. It'sAugust of nineteen eighty five and I'm in
the backyard with our little kiddie pooland one kid that we had. Dayton
phone rings. Julie answers it.She says it's for you, and I
said, who is it. Shegoes as somebody from the Washington Redskins.
(26:17):
I don't know, said, WashingtonRedskins. Why are they calling me?
So I get on there. It'sCharlie Casserley, who at the time was
a general manager of the Redskins.He didn't even ask me if I'd been
working out or if I was stillready to go. He said, here's
our situations. We got eight tightends in camp. Seven of them are
hurt. We need a body.And I said, I'm kind of working
on this restaurant deal. And hesays, well, i'll make it worth
(26:37):
you while. We'll give you fivegrand to come out. So I said
five grand just to come out,and I said wow. So we talked
it over and I went out,and the reason they asked me to come
out because Joe Gibbs, who wasthe coach, he was a coach under
Don Corriel in Santia at San DiegoState in college and all that, and
they ran very similar offensive you're learningcurve was exactly. So I was able
(27:00):
to get to Washington and jump intopractice and I knew it already knew the
plays a little different terminology. ButJoe, thisman was the quarterback then,
and he helped me. He says, hey, you know it's this play
where you do this, And Isay, oh, yeah, I got
it. You know. So Iwas there four weeks and I broke my
hand in a blocking drill and itblew up and I couldn't practice anymore.
(27:22):
So Joe Gibbs, the great guythat he was, he came to me.
He says, oh, man,that's unfortunate. Fortunately for us,
are some of our other tight endsare getting healthy, he says, so
it's probably not going to work out. I said, okay, I totally
understand. I'm there with my hand. I said, so what should I
do? Injured reserves four weeks?So he said, take these next four
weeks. Come in, get yourhand, ice down, whatever you got
(27:42):
to do rehab, whatever, liftsome weights, do the treadmill, have
lunch, and you can go home. So I did that for four weeks,
and I stayed with a buddy ofmine that lived out there and he
had a motor home. He hadan RV part next to his house,
and that's where I stayed. Sohe got paid for those four weeks.
I paid for four weeks. Hesays, how about we just give you
half your salary and you can gohome. I said, aweska, you
(28:03):
got a deal. So I wenthome and immediately jumped right into the restaurant
business. We opened up Jackson's ineighty six, and you had a little
more cash to help with it.Yeah that's great. Yeah, that's awesome.
So everything worked out. Oh that'sso funny. So you had quarterbacks,
I mean Craig Morton, John Elway, Dan Fouts. That's pretty good.
And Steve DeBerg in between Morton andElway. Oh yeah, that's right.
(28:25):
Steve DeBerg was one of my goodbuddies. Oh yeah, Steve was
great. Played a long time.I think we played seventeen years he played.
He played a very long time,good man, really long time.
Okay, so you do what twentysome years. Then with Jackson's. Is
that how long you were exactly years? Okay, eighty four to ozh four
was my run with it, andwe had a good run. We did
very well our Lakewood store, Iproudly say, we did really well.
(28:49):
Problem was we had some other storiesthat weren't doing well at all. So
my partners wanted to keep taking moneyfrom the Lakewood store to help out these
other stores. I said, waita minute. You know, I got
a parking lot that's got holes init. I need new TVs. I
had sixty two TVs out there,TV's on the patio, right, but
they were those big, old heavybox TVs. I had a big,
(29:11):
huge back. They weighed like,you know, one hundred pounds, right,
And I said, I need newTVs. And they said, well,
you know, we got these otherstores we got to help out.
Anyway, long story short twenty years. I was just approaching fifty years old,
and I said, you know what, I think it's time to get
out. Restaurant business is a youngman's game, you know. Yeah,
and you got to be on theball or it will aid you quickly if
(29:33):
you stay in it. Yeah,And we did very well for twenty years,
but I could see what was coming. All the chains were starting to
move in and I said, youknow what, our piece of the pie
was shrinking as far as our revenues, and I said, I think it's
time to get out. So partof this podcast is the theme of reinventions.
So then, what do you doyou're fifty, Well, I'm fifty
years old. But I felt likewith all the people, all the connections
(29:56):
I've made all these years, Imean, there's something I can do.
And I wanted to, you know, retire as soon as I could.
And I actually tried that a coupleof times, but I was too young
and too much energy, and tooI had to do something every day.
So I was going to take ayear off. And about six months into
that year, I had a realtorfriend of mine came to me and said,
Hey, there's this guy that openedup this mortgage company. But he
(30:18):
doesn't speak very good English. Sohe needs a face, he needs a
front man. He needs somebody canrecruit loan officers and talk to people and
do commercials and that kind of thing. He asked if I would be interested
in that. I said, well, and we worked out an agreement.
I said i'll give you a yearcommitment. After a year, we'll see
what happened. Well, I waswith him for twenty years, so that
worked out. So we also hada mortgage company, and then we also
(30:41):
opened up a home healthcare agency.So what I did was I handled the
marketing for both companies. And itkept me busy, kept me in the
pulse of the community and what's goingon and going to events and meeting and
greeting people. And you have othergood people on the backside that can do
all the behind Its perfect roun.Yeah, so it really worked out.
And then you know, I turnedsixty five, I decided, you know
(31:03):
what, maybe it's time to startlooking at really retiring. Yeah. And
I couldn't because you still have toyou have a ton of energy. Oh.
I felt like I had to dosomething every day. I had to
be somewhere, I had to havea purpose, you know. I was
talking to one of my buddies whowas retired. He says, well,
you know, mentally, you'll knowwhen it's time, And I said,
okay, Well, apparently for me, it's not time. You're not there
(31:25):
yet. So I waited till Iwas sixty six, and then at that
point. You know, I'm onMedicare now, I got Social Security coming
in, got my NFL pension comingin. Just so happens that the home
healthcare industry got bought out by VisitingNurses, and Visiting Nurses Association bought us
out. And they asked me ifI wanted to stay on as the marketer,
but I would have to wear acoat and tie every day. And
(31:45):
I said, oh, I can'tdo it. I can't do it.
I'm done because I didn't want tostart all over with the company that get
to know everybody, didn't know everybody, and go into an office every day
and you know where the coat andtie kind of thing. And I said,
nah, this is it's time.So did you reach retire? You're
so, you're officially retired now,and what do you think? You love
it? You got grandkids and everything? Three grandkids? Are they all here?
(32:07):
No? Actually, my oldest son, Dayton, he lives here in
Denver, not married, doesn't haveany kids. My middle son Adam and
his wife Catherine, they live overin Montrose and we own a Jimmy John's
over there. So you're not totallyretired, Well, yes I am,
but you own a Jimmy Johns.Well, I don't work it, okay.
We helped him with the franchise,secured the SBA loan and were okay,
(32:32):
silent owners and they've run the storeover there. We're number two Jimmy
John's in the state of Colorado inMontrose. In Montrose, it's right on
the main drag between the airport andtell you ride. We get a ton
of traffic there. The only othersandwich shop in town is a subway which
is right across the street. Andwe have the Jimmy Johns. We've built
a brand new building right on thecorner there, right across the street from
(32:54):
the high school. We have adrive through window, we have the delivery,
and we're number two in the state. Glenwood spring is number one,
by the way, So Glenwood Springs, Jamie Johns, we're coming for you
and our kids. They do agreat job. Adam and Katherine run the
stay. That's awesome. Then myyoungest son, Elliott and his wife they
live in Edmund, Oklahoma. Greatand they've got a grand or. In
(33:14):
fact, we just got back theother day. She just turned one.
All fun so she's one. Andthen Adam and Katherine and Mantros have a
four year old and a one yearold. Oh, so you're having a
great time just being what do theycall you? Are you grandpa? Or
I'm Papa in Montrose and I'm Grandpain Oklahoma. And Julie is two two
two too? How'd she get thatPolynesian? I think? Okay, but
(33:35):
she's not polynes She just liked tootoo. She decided that it's easy for
a kid to say, yeah,no kidding, all right, A couple
more questions for you, Ron.I saw that you were doing some work
with Boston University and their CTE studiesthat they're doing, and you are all
in and willing enable, and you'vegone there to do some of the initial
studies and then you're ready to makesome donations. Once down the road,
(34:00):
you are no longer with us,So explain a little bit about what you're
doing at BU and hopefully how ithelps future generations of football players, YEA
and athletes and along with this theconcussion awareness that has come about in football
and other sports now. As amatter of fact, doctor stern Over at
Boston University Medical he wanted to doa case study and he sent out a
(34:22):
mass email to all of former players, and there was several folks that answered
back, and I said, sure, I would love to participate in that.
You know, what does it entail. Well, you know, we'll
bring in for two, three,four days and we'll put you through the
ring or do every kind of studywe can, you know, memory testing,
MRI's lumbar puncture, you know,everything to try to and then that
(34:45):
goes into a bank where they dothe study comparatively to normal people that haven't
played any sports. So that's whatthey're trying to do, and in that
they're trying to come up with whyis this happening in players and see if
they can prevent it from happening orat least slow it down. So I
jumped on that not only because Iwanted to see where I was, absolutely
(35:07):
because they do that study and they'regoing to let you know if you're failing
or sup. Yeah, so Iwanted to do it for that, but
also for the generations that come afterme. And you know, who knows
if I if I had grand kidsthat would want to play football. I
mean hopefully now there's so much safergame when they would get to that point.
So that's what I did and theybring you back there every three or
(35:28):
four years, I think it is, and they compare your study from this
year to what it was three yearsago to see if you're getting worse or
staying the same or so I jumpedon that for both those reasons. That's
great. Do you see a numberof your teammates, and I've talked to
a lot of them to the effectsof the concussions and whatnot have affected them
as they've gotten older in life.Yeah, we're all very aware of that.
(35:51):
Yeah, in fact, we evenkid each other. Yeah, hey,
let me know if I if Istart repeating myself, let me know.
You know. Unfortunately, we dohave a couple of guys that have
passed. We've actually had some guysthat are that really need some help.
And the NFL is there too.They've started to create some programs in that
regard to help folks. They've gotthe eighty eight program, which is for
(36:14):
dementia. They've got an Alzheimer's programthat folks can get in they need help.
So, you know, it's along time coming, but we finally
have some programs in place. Andwhat I try to do is stay as
active as I can every day I'malways doing crossword puzzles and you know,
word games on my phone. Thatis so important, Always trying to do
that kind of stuff. Julie andI travel a ton, so I'm the
(36:36):
travel agent, so I'm always onthe phone with travel people. We go
everywhere. We're trying to see theworld because there's going to come that day
where I can't get out of thechair. Take advantage of all you can
do, and we're traveling while wecan. Absolutely, And speaking of former
teammates, you're still very involved withthe Broncho Alumni Association. You do a
lot of things still around town.You're at the boy Scout Association breakfast that
(36:57):
I was at, and the Broncosnow with new ownership, groups seem like
they're really starting to reach out moreand get more of the alumni involved.
What do you do with the alumnigroup. I'm on the board. I'm
an officer with the Denver Broncos AlumniAssociation and I co chair our biggest fundraiser
of the year, which is ourgolf tournament. Yeah, we just had
our sixteenth annual golf tournament. Wedo a really good job with that.
(37:21):
It's a lot of fun and weraise a ton of money for kids programs
that we rate that we have inplace. So happy to do that every
year and stay in and you getto see all your guys, see all
my buddies, and keep in theloop and keep everybody you know, Hey,
how things going with you? How'syour family? You know? Do
you check in with guys? That'ssomething that I think is so important.
That's something that we've talked about inour meetings. Is if you haven't seen
(37:44):
a guy in a while, orif you haven't heard from a guy,
or he's not answering the phone,or he's not you know, his emails
are coming back or whatever, let'sdo wellness checks. Let's call guys and
so yes, we have started it. Oh that's great. Good, all
right, Last question, Ron,As you look back through your career and
you've had some ups and downs andtrials and tribulations, whether it be in
sports or the restaurant industry or anythingelse you've done, what would be your
(38:07):
advice to tell people, maybe whatyou've told your kids or what you'll tell
your grandkids as far as when arethere are those times of doubt and negativity?
How do you get back up andkeep moving? Forward. You've reinvented
yourself so many times. Well,I've I've always been one that is more
of a blue collar worker kind ofguy. Yeah, you know, a
good soldier always be. You werekidding me about being on time or being
(38:29):
early. I'm an early guy.Every time we have a meeting, I'm
always early. In fact, peopletry to beat me to the meeting.
I've always told my kids, youknow, if you work hard, good
things will happen. May not bea direct result, but if you look
at it down the line like Ido. You know, I got cut
by the Broncos. That was Atthe time it was it seemed devastating,
(38:51):
but as it turns out, itwas fine, you know, So just
keep working hard and good things willhappen. And I see that at all
my kids what they're doing, andthat's one of the things I try to
instill with people. Ron. Thishas been awesome. It has been difficult
to get you because you travel somuch, so I'm glad we've finally got
together. Yeah. Absolutely, thanksfor having me. Absolutely appreciate it.
So good to catch up with Ron. Thanks Ron. New episodes of Cut,
(39:15):
Traded, Fired, Retired come outevery Tuesday on nearly every podcast platform.
Please follow, download, and reviewthis podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.
You can get social and find outabout new episodes on Twitter and Instagram
at CTFR podcast and check out thewebsite CTFR podcast dot com. To find
out more about me, visit Susiewargindot com. Thank you again for listening,
(39:37):
and until next time, please becareful, be safe, and be
kind. Take care
He couldn't look me in the eye. He looked out the window and he
said, we're just going to goin a different direction. And that's all
he had to say. And Isaid, wow, okay, And I
was just very shocked, very surprisedbecause I wasn't ready for it, even
though coach told me that to beready for something if it comes down.
Welcome to Cut Traded, Fired Retired, a weekly podcast featuring conversations with professional
(00:22):
athletes and coaches who have sat downto tell their stories of setbacks and how
they were able to move forward.I'm your host, Susie Wargin. This
episode's guest is another Blast from mychildhood past. Ron Egloff came to the
Broncos as an undrafted free agent andcompeted with seven other tight ends. In
nineteen seventy seven, he made theteam and went to the bronchos first Super
(00:43):
Bowl that year. He'd stay inOrange and Blue for several more years until
Dan Reeves cut him out of nowhere. Ron would go on to play for
the Chargers and briefly with Washington.After his playing days were over, he
bought into and started up the infamousJackson's Hole in Lakewood and ran a very
successful business for two decades. He'sbeen a friendly face to Broncos fans for
years and continues to stay heavily involvedwith the Bronchos Alumni Association, as well
(01:08):
as his family and lots of travelingladies and gentlemen. Ron Egloff Cut,
Trading, Fired, Reck Tired Podcastswith Susie Wargin ron Egloff, how are
you? I'm great. It's goingto have you in. Yeah, thanks
thanks for having you. Look amazing. You look like you could still play.
I do, Yeah, you do. You should see those guys that
(01:30):
well, you have seen those guys. Have seen those guys. Yeah,
they're a lot bigger and a lotfaster and h but thank you. Try
to get in the gym every morning, and I can tell you know,
you got to stay with it orelse you'll end up part of the chair.
You don't want to do that.You don't want to do that.
No, you were a tight endwith the Broncos back in the heyday of
the Orange Crush and the seventy sevenSuper Bowl, and we're going to kind
(01:53):
of get into that, but Iwant to go back to your beginnings.
You grew up you were born inGarden City, Michigan. That's because Plymouth,
Michigan didn't have a hospital. Okay, So whenever it said where were
you born, well, I wasborn in Garden City because that's where the
hospital was. But Plymouth, Michiganwas my home, okay. And that
in location to Detroit for people thatdon't know Michigan very well, where were
(02:13):
you? The West Side suburb halfabout halfway on the to ann Arbor,
furthest West suburb out there and whereit's nice and quiet. Not in Detroit.
Not in Detroit, okay, nothingagainst Detroit. No, not in
the city limits. Right when didfootball come into your life? Did you
play a lot of other sports growingup? I know you played football and
basketball in high school, football,basketball, baseball. Baseball was my favorite
(02:37):
sport. You know, football istakes such a toll on your body,
even at that age, you knowyou're getting banged up. And in basketball,
run run, run, run,run back and forth. You know
a lot of running. And baseballwas awesome because you can stand at first
base and you don't have to goanywhere. So I love baseball. We
had some really good baseball teams whenI was growing up, But football was
(03:00):
I was gonna if I was goingto have a future in sports, that
it was going to be that sports, right, That's where I focused all
my energy. And you know,my dad played all all sports. I
had three older brothers, They allplayed sports. My oldest brother went to
Yale on a football and baseball grant. He played two sports there. My
second oldest brother played linebacker at ArizonaState. My third oldest brother, he
(03:24):
was more of a draft dodger kindof guy, and so he was always
against the authority kind of guy.And then I came along and I felt
like I needed to keep up withthe family tradition. And and we grew
up on a street in Plymouth,Michigan, Adams Street, and it was
full of guys that played all thesports and all the way up to my
(03:44):
older brothers, and so it wasjust kind of instilled in you when you
were youngers. You know, youplayed football, and then you play basketball,
and then you play baseball and thengoes right into football the next year,
and that's what you do. Sothat's where I how I grew up.
Aren't those fun memories? I thinkabout the block I grew up on
in Brufield, and it was verysimilar. All the kids at the same
age, and we were always doingsomething. I was the only girl and
(04:04):
they hated it that I showed upevery time, but I was still there
and I wanted to play football.I wanted to play basketball, I wanted
to play baseball. But that's justwhat kids did in those blocks back then.
And maybe it was more of ayou know, neighborhoods were newly built
seventies sixties, and then all thefamilies moved in that we're kind of in
the same place, and it's justI feel like it's really different now and
that doesn't happen as much. Yeah, I agree with you. We were
(04:27):
never inside. We were always outside, you know, riding our bikes,
playing baseball. Adams Street where Igrew up, as right behind the high
school, so the tennis courts wewere always in. The tennis courts,
were always on the football, youknow, running around, you know,
summertime, we'd make our own baseballfield, and sometimes we played whiffleball and
you know, all those little things. We were always outside, and I
(04:47):
think our mom had to She eitherrang a bell or blew a whistle or
something when it was time to comein. In ours was the street light.
As soon as the street light wason, you better be home.
The street lights came on, youhad to be home. Yeah, Ed
Wargin was going to get the wrathon. Yes, So football kind of
became your thing. Was it alwaystight end? Did you play defense as
well? Or do you play otherpositions? Good linebacker on defense? In
(05:10):
fact, when I got to theUniversity of Wisconsin, they as a freshman,
they didn't know whether to put mea tight end or linebacker. And
you know, I went through drills, and I guess as soon as I
caught a few passes and showed himthat I could block halfway decent, then
they said, yeah, we're goingto keep you at tight end. And
pretty interesting growing up, my dadwas an usher at the University of Michigan
(05:32):
stadium, and so as little kids, my brother that was closest to me,
two years older than me, hewould sneak us into the home games
and we'd go way up to thetop where there was no seats, you
know, the top of the row, and try to sit there and then
we'd get bumped out of there andwe'd move over to somewhere else. But
that's when you could do that.He sack us in and I always wanted
to go to Michigan. But BoSchembeckler was the coach back then, and
(05:56):
he actually came by my high schooland we were talking and he kind of
made a slip of the tongue wherehe said, you know, we're bringing
in a great freshman class. You'llbe like, you know, the third
tight end we'll bring in. Andhe was just talking about all these people
that are bringing in. I saidto myself, I said, did he
just say third tight end? Idon't I don't want to be the third
tight ends. Elroy Hirsch crazy Legs. Elroy Hirsch was the athletic director at
(06:17):
Wisconsin at the time. He wasin my living room twice and he said,
you're a Wisconsin guy. You knowyou need to come here because we
run the ball, that's what wedo. And you're gonna learn how to
block, and you're gonna play aton because we run two tight ends all
the time and all we do isrun the ball and give you a chance
to make it to the next level. And I heard that and I said,
that sounds more like what I needto do. Absolutely. So then
(06:41):
I went to the University of Wisconsin, and what was that experience like?
It was awesome. I learned howto drink beer there. Imagine that,
right, They do that well there, Yeah, they do very well.
And it was a it was agreat experience. We didn't win a ton.
We were five hundred ball except formy sophomore year. It was a
year we were seven and four,and that was a year we beat in
(07:02):
Nebraska. I caught my first touchdownpass as a sophomore in college. They
were number one in the nation atthe time, I believe, And but
the problem was you had to winthe Big Ten back then to go to
the Rose Bowl. You couldn't goto any other bowl games. So as
it is now, they played fortytwo forty three bowl games. We would
have been assured to be in abowl game at seven and four back then,
(07:24):
but it wasn't so, so Ididn't get to play in any of
those bowl games. I played ina couple of those postseason Blue Gray Bowl
and All American Bowl and those kindof things. But it was a great
experience. Had a ton of funplaying football for the University of Wisconsin,
and we tried to get back thereonce a year maybe for a little reunion,
(07:45):
see a game, or it's greatcity by the way, Madison,
Wisconsin. I don't know if you'veever been there. I have not been
to lambeau Field and been around there, but that's the only place in Wisconsin
I've been going to need to goto Madison. Yeah, ideas surrounded by
three lakes and the campuses there instate Capitol right up at the other end
of State Street, and very similarto say the sixteenth Street mall without the
(08:05):
homeless people. Right, So you'vegot the campus at one end and the
state capitols at the other end.That's cool. Yeah, really nice setting,
beautiful lakes and sailboats out there allthe time, and really had a
wonderful experience at Wisconsin. That's good. So your senior year, then,
Ron, do you figure out,Okay, I probably can make it to
the next level, as you weretold by the athletic director. Well,
(08:28):
you watched the guys in the prosplay back then, and I'm watching these
tight ends and I'm like, Ican do that. You know. Problem
was my junior year. Right aftermy junior year spring ball, going into
my senior year, I blew outmy left knee, not a good side.
So you know, I was alreadynot the fastest guy in the world
anyway. And then you have surgeryon your left knee, and back then
(08:50):
they didn't have the surgery like theydo now where they can actually make it
better, right, they actually madeit worse, and so you lose a
half a step. And so Ididn't get drafted, and I didn't get
the phone call until a day laterwhen the bronch was called in the Atlanta
Falcons called. Only two teams calledand said, hey, we want to
bring in as a free agent.And I didn't want to go to Atlanta.
It's hot down there, and Ihad no desire to go there.
(09:11):
And I'd never been out west,and I said, let me go out
to Denver and see if I cando anything out there. So it was
your first time coming out west.Well, we actually as a sophomore in
at seventy four season, we actuallyplayed University of Colorado. Oh okay,
that year, I think they beatUS twenty eight twenty one and something like
that. It was one of ourfour losses that year. But that was
(09:33):
my only experience coming out west.But you don't get to see anything,
you know, you fly in playthe game. Oh Yeah, it's a
thirty six hour trip, right,Yeah, you don't really get to visit.
So you come to Denver and thisis nineteen seventy seven. Nineteen seventy
seven, came to training. Minicamp was in May, sat right next
to Rob Lytell, who was asecond round pick that year. He ended
up being my best buddy and wewere roommates for seven years that he was
(09:56):
here. Where did they have minicamp in seventy seven. Well, they
put us up that old Continental DenverHotel and in fact, the hotel is
still there, and we had minicamp up on fifty eight where the old
double wide trailer was our locker room. And I said, wow, this
just must be the way it is, you know, I didn't think anything
of it. I remember coming inand they had a depth charted and they
had eight tight ends and I wasnumber eight eight. Yeah, they had
(10:20):
eight. Back then we had sixweeks of two days and they were two
days every day, full pads.Yeah, so you needed a lot of
bodies. We had one hundred andtwenty two hundred and thirty guys in camp.
Wow. And so you had tohave depth at every position, especially
receiver position, because you're not onlyrunning a ton but you're you know,
you're blocking and and you lose guys. So I was number eight and I
(10:41):
said, boy, I got it. You know, a long hill to
climb. And one by one theykept, you know, releasing guys,
and Riley Odams was the other tightend and in me and that was it.
That's crazy. So undrafted free agentin nineteen seventy seven. Then your
rookie season, the Broncos win theAFC Championship and they go to the Super
Bowl at seventy seven was also thebig resurgence with Red Miller here, Craig
(11:05):
Morton and then the orange crush defensethat had to be going into that team.
What a crazy, amazing experience itprobably was, but also a welcome
to the NFL because you're practicing upagainst that orange crush defense all the time.
Yeah, it allowed me to honein my block and sure because we
had some of the best linebackers inthe league. And it was awesome because
(11:26):
it was different for me in away because I was a rookie and you
got a lot of guys on theteam that had been there several years,
paving the way for this finally gettingto the Super Bowl. But whereas I
was a happy, go lucky twentyyear old kid. You know, I
didn't turn twenty one until October thatyear, so I was wow, I
was a young kid, and uh, you know, just with men.
(11:46):
Yeah, learning as I went.And I'll never forget the day I finally
made the team. Was Rob Lytleagain, was my roommate, and he
was already on the team because hewas a draft pick, but I wasn't.
So you always wait for that knockon the door, and it never
came. And so I went downto breakfast that morning final cuts, and
I'm looking around. I'm waiting forsomebody to tap me on the shoulder and
(12:07):
say, oh, by the way, you know, bring your playbook.
Coach wants to see a kind ofthing. Never got that, eat breakfast
and went into the training room toget to take my ankles and get ready
for practice. And the first guywas Bobby Maples. He was an old
center by then, he was probablyhis fourteenth year in the league, and
he said, welcome to the NFL. Kid, you made the team.
(12:28):
And I said really, I said, that's great. Well, you keep
waiting for that tap on the shoulder. I just and that's all I've heard
guys talk about that about you goto breakfast and you look around, You're
like, where's that coach is goingto come? Give me? He's coming,
you know where Reaper. I literallyhad to do that every every year,
you know, in my situation becauseI wasn't a draft pick, and
so I had to bust my bucket, had to prove yourself every every time.
(12:48):
Yeah, did you have a welcometo the NFL moment ronness? Maybe
that rookie season and especially when youdo walk into that locker room with some
of those names that you mentioned.I mean, Haven's there, you got
up Church there, and some ofthe guys on defense, Randy gretischar who
is is going to go into theHall of Fame? Lyle Alzado's there.
I mean that that was a crazyroster, and I was so focused on
(13:11):
what I was doing. I reallydidn't think about or worry about all those
other guys. Interested so focused onwhat I had to do every day at
practice to make the team. Andlike I say, one by one they'd
cut a guy and I'd move up, and you know, I'd say,
that's that's good. I'm making myway up this roster and like I said
that last day, I was theonly one left besides Riley. And now,
(13:35):
shoot, they keep four tight endsnow and back then we only had
two. We only had forty fiveguys on the roster. Six preseason games,
fourteen regular season games, and youonly had forty five guys on the
roster, didn't have a practice squad. Although you have nobody to go to,
right, what they would do istell a certain guys that they cut.
Hey, we're going to put youup in the hotel, right,
stick around, stick around, yeah, because we don't know what's going to
(13:58):
happen in our host hotel Up bythe practice facility was the Inn at the
Mart on fifty eight and luxury atits finest, right. Yeah, that
double wide trailer though, the wasthe kicker. You really had a double
wide trailer as a locker room.Yeah, still up there on fifty eighth,
and the old folks will remember thatthat have been around for a while,
(14:18):
a double wide trailer up there,and that was our locker room.
Barely had a weight room down atthe one end. In fact, we
had to tell the story we havea foosball table in there. Well,
get these weights out of the way. So we have more room for our
foosball table in here, you know, so we had something to do between
practices. And then the shower alwayshad about six inches of standing water in
it. Oh, you know,it's just the way it was. Right.
(14:39):
We had an artificial turf field amongstthe grass fields, but it was
only fifty yards long. Don't gotoo fast, don't run into that wall
down there. What do you thinkron about the tight end position and how
it has morphed through the years fromwhen you played to what it is now.
The biggest thing that stands out isthese athletes that him in to play
(15:01):
tight end, that we're basketball players. It's evident that they don't know how
to block. Nobody ever taught himhow to block because they never played football.
Right before their sport was basketball.Well, what a perfect sport for
a guy that played basketball to comein and play tight end. You know,
he's going to be tall, he'sgonna be athletic, he can run
like a deer. All you gottado is teach him how to run pass
patterns. Don't worry about teaching himhow to block, because that's what the
(15:22):
other guy'll do. You know,the other tight end'll learn how to block,
or he'll know how to block.Let's get this guy out in space
and create mismatches. So that's thebiggest thing I see. Back when I
played, it was every team hadtwo tight ends. One was more of
a receiving guy, one was moreof a blocking guy. I was more
of a blocking guy. And soit's really turned into a position where you've
(15:43):
got to have multiple talent level tobe able to play that position. If
you're going to be the guy that'sgoing to be the receiving tight end.
I mean, you'll watch Travis Kelseywith Kansas City. He's either in motion
he's so elusive, or they splithim out so that he doesn't get held
up at the line of scrimmage.You know, that's all about creating those
mismatches. We didn't do that backthen. When you went to the Super
(16:04):
Bowl. Then that seventy seven season, so it was nineteen seventy eight when
you were at the Super Bowl.What was that like as a rookie had
to just be mind blowing. It'sunbelievable. We were down in New Orleans
and we were down there for twoweeks and they put us up and I
don't know who made the arrangements,whether the league did it or the team
was responsible to pick the hotel youstayed at. But we were at the
(16:27):
Sheridan at the airport that had cockroaches, and it was just like your run
of the mill you holiday in downthe street kind of place. Our practice
facility was two Lane Stadium where theywere doing a renovation, so they had
the artificial turf was rolled up atthe end of the one of the fields,
(16:48):
so you could only about an eightyyard field. Still didn't have a
hundred yard field to practice on.The showers weren't working there, so they
picked us up in yellow school busesand we had to dress, put our
pads and for practice in our hotelroom and then walk down and get on
a bus, walk down, geton yellow school buses, take us at
two Lane Stadium. After practices over, get back on the school bus and
(17:10):
come back and shower in your hotelroom. Yeah, the Super Bowl was
a little different back then compared towhat it is now. Absolutely a circus
now, we didn't have that.I remember Media Day some of us never
even got interviewed. We just satover on the side and waited until wait
until, oh, it was okay, Well, plus it was the Cowboys.
The Cowboys got all the glory backthen. Well they did you know?
They had Pro Bowl players at everyposition. They were staying at the
(17:33):
nice Hilton downtown, whereas we wereout at the airport. And I was
always wonder who said I think nowthe NFL does? I believe they have
them set up like years in advancewhen they figure out the city, they
figure out the hotels. But backthen, who knows. Maybe that's why
we were out of They are America'steam, right, God, don't say
that. I know it's one ofthose things. Yes, But anyway,
(17:55):
Super Bowl, I was supposed toplay a lot. They told me to
go ahead and beef up because you'regonna be doing a lot of block and
we're gonna run ball control. We'regoing to keep the ball out of their
hands. So I got up toabout two fifty two, was going to
do a lot of block and wewere going to run the ball. We
got behind early, so we hadto trash that and try to play catchup.
We started turning the ball over andthat was not good. One thing
(18:15):
led to another. Yeah, wehung in there as long as we could.
But so after experiencing that your rookieyear. What did you learn from
it? You never got back tothe big game again, never got back.
I thought, in my mind,it's like, once you've been there,
you've got a chance to get thereevery year. Without their defense the
way we next year, we startedgetting injuries and it just wasn't the same.
Craig our quarterback, he was gettingolder, less effective in the passing
(18:38):
game, and we just couldn't getback there. You played with John four.
That's what shipped me off to SanDiego. So let's talk about that
going to San Diego. What happenswith that story? Well, you know,
Dan Reeves, I don't know whathe was all about. You're not
the only one. I mean.I had a great seventh year in the
(19:00):
league, nineteen eighty three. Iplayed very well. I even remember a
quote in the paper. He said, you know, back then we were
using the h back, which isa guy who goes in motion lone.
I was doing all that stuff.Played very well. I had a good
year. And he said, yeah, Ron is one of our most valuable
offensive players because all the things hecan do. And I played all the
special teams and everything, and thenmy position coach Frank Polsfoot came to me
(19:23):
one day and he said, Ineed to talk to you, and I
said, what's up? And hesays, well, there's some funny things
being said in the meetings that hesaid, you just better be ready for
something that goes down, and Isaid, oh, and sure enough,
he cut me. You know,about a week later Kellen Winslow, who
was a tight ending in San Diego, Yes here, Yeah, he blew
his knee out and he ran threetight ends all the time, and so
(19:45):
they needed another tight end, sothey picked me up right away. And
so you were cut from the Broncos. They didn't trade you right cut from
the Broncos. Did Dan talk toyou? What's the story there? Call
me? And he couldn't look mein the eye. He looked out the
window and he said, we're justgoing to go in a differ direction.
And that's all I had to say. And I said, wow, okay.
And I was just very shocked,very surprised because I wasn't ready for
(20:07):
it, even though coach told methat to be ready for something if it
comes down, in your mind,you just never think that it's not time
yet. I'm not screwing up badenough, right, I'm playing pretty well.
I'm at Yeah. So I playeda year out in San Diego and
and what was that like going toa different franchise and the realization it was
weird playing against him for seven yearstwice a year and not liking them because
(20:30):
they're your adversary twice a year.But I made the most of it.
Julie and I went out there.We rented a little beach house and just
tried to have fun with it.I ended up starting four games, and
I had a little incentive clause inmy contract. If you start four games
or more, you get twenty fivethousand dollars. Ooh, that's big money.
Back then it's still big money,but back then it's really big money.
(20:52):
Yeah. So I made that becauseother guys started getting hurt there and
I end up starting four games,and wow, I had a good time.
Dan Fouts was the quarterback and theytook me in. I'll never forget.
Dan Fouts was the first quarterback Iever saw that was allowed to drink
beer in the locker room. Inthe locker room, in the locker room
after practices, they would have thebig ice pack on his throwing arm,
(21:14):
and that one of the trainers wouldcome over with a little pail, a
little bucket, and he'd have likea six beers ice down and just like
a get in the bar a littlebucket and set it in front of his
locker. And so he's got themedia all over there, and he's got
his shoulder ice down, and allthe media comes over to him after every
practice, and you know, hepops a beer and he takes a drink
(21:34):
and sets it off to the sideand while he's talking to the media,
talking to the media. First timeI ever saw that, and I said,
Wow, this guy's got some cloutfor sure. So I knew I
was in with San Diego. Theone after the one practice, when all
the media finally left and he hadtwo beers left, he looked over at
me and he says, hey,Hey, do you want a beer?
I looked over, I said,I have a beer with you with Dan
(21:56):
Fouts in locker room. That wasawesome, but it was a It was
a fun experience. The practices werenowhere near demanding compared to what Dan Reeves
ran here, so I felt likeit was a lot more fun. We
didn't have very good team. Itwas all offense, oriented, throw the
ball all over the field. Theoffense was so easy to learn, and
the defense was we weren't very good. Who was your coach in San Diego?
(22:18):
It was Don Corriell. Okay hereCorriell. So yeah, he was
one of the first ones to takethat West Coast offense. The similar to
a Bill Walsh up at San Francisco, where they just throw the ball all
over and you know, get theball in the guy in space and create
the mismatches and short passes and lethim run kind of thing. I really
enjoyed it. But after that thenCoryell called a bunch of us old guys
(22:41):
and said, hey, we're goingto start all over with our roster,
so we're just gonna let all youold guys go, which was fine because
I was already working on the restaurant. Okay, so you were ready to
go. So while it sucked gettingcut from the Broncos, it gave you
the opportunity to check out something totallydifferent. Are you glad you had that
experience with San Diego? Absolutely?Yeah, got an extra year in.
I made some good money back then. Comparatively speaking. The one thing I
(23:04):
did when I was with the Broncowas. You know, we didn't make
much money, so and I knewthat as soon as football is over,
I gotta go to work because I'mgonna have to support my family. And
uh, you know, I madetwenty five thousand my first year. That
was my salary. When did youguys start having kids? Right there at
the year first one? Okay,In fact, we brought the baby dating
(23:25):
out to San Diego with us.Okay, But anyway, every offseason I
went to work with somebody and triedto learn a job. So one year,
one year I went with an insuranceguy. One year I went with
a realtor. One year I workedin a bank. I was actually a
bank teller, you know. Oneyear I went down to work the oil
field in Oklahoma where my wife isfrom. Her brother in law had a
(23:47):
pipe company, and so I wentto work with him one offseason, and
you know, I kind of seewhat I wanted to do, see what
I liked, see what I didn'tlike. Right toward my final year,
one of the guys from the oldJackson's Hole, John came up to me
and he says, you know,you'd be a natural in this business.
I said, yeah, I neverreally thought about it, and he says,
you ought to give it a try, and so I said, well,
(24:07):
set me up. So I tooktwo weeks in the kitchen flip burgers,
you know, learn how the kitchenoperated, then in two weeks with
a waitress waiting tables, and thenas soon as I got behind the bar,
I knew that's what I wanted todo. Really. Yeah, it's
like you're on stage and oh yeah, you're performing and being a bartender's fun.
Oh yeah, ninety nine percent ofthe people that are in there there
(24:29):
they have fun as well. SoI said, you know, this is
what I want to do. Sothat's what I did, as I sunk
my money that I had into thepartnership at Jackson's and we opened up the
place at six in Kipling in eightysix, and that was a great place.
I missed Jackson's Hole. I missedthe food, I missed the atmosphere,
I missed everything about that. Wewere one of the first sports bars
(24:49):
way back then that in fact,we were one of the first ones.
I had a big screen TV.Is that one of those whole things that
screen and the pictures all blurry?But it was huge. Yeah, but
it was huge. Yeah, sowe were. It was us Zangs and
Bull and Bush. There were threesports bars back then, and Zangs too.
So many good ones that are Bulland Bush are still around. But
(25:11):
Jackson's is the only location that webuilt when I was there. Is the
one across the street from Course Feedsright, the one downtown. Yeah,
that's still there, but it's ownedby people in Chicago that owned the building,
and it's not the same. Infact, I went in there one
time and there's a Pittsburgh Steelers muralon the wall, and I asked the
bar train and said, what theheck is that? He says, Well,
the general manager is a big Steelersfan. That's it. I haven't
(25:33):
been in there since. Oh that'shorrible. I know that's not good at
all. So when you were donewith when you got released from San Diego,
basically, were you having injuries oranything like that, or did you
just kind of know that I'm justdone, I'm ready to move on.
I was done eight years, andI figured I'd already been cut now by
two teams. I was approaching theold age of thirty at that point,
which is ancient in NFL. Yeah, and so I figured let me go
(25:56):
to work on this restaurant gig,and that's what I was doing. I
had a day off. We werebuilding the Lakewood location and getting that all
finalized to get that open. It'sAugust of nineteen eighty five and I'm in
the backyard with our little kiddie pooland one kid that we had. Dayton
phone rings. Julie answers it.She says it's for you, and I
said, who is it. Shegoes as somebody from the Washington Redskins.
(26:17):
I don't know, said, WashingtonRedskins. Why are they calling me?
So I get on there. It'sCharlie Casserley, who at the time was
a general manager of the Redskins.He didn't even ask me if I'd been
working out or if I was stillready to go. He said, here's
our situations. We got eight tightends in camp. Seven of them are
hurt. We need a body.And I said, I'm kind of working
on this restaurant deal. And hesays, well, i'll make it worth
(26:37):
you while. We'll give you fivegrand to come out. So I said
five grand just to come out,and I said wow. So we talked
it over and I went out,and the reason they asked me to come
out because Joe Gibbs, who wasthe coach, he was a coach under
Don Corriel in Santia at San DiegoState in college and all that, and
they ran very similar offensive you're learningcurve was exactly. So I was able
(27:00):
to get to Washington and jump intopractice and I knew it already knew the
plays a little different terminology. ButJoe, thisman was the quarterback then,
and he helped me. He says, hey, you know it's this play
where you do this, And Isay, oh, yeah, I got
it. You know. So Iwas there four weeks and I broke my
hand in a blocking drill and itblew up and I couldn't practice anymore.
(27:22):
So Joe Gibbs, the great guythat he was, he came to me.
He says, oh, man,that's unfortunate. Fortunately for us,
are some of our other tight endsare getting healthy, he says, so
it's probably not going to work out. I said, okay, I totally
understand. I'm there with my hand. I said, so what should I
do? Injured reserves four weeks?So he said, take these next four
weeks. Come in, get yourhand, ice down, whatever you got
(27:42):
to do rehab, whatever, liftsome weights, do the treadmill, have
lunch, and you can go home. So I did that for four weeks,
and I stayed with a buddy ofmine that lived out there and he
had a motor home. He hadan RV part next to his house,
and that's where I stayed. Sohe got paid for those four weeks.
I paid for four weeks. Hesays, how about we just give you
half your salary and you can gohome. I said, aweska, you
(28:03):
got a deal. So I wenthome and immediately jumped right into the restaurant
business. We opened up Jackson's ineighty six, and you had a little
more cash to help with it.Yeah that's great. Yeah, that's awesome.
So everything worked out. Oh that'sso funny. So you had quarterbacks,
I mean Craig Morton, John Elway, Dan Fouts. That's pretty good.
And Steve DeBerg in between Morton andElway. Oh yeah, that's right.
(28:25):
Steve DeBerg was one of my goodbuddies. Oh yeah, Steve was
great. Played a long time.I think we played seventeen years he played.
He played a very long time,good man, really long time.
Okay, so you do what twentysome years. Then with Jackson's. Is
that how long you were exactly years? Okay, eighty four to ozh four
was my run with it, andwe had a good run. We did
very well our Lakewood store, Iproudly say, we did really well.
(28:49):
Problem was we had some other storiesthat weren't doing well at all. So
my partners wanted to keep taking moneyfrom the Lakewood store to help out these
other stores. I said, waita minute. You know, I got
a parking lot that's got holes init. I need new TVs. I
had sixty two TVs out there,TV's on the patio, right, but
they were those big, old heavybox TVs. I had a big,
(29:11):
huge back. They weighed like,you know, one hundred pounds, right,
And I said, I need newTVs. And they said, well,
you know, we got these otherstores we got to help out.
Anyway, long story short twenty years. I was just approaching fifty years old,
and I said, you know what, I think it's time to get
out. Restaurant business is a youngman's game, you know. Yeah,
and you got to be on theball or it will aid you quickly if
(29:33):
you stay in it. Yeah,And we did very well for twenty years,
but I could see what was coming. All the chains were starting to
move in and I said, youknow what, our piece of the pie
was shrinking as far as our revenues, and I said, I think it's
time to get out. So partof this podcast is the theme of reinventions.
So then, what do you doyou're fifty, Well, I'm fifty
years old. But I felt likewith all the people, all the connections
(29:56):
I've made all these years, Imean, there's something I can do.
And I wanted to, you know, retire as soon as I could.
And I actually tried that a coupleof times, but I was too young
and too much energy, and tooI had to do something every day.
So I was going to take ayear off. And about six months into
that year, I had a realtorfriend of mine came to me and said,
Hey, there's this guy that openedup this mortgage company. But he
(30:18):
doesn't speak very good English. Sohe needs a face, he needs a
front man. He needs somebody canrecruit loan officers and talk to people and
do commercials and that kind of thing. He asked if I would be interested
in that. I said, well, and we worked out an agreement.
I said i'll give you a yearcommitment. After a year, we'll see
what happened. Well, I waswith him for twenty years, so that
worked out. So we also hada mortgage company, and then we also
(30:41):
opened up a home healthcare agency.So what I did was I handled the
marketing for both companies. And itkept me busy, kept me in the
pulse of the community and what's goingon and going to events and meeting and
greeting people. And you have othergood people on the backside that can do
all the behind Its perfect roun.Yeah, so it really worked out.
And then you know, I turnedsixty five, I decided, you know
(31:03):
what, maybe it's time to startlooking at really retiring. Yeah. And
I couldn't because you still have toyou have a ton of energy. Oh.
I felt like I had to dosomething every day. I had to
be somewhere, I had to havea purpose, you know. I was
talking to one of my buddies whowas retired. He says, well,
you know, mentally, you'll knowwhen it's time, And I said,
okay, Well, apparently for me, it's not time. You're not there
(31:25):
yet. So I waited till Iwas sixty six, and then at that
point. You know, I'm onMedicare now, I got Social Security coming
in, got my NFL pension comingin. Just so happens that the home
healthcare industry got bought out by VisitingNurses, and Visiting Nurses Association bought us
out. And they asked me ifI wanted to stay on as the marketer,
but I would have to wear acoat and tie every day. And
(31:45):
I said, oh, I can'tdo it. I can't do it.
I'm done because I didn't want tostart all over with the company that get
to know everybody, didn't know everybody, and go into an office every day
and you know where the coat andtie kind of thing. And I said,
nah, this is it's time.So did you reach retire? You're
so, you're officially retired now,and what do you think? You love
it? You got grandkids and everything? Three grandkids? Are they all here?
(32:07):
No? Actually, my oldest son, Dayton, he lives here in
Denver, not married, doesn't haveany kids. My middle son Adam and
his wife Catherine, they live overin Montrose and we own a Jimmy John's
over there. So you're not totallyretired, Well, yes I am,
but you own a Jimmy Johns.Well, I don't work it, okay.
We helped him with the franchise,secured the SBA loan and were okay,
(32:32):
silent owners and they've run the storeover there. We're number two Jimmy
John's in the state of Colorado inMontrose. In Montrose, it's right on
the main drag between the airport andtell you ride. We get a ton
of traffic there. The only othersandwich shop in town is a subway which
is right across the street. Andwe have the Jimmy Johns. We've built
a brand new building right on thecorner there, right across the street from
(32:54):
the high school. We have adrive through window, we have the delivery,
and we're number two in the state. Glenwood spring is number one,
by the way, So Glenwood Springs, Jamie Johns, we're coming for you
and our kids. They do agreat job. Adam and Katherine run the
stay. That's awesome. Then myyoungest son, Elliott and his wife they
live in Edmund, Oklahoma. Greatand they've got a grand or. In
(33:14):
fact, we just got back theother day. She just turned one.
All fun so she's one. Andthen Adam and Katherine and Mantros have a
four year old and a one yearold. Oh, so you're having a
great time just being what do theycall you? Are you grandpa? Or
I'm Papa in Montrose and I'm Grandpain Oklahoma. And Julie is two two
two too? How'd she get thatPolynesian? I think? Okay, but
(33:35):
she's not polynes She just liked tootoo. She decided that it's easy for
a kid to say, yeah,no kidding, all right, A couple
more questions for you, Ron.I saw that you were doing some work
with Boston University and their CTE studiesthat they're doing, and you are all
in and willing enable, and you'vegone there to do some of the initial
studies and then you're ready to makesome donations. Once down the road,
(34:00):
you are no longer with us,So explain a little bit about what you're
doing at BU and hopefully how ithelps future generations of football players, YEA
and athletes and along with this theconcussion awareness that has come about in football
and other sports now. As amatter of fact, doctor stern Over at
Boston University Medical he wanted to doa case study and he sent out a
(34:22):
mass email to all of former players, and there was several folks that answered
back, and I said, sure, I would love to participate in that.
You know, what does it entail. Well, you know, we'll
bring in for two, three,four days and we'll put you through the
ring or do every kind of studywe can, you know, memory testing,
MRI's lumbar puncture, you know,everything to try to and then that
(34:45):
goes into a bank where they dothe study comparatively to normal people that haven't
played any sports. So that's whatthey're trying to do, and in that
they're trying to come up with whyis this happening in players and see if
they can prevent it from happening orat least slow it down. So I
jumped on that not only because Iwanted to see where I was, absolutely
(35:07):
because they do that study and they'regoing to let you know if you're failing
or sup. Yeah, so Iwanted to do it for that, but
also for the generations that come afterme. And you know, who knows
if I if I had grand kidsthat would want to play football. I
mean hopefully now there's so much safergame when they would get to that point.
So that's what I did and theybring you back there every three or
(35:28):
four years, I think it is, and they compare your study from this
year to what it was three yearsago to see if you're getting worse or
staying the same or so I jumpedon that for both those reasons. That's
great. Do you see a numberof your teammates, and I've talked to
a lot of them to the effectsof the concussions and whatnot have affected them
as they've gotten older in life.Yeah, we're all very aware of that.
(35:51):
Yeah, in fact, we evenkid each other. Yeah, hey,
let me know if I if Istart repeating myself, let me know.
You know. Unfortunately, we dohave a couple of guys that have
passed. We've actually had some guysthat are that really need some help.
And the NFL is there too.They've started to create some programs in that
regard to help folks. They've gotthe eighty eight program, which is for
(36:14):
dementia. They've got an Alzheimer's programthat folks can get in they need help.
So, you know, it's along time coming, but we finally
have some programs in place. Andwhat I try to do is stay as
active as I can every day I'malways doing crossword puzzles and you know,
word games on my phone. Thatis so important, Always trying to do
that kind of stuff. Julie andI travel a ton, so I'm the
(36:36):
travel agent, so I'm always onthe phone with travel people. We go
everywhere. We're trying to see theworld because there's going to come that day
where I can't get out of thechair. Take advantage of all you can
do, and we're traveling while wecan. Absolutely, And speaking of former
teammates, you're still very involved withthe Broncho Alumni Association. You do a
lot of things still around town.You're at the boy Scout Association breakfast that
(36:57):
I was at, and the Broncosnow with new ownership, groups seem like
they're really starting to reach out moreand get more of the alumni involved.
What do you do with the alumnigroup. I'm on the board. I'm
an officer with the Denver Broncos AlumniAssociation and I co chair our biggest fundraiser
of the year, which is ourgolf tournament. Yeah, we just had
our sixteenth annual golf tournament. Wedo a really good job with that.
(37:21):
It's a lot of fun and weraise a ton of money for kids programs
that we rate that we have inplace. So happy to do that every
year and stay in and you getto see all your guys, see all
my buddies, and keep in theloop and keep everybody you know, Hey,
how things going with you? How'syour family? You know? Do
you check in with guys? That'ssomething that I think is so important.
That's something that we've talked about inour meetings. Is if you haven't seen
(37:44):
a guy in a while, orif you haven't heard from a guy,
or he's not answering the phone,or he's not you know, his emails
are coming back or whatever, let'sdo wellness checks. Let's call guys and
so yes, we have started it. Oh that's great. Good, all
right, Last question, Ron,As you look back through your career and
you've had some ups and downs andtrials and tribulations, whether it be in
sports or the restaurant industry or anythingelse you've done, what would be your
(38:07):
advice to tell people, maybe whatyou've told your kids or what you'll tell
your grandkids as far as when arethere are those times of doubt and negativity?
How do you get back up andkeep moving? Forward. You've reinvented
yourself so many times. Well,I've I've always been one that is more
of a blue collar worker kind ofguy. Yeah, you know, a
good soldier always be. You werekidding me about being on time or being
(38:29):
early. I'm an early guy.Every time we have a meeting, I'm
always early. In fact, peopletry to beat me to the meeting.
I've always told my kids, youknow, if you work hard, good
things will happen. May not bea direct result, but if you look
at it down the line like Ido. You know, I got cut
by the Broncos. That was Atthe time it was it seemed devastating,
(38:51):
but as it turns out, itwas fine, you know, So just
keep working hard and good things willhappen. And I see that at all
my kids what they're doing, andthat's one of the things I try to
instill with people. Ron. Thishas been awesome. It has been difficult
to get you because you travel somuch, so I'm glad we've finally got
together. Yeah. Absolutely, thanksfor having me. Absolutely appreciate it.
So good to catch up with Ron. Thanks Ron. New episodes of Cut,
(39:15):
Traded, Fired, Retired come outevery Tuesday on nearly every podcast platform.
Please follow, download, and reviewthis podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.
You can get social and find outabout new episodes on Twitter and Instagram
at CTFR podcast and check out thewebsite CTFR podcast dot com. To find
out more about me, visit Susiewargindot com. Thank you again for listening,
(39:37):
and until next time, please becareful, be safe, and be
kind. Take care
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