Elway to be enducted to Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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John Elway is still putting the finishing touches on what is supposed to be an eight-minute speech. He is struggling with the challenge of trying to thank so many people in such a short amount of time.
Elway is anticipating the surge of emotion that will hit him like a blitzing linebacker as he takes the stage for his official induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is, gulp, going to open the door to a mixed bag of personal feelings -- from the pride of the achievement to the sadness of his late father's absence -- to a capacity crowd at Fawcett Stadium and millions of television viewers throughout the country watching ESPN's live coverage.
But so far Elway is keeping calm, just as he did through 41 career comebacks he engineered for the Denver Broncos. It also helps that he is the national pitchman for PREVACID, a prescribed medication for relief from heartburn and acid-reflux disease.
"I know I gave the Colorado fans a lot of heartburns with the 41 comebacks," Elway said with a laugh. "I'm sure that they experienced a lot of acid reflux, too."
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Actually, it was fans of each opponent -- especially those Ohioans who watched Elway twice manufacture playoff miracles against the Browns -- that ended up on the high end of the stomach-churning meter.
If those among the Bronco faithful experienced discomfort during Elway's career, they certainly have learned to forgive and forget. This small town is seeing a massive invasion of fans making the long journey from Colorado. And the "Orange Crush" will account for a large number of the estimated 22,000 expected to attend the enshrinement ceremonies, breaking the record 17,000 on hand mainly for the 2002 induction of another quarterback from the great draft class of 1983: Jim Kelly.
"It should be the biggest Hall of Fame weekend in the history of this place," said Dave Motts, the Hall's vice president of marketing/operations.
John Elway finished his career with a firm grasp on the Lombardi trophy.
"I guess it doesn't surprise me," Elway said. "I just know that there's such a love affair between the fans of Colorado and the Broncos. And I think there's something to my being the first Bronco to go into the Hall.
"It's quite an honor and an unbelievable feeling to have those people show up. They never cease to amaze me as far as their loyalty."
Elway's career is defined by those many comebacks he orchestrated. There was something special about his cool, confident demeanor in methodically making all of the big throws necessary to march the Broncos from one end of the field to the other and ultimately for the winning points. He was the consummate "Mr. Clutch."
However, if you ask Elway, the word that best describes his NFL career is "persistence," which after three Super Bowl losses paid off with back-to-back Super Bowl wins through his final two seasons.
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"We had been in those three (previous) Super Bowls, got blown out in those three Super Bowls and kept fighting," Elway said. "I kind of leave the legacy up to other people and how they want to define it. But I walked away realizing that I did everything that I could do to try to be the best player that I could be. I was fortunate to play long enough and with an organization to be able to win the Super Bowl.
"I look back on it and, sure, there were ups and downs. But I don't think I would trade anything."
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