July 11, 2023 • 30 mins
When Broncos first year head coach Dan Reeves drafted him in 1981, Steve Busick had already played with some big-name defensive teammates at USC: Clay Matthews, Ronnie Lott, Dennis Smith and Jeff Fisher to name a few. During his college career, the Trojans won back-to-back Rose Bowls and were National Champions in 1978. When the linebacker came to Denver he joined the likes of Tom Jackson, Randy Gradishar and Steve Foley on the Orange Crush Defense. Bottom line: Steve Busick knew what it meant to be surrounded by great teammates and how to win.
Steve played 5 seasons in Denver and went to the playoffs twice. He was coming off what he felt was a solid year when the Broncos finished 11-5 in 1985 and Reeves called him into his office. He was trading Steve to the Rams where he would be reunited with his college head coach John Robinson. Steve wasn’t happy about leaving Denver but liked the idea of playing for Robinson again. It didn’t last long. A few games into the 1986 season, Steve tore his ACL and was done for the year. He tried to come back in 1987 but his knee wasn’t the same.
After he retired, Steve heard about a Denver glass company that was going out of business. He had just enough money to buy the business. With zero knowledge about windows or running a business, Steve hired the right people and built Busick Insulated Glass into a very successful company that has been going strong for over 3 decades.
Hosted by Susie Wargin
Steve played 5 seasons in Denver and went to the playoffs twice. He was coming off what he felt was a solid year when the Broncos finished 11-5 in 1985 and Reeves called him into his office. He was trading Steve to the Rams where he would be reunited with his college head coach John Robinson. Steve wasn’t happy about leaving Denver but liked the idea of playing for Robinson again. It didn’t last long. A few games into the 1986 season, Steve tore his ACL and was done for the year. He tried to come back in 1987 but his knee wasn’t the same.
After he retired, Steve heard about a Denver glass company that was going out of business. He had just enough money to buy the business. With zero knowledge about windows or running a business, Steve hired the right people and built Busick Insulated Glass into a very successful company that has been going strong for over 3 decades.
Hosted by Susie Wargin
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
At that time it had been inDenver five years. It was my new
home. I loved him here,and so I'll be honest with you,
I was not happy, not atall. It came up a couple of
really good years as leading the teamand tackles, and we were defense.
We were the top I think fivein the NFL. It's like, why
are we doing this when you knowat the time we probably could have done
(00:21):
more on the offensive side. Welcometo Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired
a weekly podcast featuring conversations with professionalathletes and coaches who have experienced being cut,
traded, fired, and or they'reretired. I'm your host, Susie
Wargen. This episode's guest brings usback to the good old days of the
Orange Crush defense. The Broncos wereloaded on the defensive side in the late
(00:43):
seventies and early eighties, and oneof their additions during that time was linebacker
Steve Busick. Steve played his collegeball at USC, a team that was
also loaded during this time, bothoffensively and defensively. He won back to
back Rose Bowls and a national championshipwith the Trojans in nineteen eighty one.
The Bronchos drafted him in the seventhround. Coincidentally, his USC teammate Dennis
(01:03):
Smith was in the same class.Steve played five years with the Bronchos and
had a couple of memorable seasons.Then Dan Reeves traded him to the LA
Rams. While Steve didn't want toleave Denver, the trade did reunite him
with his college head coach John Robinson, so that was good. But the
ACL injury that happened a few gamesinto the season was not so good.
Steve was out of the league inthe next two years. He decided to
(01:26):
make Denver home and took a gambleby purchasing a window company that was going
out of business in nineteen eighty nine. After some lean years, the gamble
paid off and today Busick Insulated Glassis quite the success story making and selling
glass to wholesalers. Hello reinvention,ladies and gentlemen. Steve Busick traded fired
(01:49):
retired podcast with Susie Wargin Steve Busick, how are you real good? This
is very exciting because I think you'rethe first guest that I've had on the
podcast where I don't really know you. I know of you, but we
haven't really had a lot of crossingof paths. Well, I think you
should feel lucky there. No,you came highly recommended from my friend Craig
Silverman. He's a good man.Yeah, I think you were on his
(02:12):
podcast. I was on his podcast. He said, you have to have
Steve on your podcast because he's gota great story. And you were part
of the infamous Orange Crush defense whenthe Broncos were in their heyday in the
eighties, and you just have acool story. And then you've made your
roots here in Denver, even thoughyou grew up in La and you have
a successful business going now. Sowe'll get to all of that. But
thanks for coming in. I reallyappreciate it. Thanks for having me absolutely
(02:35):
so. Growing up in LA yougo to Temple City High School. Was
football kind of always your sport ordid you have other ones? He as
a kid? Looking back, myfavorite sport at the time it was basketball,
And I remember my dad putting upa hoop and I wouldn't come in
the house because I want to keepshooting, so he finally put a light
up in the garage so I couldkeep playing. That's I was just love
(02:57):
shooting basketball. But it obvious tome as I went through high school that
if I had a chance to moveforward in sports, it was going to
be football, without a doubt.Always on the defensive side. You were
a linebacker throughout, Yeah, prettymuch the defensive side, played a little
tight end. But my gift,I think was I could run through things
and not really not care cared howmuch. I don't know if that's a
(03:22):
gift or not, or just notsmart, but anyway, that was you
had no fear one of my attributes. And I was a linebacker from a
very early age that started nine yearsold. And this is back when you
know, obviously it was full contactand so the time back then they touch
you how to lead with your headand tackle with your head and look back.
(03:44):
Isn't that crazy, Steve? Imean so, thankfully so. And
there are a lot of guys whohave played that don't want their sons playing
football, even though a lot ofthose rules have changed. But you think
about when you started in Holy Cow, it was just go for it.
Well, Susie, believe it ornot, I have a five year old
son. I did see that inyour bio that you have a thirty five
year old daughter and a five yearold son at the Modern Family on steroids.
(04:04):
But anyway, I get asked allthe time, or his name is
Brody, are you gonna let Brodieplay football? I'm going you know,
I'm not going to discourage him,but I'm not going to push him towards
it. I think kids, forme anyway, being exposed to everything,
and then they kind of make theirchoice what direction they're going to go.
Sure, I really hope he doesn'tgo into football. To tell you the
(04:26):
truth, I just know what weknow now. But again, I can
already tell he's got it in hisDNA. He loves the tackle, loves
to wrestle, and we'll see.But again, I would not promote it.
But I also look back and withoutfootball, I have no idea where
my life would have been. Taughtme so many things, and I was
(04:47):
one of those kids it was kindof getting in trouble from a very early
age, and being in football givesyou so much discipline and said goals and
how to work with people, andthat carried me through my entire life.
Without football, it's kind of scarywhere I might ended up, absolutely,
especially in a big city like La. Right. Yeah, yeah, did
(05:08):
you have a coach or two ora teacher that was very influential in those
early years. My high school coach, we were fortunate. We won the
CIF in California. Three ACIF,which is the championship in our school had
a great tradition of winning a lotand the coach was Bob Hitchcock, and
he was kind of a legend inan area. And I was very fortunate
(05:30):
to be able to play in thatcity, in that environment, and then
getting to go to USC after that, I mean, looking back, very
very blast, very fortunate, andUSC at that time was that was the
school to go to. Did youhave other schools that recruited you, Yeah,
I did. Actually one of themwas see You. Back in the
day you could go to six visits. SeeU was one of them. And
(05:50):
I tell this story. So Igrew up in LA and my heaviest coat
was a windbreaker and I get offthe plane in January and I remember go
to the stock show. We goright from the plane to the stock show,
and it happened to be one ofthose weekends where I think the high
was minus five windshield typical stock showweather. Yes, can I get I'm
(06:13):
walking around for the next two days, basically hating it because I was freezing
my right still off. You know, I kind of already made my mind
scpause again. Back the NSC waskind of what Alabama is today, just
loaded with players and if you wantedto have any future in the NFL,
that was probably the best place togo. But that was my first experience
(06:33):
in Colorado. It's kind of ironicthat ended up getting drafted by the Moroccos
and make it in my home therest of my life so interesting. Yeah,
and now you have much more thana windbreaker, don't you, Steve
Yes, without a doubt. Beforewe started, you talked about the visit
that you had from the USC coachwhen he came into your home. Back
then it was John Robinson and sittingin my parents' living room. I'll never
(06:57):
forget this, he was saying,you know, we like you had come
in our school, a great education, obviously football and one of the things
he had he had a couple ofrings on. He goes, when was
a Rose Bowl ring? He goes, I can pretty much guarantee you you'll
have a Rose Bowl ring and anotherring on his under hand, and it
was National Championship ring. He goes, there's a real good chance to'll have
(07:18):
one of these as well. Well. After my four years there, I
had two Rose Bowl rings and oneNational Championship ring. That's crazy. Back
to back Rose Bowl back Rose Bowlsstate in Michigan. That was a year
and like seventy eight, we werenational champions with a loaded roster. I
mean future NFL guys on that teamlike no other. Dennis Smith, who
(07:39):
obviously Ring of Famer in Colorado.We grew up pretty close in the same
area as Ronnie Lott Hall of Famerin the NFL, Anthony Muno's Hall of
Famer. I tell everyone Charles Whitewon the Heisman, and tell me who
was a blocking fullback at the time, and it was Marcus Allen who won
the Heisman to your later. Sothat's the kind of and I'm probably leaving
(08:01):
out a lot of people, butit was absolutely absolutely star started team.
Yeah, doubt when you're at thatkind of a level at USC and you
went back to back Rose Bowls andone of them's a National championship, do
you just have that mindset then that, Oh my gosh, it's almost easy
for me. It was not easybecause we were so regiment back then.
(08:24):
I mean it was when you gotonto the football field. In the meeting
rooms, I mean, the coachingwas really really strict, no messing around.
This is like interesting business. Myexperience, my first year endeavor was
kind of the polar opposite because guyskind of were always joking around and having
fun, guys like Tom Jackson andyou know, you're just cracking jokes and
(08:46):
uh. And it was nothing likethat at USC, nothing like that,
which was a nice relief because thatsc was Again I wouldn't change it for
the world, but looking back,I mean it was so regiment I mean
almost military style exactly, no doubtabout it. But with that game success,
yes, and for my life itwas somebody needed. I was not
(09:07):
in a lot of trouble, butI got my share of predicaments and without
football and what it taught me,and who knows where I would have been.
Right, some people are in highschool and then they go into the
military because they need that discip Whenyou went to USC and you got the
same thing, right, Yeah,it's a great comparison. There you go,
there you go. Okay, soyou have some really really good times
obviously at USC, and then innineteen eighty one. You get drafted by
(09:31):
the Broncos in the seventh round.It is Dan Reeves first year. Your
class includes your USC teammate, DennisMiller's in there, Dennis Smith. Dennis
Miller thinking about Red Miller, whocame before. Dennis Smith is in there,
Kenny Lanier's in there. Yes,you have a good class that comes
into what is already a pretty spectaculardefense. You mentioned Tom Jackson and that
that Orange Crush defense that was there. Was that just like wow. I
(09:54):
mean you already come from a wowfactor at USC with all those Guys's no
doubt. I mean, you walkin, I'll never free get my first
mini camp. I'm sitting at atable across from Randy gradish Are and Bob
Swinson and Steve Foley would I mean, it was just unbelievable. I mean,
you're a star struck. All ofa sudden, I pillo arm come
around my neck kind of and kindof holds me close to his chest.
(10:16):
He goes, Steve Busick, you'rea new backer here, right, And
I look up and it's Tom Jackson. He's got a hold of me,
and he goes, if anyone givesyou any crap here, you come talk
to me, okay, And hesaid it kindingly, but that was the
type of guy he is. Andthere were so many, I mean guys
that were just not only great footballplayers, but also great people, great
(10:37):
guys. Again, very very blasted, very fortunate that I got to be
drafted by the Denver Broncos. Thedifference between the NFL and the college game
was there that big of a differencebecause you guys were so elite at USC,
I will tell you, I meanthat that was a big thing.
I've heard from other people that wentfrom college to NFL how big a jump
(10:58):
it was from other schools At theUSC. I mean, obviously it was
still a big jump, but again, we were so talented, so there
was definitely a learning curve there.But it wasn't as much as I kind
of thought. I could see thatbecause again where I came from to the
NFL, it was not an easybut it's never easy, but again it
was definitely beneficial. You guys goto the playoffs in eighty three, in
(11:22):
the eighty three eighty four season,so you have a couple of seasons where
you don't make the playoffs. Whatwas that like? Having come from such
success in college I remember my firstyear, I think we were ten and
six and barely missed the playoffs.Then we were in the strike season,
I think when he played eleven ortwelve games, so that was almost like
a washout. And then we gotthe playoffs, and I think it was
(11:46):
eighty four. We were thirteen andthree. Heck of a team that was
still dominated by the defense and thatwas carrying us back. Then John obviously
was amazing quarterback, but the firstcouple of years, I mean he at
his growing pains as well, sowe still relied heavily on the defense.
And then uh eighty five, believeor not, we are at eleven and
(12:07):
five, which you would think isa heck of a record. We didn't
make the playoffs. That should makethe playoffs. Yeah, we didn't make
the playoffs here, so anyway,got to play in the playoffs. And
then uh eighty six. I gottraded to La Rams And I'm sure we'll
discuss, yes, but let's dodiscuss it up. Well, were you
in the season? Was a midseason or oh it was right before the
(12:28):
season started, a week before.There was at the time rumors everything I
was getting traded and I didn't knowwhere I was going, but I remember
getting called in a week before theseason it started, and see what,
all through training camp, through therumors, all through training camp, Dan
Reees sets me down. He goes, well, Steve, you know,
I appreciate your time here is justa great guy, great coach. And
(12:48):
he goes, I think we didto you a benefit though. You're going
to LA and my old coach wasJohn Robinson who took over the La Rams.
So it was kind of almost likea homecome. Well it was a
homecoming because where I grew up.So I traded of the Rams and was
everything was going great till I thinkit was the fifth game in the year
in Philadelphia, ron Gio Worski quarterbackat the time, I was in a
(13:11):
blitz and they were known to havethe worst AstroTurf. It horrible. Sure
enough, I planned and my bodywent one way. My knee went together.
I tore my acl not toward it, but I tore it off the
bone. Oh jeez. So anyway, that ended my season, which was
again going really well. But thatwas kind of the beginning of the end.
(13:33):
Okay for me. What was itlike, Steve, when you actually
were traded and you go from aplace you've been for five seasons and you
really had You had a great season. I think it was nineteen eighty four
that was probably your best season whereyou started every game, you had a
couple of picks, you had asack. And then there's Dan, who
you respect, and sure he's saying, you know, we're gonna do your
favor and trade you. But stillit's uprooting, it's moving. And that's
(13:56):
what I love to hear about thebackstory of what goes into it, because
it's not just you know you're gonnago from here to here and it's a
job transfer. There's so much morethat goes into it. Without a doubt.
At that time, it had beenin Denver five years. It was
my new home. I loved himhere, and so I'll be honest with
you, I was not happy,not at all. It came up a
couple of really good years. Iwas leading the team and tackles and we
(14:18):
were defense. We were the topI think five in the NFL. It's
like, why are we doing thiswhen you know at the time we probably
could have done more on the offensiveside, but for whatever reason, and
it was Pat Boland's first year andhe made a splash, and Ricky Huney
was drafted by Cincinnati I think ina seventh overall pick. He brought him
(14:39):
in and again he was a greatplayer, good guy. There's nothing against
him. Being honest. I wasnot happy, but I'm a firm believer
that things are meant to be.And unfortunately it didn't work out in LA
and unfortunately for Ricky, I thinkDenver got rid of him a couple of
years later. But you know,it's football, I mean it is,
and it's a business. It's abusines that's what's tough, and I feel
(15:01):
blessed. I got seven years in. If someone out of my first year
said we're gonna give you seven yearsin the NFL, I would have jumped
all over it. I mean becausethe averages, you beat the average by
far. Yeah, I think theaverage, and to this day, I
think it's still like three and ahalf years. So you know, I
would have loved to play more.But again I'm from believer things are having
for reasons. So after your ACLinjury, you don't go back to the
(15:24):
Rams and you go to the thenSan Diego Chargers. Interesting, so I
was going through camp and my kneejust was not coming around, and so
of course I thought I wasn't rehabingenough, so you just keep rehabing the
heck out of it. I flunkedthe physical. I thought I was done
for football. I was married atthe time, had a new child,
so I was ready to make myhome in Denver and done well. My
(15:46):
agent calls me right after I gethome from being released from LA and goes,
hey, San Diego Chargers want tosign you. I'm like, Simon,
are you crazy? Don't they realizethat my knee is physical? Yeah?
Exactly, And they said no,they don't care. They want to
sign you and they're hurting at linebacker. So I go, what the heck,
I'm getting more paychecks and yeah,So I went there, played a
(16:08):
couple of games, reinjured the kneeand that was the final straw. But
I was shocked they picked me up. But again, I got an extra
year in there, so I stillbe it. Absolutely, I flunked the
physical one team, but the otherteam picks me up and they still had
you play, and they hit meon the active roster from day one,
where they depleted at line I mean, I didn't think they were that to
(16:29):
play. So after your second kneeinjury and you're done with the Chargers.
Then you go into retirement from football. From football, yes, but at
a time when guys aren't making millionsand millions of dollars, so you've got
to find something else to do,Susie, I had about one year where
I had time to financially figure thingsout. Newly married, one year old.
(16:52):
For me, I had never doneanything but played football in my life.
So I'm twenty nine, almost thirtyyears old, got a young family,
and it's I remember, a veryscary time because you just didn't know
what you want to do with therest of your life. And a lot
of guys struggle with that. Imean, and the guys who usually played
longer. I think I have moreissues with it because it is a tough
transition, there's no doubt about it. I mean, you start playing as
(17:15):
a kid and that's all you've done, and I'll send You're thirty years old
and here's the world. And again, the money, like you say,
wasn't anything close to what it is, so I had about a year to
figure things out. This is backin nineteen eighty nine, and the economy
back then wasn't great. I gotmy real estate license, thinking okay,
that's the direction that didn't go anywhere. A buddy of mine was a home
(17:37):
builder and he was buying his windowsfrom this little outfit getting ready to go
out of business, and he goes, you should go look at this.
You can get it for almost nothing. It's got tons of potential. And
so I go talk to the gentlemanand he goes, yeah, just take
over some debt. And I hadn'tagain enough to take care of that started
the company. When I say started, there was three employees, a beat
(17:59):
up truck, and basically a garagewe were working out of. So it
wasn't like a major window company.And uh. First year, I remember
sleepless nights going what the heck haveI got myself into? Did you know
anything about windows? Nothing? Okay, I mean, oh my gosh.
So I jumped in and I gotthe person I told you, I'm never
smart enough to quit. I keepgoing. So and that was June first,
(18:22):
nineteen eighty nine. You opened MusicInsulated Glass. The first year again,
scary time. The business wasn't goingwell, and I get now why
the guy was going on business.It makes sense, but again I was
too stubborn to quit one another year, and then things started going the right
direction and started building up clients.We started growing, and this little place
(18:42):
we were in it was only aboutit was down in Globeville, like three
thousand square feet, little tiny literallylike back to the stock show again,
exactly right by the National Rest.So everything's come back full circle. But
anyway, so we're in my thirdyear and we started taking off and we
outgrew the place. That building I'min now was owned by PPG who had
(19:04):
a fifteen thousand square warehouse off asixth avenue and an acre of land,
and I was able to purchase thatand expand the business and going on thirty
five years. Yeah, for themost part, it's all been great years.
Got very lucky. I think myattitude towards sports where you never quit
and you never give up, carriedme through those tough times. Not smart
(19:27):
enough to quit anything, so Ikeep going. Did you study business at
USC or anything along those lines havehelped you with owning a business, Susie.
I'm twelve units away from graduating fromUSC, which will never happened.
But back in the day, again, um USC was not you went to
school, but football was number onething business school or anything out of the
(19:52):
class, and that's all you hadto do to stay eligible. But the
fact that you've created such a successfulbusiness, I'm so curious how, oh
you kind of figured out a businessplan along the way you grew from your
three employees to now what you have. I can't remember twenty seven employees.
Well, again, going back tomy roots in football, what taught me?
Teamwork? One of the things Ikind of pride myself. I'm good
(20:15):
at knowing what I don't know,and I didn't know the industry. So
I was able to hire a coupleof really good people at the time that
we're in the business for ten fifteenyears, and I knew I had to
get people around me that knew whatthey were doing and art And again that's
related to growing up in sports,especially football, team first, and it's
(20:37):
who you have around you that makesyou better. And that's exactly what I
learned. So going back to whatwe were talking earlier, I mean without
playing football, and again, youknow, I had my share of injuries.
I had other than my knee,I had both shoulders reconstructed and you
know I got a neck issues back. But again I wouldn't change it for
the world because what it taught me, what it was able to propel me
(21:00):
in my life, I would havenever got that anywhere else. Why did
you make Denver your home? Ilove Denver Again, my first experience with
getting out the plane with the windbreakeron, I learned that was only a
couple of months of the year.And this is back in you know,
the early eighties, and it's Denver'snothing like it is now, no doubt
we all know the difference. Butit's still a great city. And I
(21:21):
have a lot of family that livein Los Angeles in southern California, and
I go back and visit. Ido miss the beach, but other than
that, other than my family,which I can get up plane and see
two hours. But I went changeit for the world. I love Denver.
I consider my home and I'm goingto be here forever. I love
it. That's great. Tell meabout the glass business that you have,
then, What exactly you guys dowith the insulated class. We're a wholesale
(21:45):
manufacturer. We manufacture double pane windows. Of our business is residential. We
do do some commercial, so wedo the double pain and we ship all
over the state of Colorado. Wehave four delivery truck to deliver every day,
so we deal with the whole frontrange. We got an active customer
base of probably two hundred and fiftycustomers to the front range, and those
(22:06):
are window suppliers, So you basicallysell to the suppliers. Is that right?
The shop said, like if akid would throwing a ball through your
window, you'll go in the lookup. Okay, any in glass you
call them up, they'll come outand measure your window. Well, then
after they measure, they call us. Got it. We need such and
such window, this thickness, thistint, and you guys make it.
We make it either we deliver tothem where they come and we'll call.
(22:27):
So again, that's our bread andbutter. We're specialized in the residential replacements,
so there's always a pretty good marketfor that, especially the way yeah,
Benver's grown over the last ten years, and our weather and the changes
that happen with windows. I mean, I do real estate, so I
see broken seals all the time.I see so many things because of our
(22:48):
huge shift that we have hot andcold. So you had to learn all
of that. Well, I'm stilllearning, Like I said, I'm very,
very fortunate. I have some justgreat, great people. My younger
brother, Mike Musick, who movedout here in fifteen years ago, he
started working with me and now he'sa production manager. That's a great job.
(23:10):
And I got just an unbelievable staffof ladies that are based like family
to me. And they really runthe show, don't they pretty much.
I'm in the back office and theywake me up, sometimes running back there
to sign a checker. But yeah, so I'm curious Steve Covid, the
window industry was one of many thatgot so backed up during COVID. How
did you guys deal with that?Because you're the ones that are actually making
(23:33):
it, You're the start of theproduction, and people always have those questions,
how can we be out of X, Y and Z. Well,
again, the supply chain was challenging, but the business, believe or not,
actually was better. I mean itgot busier, and I my belief
is that people were sitting home becausethey weren't going to work. And when
you're sitting at home, all ofa sudden you're looking out to your window
(23:55):
and you notice, oh, okay, we got a crack here, or
it's failed, or have you orthey're looking to do an addition to our
house and which one the windows?So business wise, we did pretty well
through the COVID. Very fortunate.Now it's again this city. I mean
you just look around. It's crazy. Yeah, it's not. I've been
(24:15):
here forever. And yeah, youobviously know it's great for business. I
said, I don't know about foryour lifestyle or dealing with traffic, but
for business, it's great having theinflux of people. And how much has
grown? How long do you thinkyou'll do this? Well? I love
playing golf, but I'm horrible,so I don't see. I've never been
a person consists still very long,So I retiring is not an option for
(24:40):
me, I don't think right.And again I have such a great staff
of people. You enjoy your work, don't enjoy it? Yeah? And
again I have people that take careof me and very fortunate to have so
much to that. Yeah. Yeah, And then you mentioned you have so
you have a thirty five year olddaughter, five year old son, so
now you're getting to kind of pairover again without being a player at the
(25:03):
same time. How different is that? And then you also have grandkids too,
so you kind of get the wholepicture. So my daughter Bree,
who's thirty five, I'm so proudof her. She's a VP of a
bank here in town. Has donegreat with her life and married a great
man in Trent. He's Jeff CoachSheriff. And I had two grandkids,
Olivia Michael, who are amazing.They're also a five year old same age
(25:26):
as my son Funny. So yeah, it's very blessed, very fortunate.
And I with my son, sotalking about football again, I coached him
in the Russell Wilson Flag Football Leaguethat just ended, yeah, two weeks
ago. How did that go?Well? It was like with a bunch
of five year olds that I comparedto hurting cats. I mean, they're
(25:49):
all running every direction into your jobis to try to get him organized.
But it was great, so muchfun get to hang out with these little
guys, and it was all theirexperience with not just a sport but football
and flag and so again, fiveyears old, obviously that's very young,
but it was great. And that'sone of the things I look forward to
(26:11):
with my youngest son, Brodie,that he's gonna get an organized sports and
older he gets, and I wantto be a big part of that,
whether it be a coach or assistantcoach. So that's gonna be where I
spend a lot of my time playinggolf maybe a couple times a week and
coaching his teams. And also Michael, my grandson, he'll probably be in
(26:32):
the teams as well. Right,really look forward to that. That is
really fun. Yeah, that's cool, Steve. You have such a great
story. You get a lot ofups with your college career and then even
with the Broncos too, but thena number of downs with injuries. So
the last question I always ask myguests is what do you tell people?
And now you have a staff ofpeople that you probably talk to and mentor
often when they go through their upsand downs in their lives, and you
(26:56):
can kind of use your experience totell people the best way to kind of
get through those times. I'm afrom labor. Control the things you can
control, and regardless what's going onin your personal life, if you have
a good job and keep people careabout your work, that's a great gift
to have, and that's something youhave control. Or if as of you
want to work and show up,you're going to make a good living and
(27:21):
people are going to care about you, so you control that. A lot
of things in your personal life youcan't control. So that's kind of my
advice idea, and it's propelled meand helped me in my life. A
few things you can control, focuson that. There are things usually will
take care of themselves. Speaking ofthat, with the injuries, and I'm
always curious about this when guys gothrough injuries, and that's something that you
can control to a point with yourrehab, but you can't control how fast
(27:45):
things heal. It's hard to comeback from being injured and you had an
acl word completely separated. How difficultwas that mentally? And that was back
in a time when there wasn't themental help and people didn't talk as much
about what goes on up here asopposed to just physically. No, it's
definitely the darkest side of I don'tthink just football, but any sports,
and you get alienated from the teambecause you're basically in the training room and
(28:08):
that's where you're basically living, andthe whole team's out on the field,
and it's it's a dark time becauseyou're connected with the team and you're not
contributing to the team. So it'sreally tough um. Again, you don't
control a lot of things going back, the injuries, you can't control it,
especially in football. They're going tohappen, and they happen to everybody.
And again I had a couple ofshoulders when was with the Broncos my
(28:32):
my rookie year, and I cameback. But it helps when you're in
your twenties, you bounce back alot fast. Oh yeah, without a
doubt. So your fifties and sixties, so your mentality is you know,
I'm going to get back. Andthat's just the nature of the sport.
Again, everyone goes through injury,especially in football, So it's one of
the dark things that I don't thinka lot of people know. They don't
(28:55):
realize how hard it is. Yeah, and you feel so bad for these
guys that a lot of guys' careersgetting into so early. I was fortunately
I was able to get you know, six years in before I got my
major injury. But there's so manyguys that great athletes, had so much
potential, but they got hurt eitherin college or their first year in the
NFL, and they're never the same. They're never the same. Yeah,
(29:18):
But it is what it is.I mean, it's for me. I
wouldn't change it for the world.Is it made me the person I am
today. Right, And it's whatyou signed up for when you sign up
to be that player, right,no doubt about Yeah, Steve, this
was great. I really appreciate youcoming in today and getting to know you
better, and I love that youmade your home here in Colorado. Well,
it's great to be on your show. I've obviously I've seen you for
(29:40):
many, many years, you know. It's been so impressed with you,
and I really appreciate you having me. Thank you all right, Thanks Steve,
Thank you Steve Busick. That wasa lot of fun getting to know
him and his story. I hopeyou enjoyed it as well. You never
know where a wing and a prayermight take You're right, hey. New
episodes of Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired come out every Tuesday. Please
followed, download and review this podcast. Wherever you listen to podcasts. You
(30:03):
can keep up on new podcast releasesby following on Twitter and Instagram at CTFR
podcast and also on the website CTFRpodcast dot com. I'm your host,
Susie Wargin. Thank you for takingthe time out of your day to check
out the podcast, and until nexttime, please be careful, be safe,
and be kind. Take care
At that time it had been inDenver five years. It was my new
home. I loved him here,and so I'll be honest with you,
I was not happy, not atall. It came up a couple of
really good years as leading the teamand tackles, and we were defense.
We were the top I think fivein the NFL. It's like, why
are we doing this when you knowat the time we probably could have done
(00:21):
more on the offensive side. Welcometo Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired
a weekly podcast featuring conversations with professionalathletes and coaches who have experienced being cut,
traded, fired, and or they'reretired. I'm your host, Susie
Wargen. This episode's guest brings usback to the good old days of the
Orange Crush defense. The Broncos wereloaded on the defensive side in the late
(00:43):
seventies and early eighties, and oneof their additions during that time was linebacker
Steve Busick. Steve played his collegeball at USC, a team that was
also loaded during this time, bothoffensively and defensively. He won back to
back Rose Bowls and a national championshipwith the Trojans in nineteen eighty one.
The Bronchos drafted him in the seventhround. Coincidentally, his USC teammate Dennis
(01:03):
Smith was in the same class.Steve played five years with the Bronchos and
had a couple of memorable seasons.Then Dan Reeves traded him to the LA
Rams. While Steve didn't want toleave Denver, the trade did reunite him
with his college head coach John Robinson, so that was good. But the
ACL injury that happened a few gamesinto the season was not so good.
Steve was out of the league inthe next two years. He decided to
(01:26):
make Denver home and took a gambleby purchasing a window company that was going
out of business in nineteen eighty nine. After some lean years, the gamble
paid off and today Busick Insulated Glassis quite the success story making and selling
glass to wholesalers. Hello reinvention,ladies and gentlemen. Steve Busick traded fired
(01:49):
retired podcast with Susie Wargin Steve Busick, how are you real good? This
is very exciting because I think you'rethe first guest that I've had on the
podcast where I don't really know you. I know of you, but we
haven't really had a lot of crossingof paths. Well, I think you
should feel lucky there. No,you came highly recommended from my friend Craig
Silverman. He's a good man.Yeah, I think you were on his
(02:12):
podcast. I was on his podcast. He said, you have to have
Steve on your podcast because he's gota great story. And you were part
of the infamous Orange Crush defense whenthe Broncos were in their heyday in the
eighties, and you just have acool story. And then you've made your
roots here in Denver, even thoughyou grew up in La and you have
a successful business going now. Sowe'll get to all of that. But
thanks for coming in. I reallyappreciate it. Thanks for having me absolutely
(02:35):
so. Growing up in LA yougo to Temple City High School. Was
football kind of always your sport ordid you have other ones? He as
a kid? Looking back, myfavorite sport at the time it was basketball,
And I remember my dad putting upa hoop and I wouldn't come in
the house because I want to keepshooting, so he finally put a light
up in the garage so I couldkeep playing. That's I was just love
(02:57):
shooting basketball. But it obvious tome as I went through high school that
if I had a chance to moveforward in sports, it was going to
be football, without a doubt.Always on the defensive side. You were
a linebacker throughout, Yeah, prettymuch the defensive side, played a little
tight end. But my gift,I think was I could run through things
and not really not care cared howmuch. I don't know if that's a
(03:22):
gift or not, or just notsmart, but anyway, that was you
had no fear one of my attributes. And I was a linebacker from a
very early age that started nine yearsold. And this is back when you
know, obviously it was full contactand so the time back then they touch
you how to lead with your headand tackle with your head and look back.
(03:44):
Isn't that crazy, Steve? Imean so, thankfully so. And
there are a lot of guys whohave played that don't want their sons playing
football, even though a lot ofthose rules have changed. But you think
about when you started in Holy Cow, it was just go for it.
Well, Susie, believe it ornot, I have a five year old
son. I did see that inyour bio that you have a thirty five
year old daughter and a five yearold son at the Modern Family on steroids.
(04:04):
But anyway, I get asked allthe time, or his name is
Brody, are you gonna let Brodieplay football? I'm going you know,
I'm not going to discourage him,but I'm not going to push him towards
it. I think kids, forme anyway, being exposed to everything,
and then they kind of make theirchoice what direction they're going to go.
Sure, I really hope he doesn'tgo into football. To tell you the
(04:26):
truth, I just know what weknow now. But again, I can
already tell he's got it in hisDNA. He loves the tackle, loves
to wrestle, and we'll see.But again, I would not promote it.
But I also look back and withoutfootball, I have no idea where
my life would have been. Taughtme so many things, and I was
(04:47):
one of those kids it was kindof getting in trouble from a very early
age, and being in football givesyou so much discipline and said goals and
how to work with people, andthat carried me through my entire life.
Without football, it's kind of scarywhere I might ended up, absolutely,
especially in a big city like La. Right. Yeah, yeah, did
(05:08):
you have a coach or two ora teacher that was very influential in those
early years. My high school coach, we were fortunate. We won the
CIF in California. Three ACIF,which is the championship in our school had
a great tradition of winning a lotand the coach was Bob Hitchcock, and
he was kind of a legend inan area. And I was very fortunate
(05:30):
to be able to play in thatcity, in that environment, and then
getting to go to USC after that, I mean, looking back, very
very blast, very fortunate, andUSC at that time was that was the
school to go to. Did youhave other schools that recruited you, Yeah,
I did. Actually one of themwas see You. Back in the
day you could go to six visits. SeeU was one of them. And
(05:50):
I tell this story. So Igrew up in LA and my heaviest coat
was a windbreaker and I get offthe plane in January and I remember go
to the stock show. We goright from the plane to the stock show,
and it happened to be one ofthose weekends where I think the high
was minus five windshield typical stock showweather. Yes, can I get I'm
(06:13):
walking around for the next two days, basically hating it because I was freezing
my right still off. You know, I kind of already made my mind
scpause again. Back the NSC waskind of what Alabama is today, just
loaded with players and if you wantedto have any future in the NFL,
that was probably the best place togo. But that was my first experience
(06:33):
in Colorado. It's kind of ironicthat ended up getting drafted by the Moroccos
and make it in my home therest of my life so interesting. Yeah,
and now you have much more thana windbreaker, don't you, Steve
Yes, without a doubt. Beforewe started, you talked about the visit
that you had from the USC coachwhen he came into your home. Back
then it was John Robinson and sittingin my parents' living room. I'll never
(06:57):
forget this, he was saying,you know, we like you had come
in our school, a great education, obviously football and one of the things
he had he had a couple ofrings on. He goes, when was
a Rose Bowl ring? He goes, I can pretty much guarantee you you'll
have a Rose Bowl ring and anotherring on his under hand, and it
was National Championship ring. He goes, there's a real good chance to'll have
(07:18):
one of these as well. Well. After my four years there, I
had two Rose Bowl rings and oneNational Championship ring. That's crazy. Back
to back Rose Bowl back Rose Bowlsstate in Michigan. That was a year
and like seventy eight, we werenational champions with a loaded roster. I
mean future NFL guys on that teamlike no other. Dennis Smith, who
(07:39):
obviously Ring of Famer in Colorado.We grew up pretty close in the same
area as Ronnie Lott Hall of Famerin the NFL, Anthony Muno's Hall of
Famer. I tell everyone Charles Whitewon the Heisman, and tell me who
was a blocking fullback at the time, and it was Marcus Allen who won
the Heisman to your later. Sothat's the kind of and I'm probably leaving
(08:01):
out a lot of people, butit was absolutely absolutely star started team.
Yeah, doubt when you're at thatkind of a level at USC and you
went back to back Rose Bowls andone of them's a National championship, do
you just have that mindset then that, Oh my gosh, it's almost easy
for me. It was not easybecause we were so regiment back then.
(08:24):
I mean it was when you gotonto the football field. In the meeting
rooms, I mean, the coachingwas really really strict, no messing around.
This is like interesting business. Myexperience, my first year endeavor was
kind of the polar opposite because guyskind of were always joking around and having
fun, guys like Tom Jackson andyou know, you're just cracking jokes and
(08:46):
uh. And it was nothing likethat at USC, nothing like that,
which was a nice relief because thatsc was Again I wouldn't change it for
the world, but looking back,I mean it was so regiment I mean
almost military style exactly, no doubtabout it. But with that game success,
yes, and for my life itwas somebody needed. I was not
(09:07):
in a lot of trouble, butI got my share of predicaments and without
football and what it taught me,and who knows where I would have been.
Right, some people are in highschool and then they go into the
military because they need that discip Whenyou went to USC and you got the
same thing, right, Yeah,it's a great comparison. There you go,
there you go. Okay, soyou have some really really good times
obviously at USC, and then innineteen eighty one. You get drafted by
(09:31):
the Broncos in the seventh round.It is Dan Reeves first year. Your
class includes your USC teammate, DennisMiller's in there, Dennis Smith. Dennis
Miller thinking about Red Miller, whocame before. Dennis Smith is in there,
Kenny Lanier's in there. Yes,you have a good class that comes
into what is already a pretty spectaculardefense. You mentioned Tom Jackson and that
that Orange Crush defense that was there. Was that just like wow. I
(09:54):
mean you already come from a wowfactor at USC with all those Guys's no
doubt. I mean, you walkin, I'll never free get my first
mini camp. I'm sitting at atable across from Randy gradish Are and Bob
Swinson and Steve Foley would I mean, it was just unbelievable. I mean,
you're a star struck. All ofa sudden, I pillo arm come
around my neck kind of and kindof holds me close to his chest.
(10:16):
He goes, Steve Busick, you'rea new backer here, right, And
I look up and it's Tom Jackson. He's got a hold of me,
and he goes, if anyone givesyou any crap here, you come talk
to me, okay, And hesaid it kindingly, but that was the
type of guy he is. Andthere were so many, I mean guys
that were just not only great footballplayers, but also great people, great
(10:37):
guys. Again, very very blasted, very fortunate that I got to be
drafted by the Denver Broncos. Thedifference between the NFL and the college game
was there that big of a differencebecause you guys were so elite at USC,
I will tell you, I meanthat that was a big thing.
I've heard from other people that wentfrom college to NFL how big a jump
(10:58):
it was from other schools At theUSC. I mean, obviously it was
still a big jump, but again, we were so talented, so there
was definitely a learning curve there.But it wasn't as much as I kind
of thought. I could see thatbecause again where I came from to the
NFL, it was not an easybut it's never easy, but again it
was definitely beneficial. You guys goto the playoffs in eighty three, in
(11:22):
the eighty three eighty four season,so you have a couple of seasons where
you don't make the playoffs. Whatwas that like? Having come from such
success in college I remember my firstyear, I think we were ten and
six and barely missed the playoffs.Then we were in the strike season,
I think when he played eleven ortwelve games, so that was almost like
a washout. And then we gotthe playoffs, and I think it was
(11:46):
eighty four. We were thirteen andthree. Heck of a team that was
still dominated by the defense and thatwas carrying us back. Then John obviously
was amazing quarterback, but the firstcouple of years, I mean he at
his growing pains as well, sowe still relied heavily on the defense.
And then uh eighty five, believeor not, we are at eleven and
(12:07):
five, which you would think isa heck of a record. We didn't
make the playoffs. That should makethe playoffs. Yeah, we didn't make
the playoffs here, so anyway,got to play in the playoffs. And
then uh eighty six. I gottraded to La Rams And I'm sure we'll
discuss, yes, but let's dodiscuss it up. Well, were you
in the season? Was a midseason or oh it was right before the
(12:28):
season started, a week before.There was at the time rumors everything I
was getting traded and I didn't knowwhere I was going, but I remember
getting called in a week before theseason it started, and see what,
all through training camp, through therumors, all through training camp, Dan
Reees sets me down. He goes, well, Steve, you know,
I appreciate your time here is justa great guy, great coach. And
(12:48):
he goes, I think we didto you a benefit though. You're going
to LA and my old coach wasJohn Robinson who took over the La Rams.
So it was kind of almost likea homecome. Well it was a
homecoming because where I grew up.So I traded of the Rams and was
everything was going great till I thinkit was the fifth game in the year
in Philadelphia, ron Gio Worski quarterbackat the time, I was in a
(13:11):
blitz and they were known to havethe worst AstroTurf. It horrible. Sure
enough, I planned and my bodywent one way. My knee went together.
I tore my acl not toward it, but I tore it off the
bone. Oh jeez. So anyway, that ended my season, which was
again going really well. But thatwas kind of the beginning of the end.
(13:33):
Okay for me. What was itlike, Steve, when you actually
were traded and you go from aplace you've been for five seasons and you
really had You had a great season. I think it was nineteen eighty four
that was probably your best season whereyou started every game, you had a
couple of picks, you had asack. And then there's Dan, who
you respect, and sure he's saying, you know, we're gonna do your
favor and trade you. But stillit's uprooting, it's moving. And that's
(13:56):
what I love to hear about thebackstory of what goes into it, because
it's not just you know you're gonnago from here to here and it's a
job transfer. There's so much morethat goes into it. Without a doubt.
At that time, it had beenin Denver five years. It was
my new home. I loved himhere, and so I'll be honest with
you, I was not happy,not at all. It came up a
couple of really good years. Iwas leading the team and tackles and we
(14:18):
were defense. We were the topI think five in the NFL. It's
like, why are we doing thiswhen you know at the time we probably
could have done more on the offensiveside, but for whatever reason, and
it was Pat Boland's first year andhe made a splash, and Ricky Huney
was drafted by Cincinnati I think ina seventh overall pick. He brought him
(14:39):
in and again he was a greatplayer, good guy. There's nothing against
him. Being honest. I wasnot happy, but I'm a firm believer
that things are meant to be.And unfortunately it didn't work out in LA
and unfortunately for Ricky, I thinkDenver got rid of him a couple of
years later. But you know,it's football, I mean it is,
and it's a business. It's abusines that's what's tough, and I feel
(15:01):
blessed. I got seven years in. If someone out of my first year
said we're gonna give you seven yearsin the NFL, I would have jumped
all over it. I mean becausethe averages, you beat the average by
far. Yeah, I think theaverage, and to this day, I
think it's still like three and ahalf years. So you know, I
would have loved to play more.But again I'm from believer things are having
for reasons. So after your ACLinjury, you don't go back to the
(15:24):
Rams and you go to the thenSan Diego Chargers. Interesting, so I
was going through camp and my kneejust was not coming around, and so
of course I thought I wasn't rehabingenough, so you just keep rehabing the
heck out of it. I flunkedthe physical. I thought I was done
for football. I was married atthe time, had a new child,
so I was ready to make myhome in Denver and done well. My
(15:46):
agent calls me right after I gethome from being released from LA and goes,
hey, San Diego Chargers want tosign you. I'm like, Simon,
are you crazy? Don't they realizethat my knee is physical? Yeah?
Exactly, And they said no,they don't care. They want to
sign you and they're hurting at linebacker. So I go, what the heck,
I'm getting more paychecks and yeah,So I went there, played a
(16:08):
couple of games, reinjured the kneeand that was the final straw. But
I was shocked they picked me up. But again, I got an extra
year in there, so I stillbe it. Absolutely, I flunked the
physical one team, but the otherteam picks me up and they still had
you play, and they hit meon the active roster from day one,
where they depleted at line I mean, I didn't think they were that to
(16:29):
play. So after your second kneeinjury and you're done with the Chargers.
Then you go into retirement from football. From football, yes, but at
a time when guys aren't making millionsand millions of dollars, so you've got
to find something else to do,Susie, I had about one year where
I had time to financially figure thingsout. Newly married, one year old.
(16:52):
For me, I had never doneanything but played football in my life.
So I'm twenty nine, almost thirtyyears old, got a young family,
and it's I remember, a veryscary time because you just didn't know
what you want to do with therest of your life. And a lot
of guys struggle with that. Imean, and the guys who usually played
longer. I think I have moreissues with it because it is a tough
transition, there's no doubt about it. I mean, you start playing as
(17:15):
a kid and that's all you've done, and I'll send You're thirty years old
and here's the world. And again, the money, like you say,
wasn't anything close to what it is, so I had about a year to
figure things out. This is backin nineteen eighty nine, and the economy
back then wasn't great. I gotmy real estate license, thinking okay,
that's the direction that didn't go anywhere. A buddy of mine was a home
(17:37):
builder and he was buying his windowsfrom this little outfit getting ready to go
out of business, and he goes, you should go look at this.
You can get it for almost nothing. It's got tons of potential. And
so I go talk to the gentlemanand he goes, yeah, just take
over some debt. And I hadn'tagain enough to take care of that started
the company. When I say started, there was three employees, a beat
(17:59):
up truck, and basically a garagewe were working out of. So it
wasn't like a major window company.And uh. First year, I remember
sleepless nights going what the heck haveI got myself into? Did you know
anything about windows? Nothing? Okay, I mean, oh my gosh.
So I jumped in and I gotthe person I told you, I'm never
smart enough to quit. I keepgoing. So and that was June first,
(18:22):
nineteen eighty nine. You opened MusicInsulated Glass. The first year again,
scary time. The business wasn't goingwell, and I get now why
the guy was going on business.It makes sense, but again I was
too stubborn to quit one another year, and then things started going the right
direction and started building up clients.We started growing, and this little place
(18:42):
we were in it was only aboutit was down in Globeville, like three
thousand square feet, little tiny literallylike back to the stock show again,
exactly right by the National Rest.So everything's come back full circle. But
anyway, so we're in my thirdyear and we started taking off and we
outgrew the place. That building I'min now was owned by PPG who had
(19:04):
a fifteen thousand square warehouse off asixth avenue and an acre of land,
and I was able to purchase thatand expand the business and going on thirty
five years. Yeah, for themost part, it's all been great years.
Got very lucky. I think myattitude towards sports where you never quit
and you never give up, carriedme through those tough times. Not smart
(19:27):
enough to quit anything, so Ikeep going. Did you study business at
USC or anything along those lines havehelped you with owning a business, Susie.
I'm twelve units away from graduating fromUSC, which will never happened.
But back in the day, again, um USC was not you went to
school, but football was number onething business school or anything out of the
(19:52):
class, and that's all you hadto do to stay eligible. But the
fact that you've created such a successfulbusiness, I'm so curious how, oh
you kind of figured out a businessplan along the way you grew from your
three employees to now what you have. I can't remember twenty seven employees.
Well, again, going back tomy roots in football, what taught me?
Teamwork? One of the things Ikind of pride myself. I'm good
(20:15):
at knowing what I don't know,and I didn't know the industry. So
I was able to hire a coupleof really good people at the time that
we're in the business for ten fifteenyears, and I knew I had to
get people around me that knew whatthey were doing and art And again that's
related to growing up in sports,especially football, team first, and it's
(20:37):
who you have around you that makesyou better. And that's exactly what I
learned. So going back to whatwe were talking earlier, I mean without
playing football, and again, youknow, I had my share of injuries.
I had other than my knee,I had both shoulders reconstructed and you
know I got a neck issues back. But again I wouldn't change it for
the world because what it taught me, what it was able to propel me
(21:00):
in my life, I would havenever got that anywhere else. Why did
you make Denver your home? Ilove Denver Again, my first experience with
getting out the plane with the windbreakeron, I learned that was only a
couple of months of the year.And this is back in you know,
the early eighties, and it's Denver'snothing like it is now, no doubt
we all know the difference. Butit's still a great city. And I
(21:21):
have a lot of family that livein Los Angeles in southern California, and
I go back and visit. Ido miss the beach, but other than
that, other than my family,which I can get up plane and see
two hours. But I went changeit for the world. I love Denver.
I consider my home and I'm goingto be here forever. I love
it. That's great. Tell meabout the glass business that you have,
then, What exactly you guys dowith the insulated class. We're a wholesale
(21:45):
manufacturer. We manufacture double pane windows. Of our business is residential. We
do do some commercial, so wedo the double pain and we ship all
over the state of Colorado. Wehave four delivery truck to deliver every day,
so we deal with the whole frontrange. We got an active customer
base of probably two hundred and fiftycustomers to the front range, and those
(22:06):
are window suppliers, So you basicallysell to the suppliers. Is that right?
The shop said, like if akid would throwing a ball through your
window, you'll go in the lookup. Okay, any in glass you
call them up, they'll come outand measure your window. Well, then
after they measure, they call us. Got it. We need such and
such window, this thickness, thistint, and you guys make it.
We make it either we deliver tothem where they come and we'll call.
(22:27):
So again, that's our bread andbutter. We're specialized in the residential replacements,
so there's always a pretty good marketfor that, especially the way yeah,
Benver's grown over the last ten years, and our weather and the changes
that happen with windows. I mean, I do real estate, so I
see broken seals all the time.I see so many things because of our
(22:48):
huge shift that we have hot andcold. So you had to learn all
of that. Well, I'm stilllearning, Like I said, I'm very,
very fortunate. I have some justgreat, great people. My younger
brother, Mike Musick, who movedout here in fifteen years ago, he
started working with me and now he'sa production manager. That's a great job.
(23:10):
And I got just an unbelievable staffof ladies that are based like family
to me. And they really runthe show, don't they pretty much.
I'm in the back office and theywake me up, sometimes running back there
to sign a checker. But yeah, so I'm curious Steve Covid, the
window industry was one of many thatgot so backed up during COVID. How
did you guys deal with that?Because you're the ones that are actually making
(23:33):
it, You're the start of theproduction, and people always have those questions,
how can we be out of X, Y and Z. Well,
again, the supply chain was challenging, but the business, believe or not,
actually was better. I mean itgot busier, and I my belief
is that people were sitting home becausethey weren't going to work. And when
you're sitting at home, all ofa sudden you're looking out to your window
(23:55):
and you notice, oh, okay, we got a crack here, or
it's failed, or have you orthey're looking to do an addition to our
house and which one the windows?So business wise, we did pretty well
through the COVID. Very fortunate.Now it's again this city. I mean
you just look around. It's crazy. Yeah, it's not. I've been
(24:15):
here forever. And yeah, youobviously know it's great for business. I
said, I don't know about foryour lifestyle or dealing with traffic, but
for business, it's great having theinflux of people. And how much has
grown? How long do you thinkyou'll do this? Well? I love
playing golf, but I'm horrible,so I don't see. I've never been
a person consists still very long,So I retiring is not an option for
(24:40):
me, I don't think right.And again I have such a great staff
of people. You enjoy your work, don't enjoy it? Yeah? And
again I have people that take careof me and very fortunate to have so
much to that. Yeah. Yeah, And then you mentioned you have so
you have a thirty five year olddaughter, five year old son, so
now you're getting to kind of pairover again without being a player at the
(25:03):
same time. How different is that? And then you also have grandkids too,
so you kind of get the wholepicture. So my daughter Bree,
who's thirty five, I'm so proudof her. She's a VP of a
bank here in town. Has donegreat with her life and married a great
man in Trent. He's Jeff CoachSheriff. And I had two grandkids,
Olivia Michael, who are amazing.They're also a five year old same age
(25:26):
as my son Funny. So yeah, it's very blessed, very fortunate.
And I with my son, sotalking about football again, I coached him
in the Russell Wilson Flag Football Leaguethat just ended, yeah, two weeks
ago. How did that go?Well? It was like with a bunch
of five year olds that I comparedto hurting cats. I mean, they're
(25:49):
all running every direction into your jobis to try to get him organized.
But it was great, so muchfun get to hang out with these little
guys, and it was all theirexperience with not just a sport but football
and flag and so again, fiveyears old, obviously that's very young,
but it was great. And that'sone of the things I look forward to
(26:11):
with my youngest son, Brodie,that he's gonna get an organized sports and
older he gets, and I wantto be a big part of that,
whether it be a coach or assistantcoach. So that's gonna be where I
spend a lot of my time playinggolf maybe a couple times a week and
coaching his teams. And also Michael, my grandson, he'll probably be in
(26:32):
the teams as well. Right,really look forward to that. That is
really fun. Yeah, that's cool, Steve. You have such a great
story. You get a lot ofups with your college career and then even
with the Broncos too, but thena number of downs with injuries. So
the last question I always ask myguests is what do you tell people?
And now you have a staff ofpeople that you probably talk to and mentor
often when they go through their upsand downs in their lives, and you
(26:56):
can kind of use your experience totell people the best way to kind of
get through those times. I'm afrom labor. Control the things you can
control, and regardless what's going onin your personal life, if you have
a good job and keep people careabout your work, that's a great gift
to have, and that's something youhave control. Or if as of you
want to work and show up,you're going to make a good living and
(27:21):
people are going to care about you, so you control that. A lot
of things in your personal life youcan't control. So that's kind of my
advice idea, and it's propelled meand helped me in my life. A
few things you can control, focuson that. There are things usually will
take care of themselves. Speaking ofthat, with the injuries, and I'm
always curious about this when guys gothrough injuries, and that's something that you
can control to a point with yourrehab, but you can't control how fast
(27:45):
things heal. It's hard to comeback from being injured and you had an
acl word completely separated. How difficultwas that mentally? And that was back
in a time when there wasn't themental help and people didn't talk as much
about what goes on up here asopposed to just physically. No, it's
definitely the darkest side of I don'tthink just football, but any sports,
and you get alienated from the teambecause you're basically in the training room and
(28:08):
that's where you're basically living, andthe whole team's out on the field,
and it's it's a dark time becauseyou're connected with the team and you're not
contributing to the team. So it'sreally tough um. Again, you don't
control a lot of things going back, the injuries, you can't control it,
especially in football. They're going tohappen, and they happen to everybody.
And again I had a couple ofshoulders when was with the Broncos my
(28:32):
my rookie year, and I cameback. But it helps when you're in
your twenties, you bounce back alot fast. Oh yeah, without a
doubt. So your fifties and sixties, so your mentality is you know,
I'm going to get back. Andthat's just the nature of the sport.
Again, everyone goes through injury,especially in football, So it's one of
the dark things that I don't thinka lot of people know. They don't
(28:55):
realize how hard it is. Yeah, and you feel so bad for these
guys that a lot of guys' careersgetting into so early. I was fortunately
I was able to get you know, six years in before I got my
major injury. But there's so manyguys that great athletes, had so much
potential, but they got hurt eitherin college or their first year in the
NFL, and they're never the same. They're never the same. Yeah,
(29:18):
But it is what it is.I mean, it's for me. I
wouldn't change it for the world.Is it made me the person I am
today. Right, And it's whatyou signed up for when you sign up
to be that player, right,no doubt about Yeah, Steve, this
was great. I really appreciate youcoming in today and getting to know you
better, and I love that youmade your home here in Colorado. Well,
it's great to be on your show. I've obviously I've seen you for
(29:40):
many, many years, you know. It's been so impressed with you,
and I really appreciate you having me. Thank you all right, Thanks Steve,
Thank you Steve Busick. That wasa lot of fun getting to know
him and his story. I hopeyou enjoyed it as well. You never
know where a wing and a prayermight take You're right, hey. New
episodes of Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired come out every Tuesday. Please
followed, download and review this podcast. Wherever you listen to podcasts. You
(30:03):
can keep up on new podcast releasesby following on Twitter and Instagram at CTFR
podcast and also on the website CTFRpodcast dot com. I'm your host,
Susie Wargin. Thank you for takingthe time out of your day to check
out the podcast, and until nexttime, please be careful, be safe,
and be kind. Take care
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