Former Broncos quarterback Steve Tensi has died at age 81. He started 30 games in the AFL era and two games after the club joined the NFL.
Former Denver Broncos quarterback Steve Tensi has died, the team announced Monday. He was 81 years old.
Following the Frank Tripucka era, the Broncos bounced between six quarterbacks before landing on Tensi in 1967.
Tensi was a signal-caller for the AFL’s San Diego Chargers before a trade brought him to Denver in 1967. From 1967-70, Tensi started 32 games over those four seasons for the Broncos. He finished his Denver career with a 10-21-0 record.
In 1967, Tensi set a career-high in touchdowns with 16, which is as many as former Bronco Russell Wilson had in 2022.
In 1969, Tensi ranked in the top five (of 10 AFL teams) in touchdowns (14) and passer rating. After the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, Tensi started two games to help the franchise transition to the new league. He threw the first touchdown pass for the Broncos in their NFL history. He retired at 28, due to several injuries.
After his professional football career, Tensi was a quarterbacks coach for Wichita State University and then coached wide receivers, an unusual move for former quarterbacks, with the World Football League’s Chicago Fire.
To read more about his football legacy, the Broncos put gave a wonderful memorial on their website.
Former NFL wide receiver Rod Sherman has died at age 79. He totaled 38 receptions for 661 yards and 3 touchdowns with the Broncos in 1972.
Former pro football wide receiver Rod Sherman died at age 79 on Thursday, the Las Vegas Raiders announced.
Sherman was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in the fourth round of the 1966 NFL draft, but he chose to start his career with the Oakland Raiders, who picked him in the first round of the AFL draft that year.
He won an AFL title in his first season with the Raiders and then spent one year with the Cincinnati Bengals before returning to Oakland. After three more seasons with the Raiders, Sherman joined the Denver Broncos in 1972.
Sherman played just one season in Denver, but it was the best season of his career. He posted career highs in receptions (38), receiving yards (661) and touchdowns (three) with the Broncos in 1972.
Sherman then spent the final year of his career with the Los Angeles Rams in 1973 before retiring from the NFL. He ended his career with 105 receptions for 1,576 yards and five touchdowns in seven seasons.
Michael Roebuck, a 45-year-old first-year referee in Pennsylvania, collapsed during halftime of a high school basketball game and died.
Tragedy struck at a Pennsylvania high school when a referee passed away after collapsing during halftime of a boys basketball game on Friday, according to TribLive.
Michael Roebuck was a 45-year-old first-year official from New Stantion, Penn., according to the outlet. He was refereeing a junior varsity game between Yough (Herminie, Pa.) and Mt. Pleasant (Pa.) at the time of the collapse.
Roebuck was about to take the court for the second half of the game when he went to the ground, according to the outlet. Other officials were leaving the dressing room and ran to get help. Paramedics tried to resuscitate Roebuck for nearly an hour, TribLive said, but he died on the way to the hospital.
The game was suspended and the varsity game originally scheduled to take place immediately afterward was postponed.
Westmoreland County officials chapter assigner Bernie George spoke with TribLive.
“He was new, and I saw him recently and he said how much he enjoyed officiating. This puts what we do in perspective,” George said.
The cause of death is under investigation, according to TribLive.
Larry Zimmer’s career spanned over 500 Broncos games, including more than 20 playoff games and four Super Bowls.
Former Denver Broncos broadcaster and Colorado Sports Hall of Fame panelist Larry Zimmer has died at age 88, the team announced Sunday.
Zimmer was on the Broncos KOA broadcast team for 25 years, where he made several iconic calls from the booth when he began in 1971, ending in 1996. Alongside the Broncos, Zimmer also did the broadcasts for the University of Colorado Buffaloes. His career spanned over 500 Broncos games, including more than 20 playoff games and four Super Bowls. He also called over 1,000 Buffs games.
During and after his time as both a color commentator and play-by-play voice, Zimmer was a part of the Broncos’ Ring of Fame committee, a part of the Denver organization for 52 years.
In 2004, Zimmer published his book, “Stadium Stories: Denver Broncos: Colorful tales of the Orange and Blue,” where he told stories of his days in the booth, stories that the average fan may not even be aware of.
Zimmer is a member of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 2010. Fittingly, the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame’s home resides within the home of the team he spent more than half a century calling games for, Empower Field at Mile High.
Former Broncos defensive lineman Harald Hasselbach, a two-time Super Bowl champion and a Grey Cup champion, passed away at 56 years old.
Devastated my friend & teammate Harold Hasselbach has left us much too early. A gentle giant of a man who was always so kind to me and my family, especially my kids. Praying for his incredible wife Aundrea & their four amazing children, Ashlee, Terran, Aven and Kian. RIP my… pic.twitter.com/9ftJNJjwvl
Former Denver Broncos defensive lineman Harald Hasselbach has died, the team confirmed Thursday. Hasselbach was 56.
Hasselbach died peacefully at home after a six-month battle with cancer, his family told the team’s official website.
Hasselbach was born in the Netherlands and spent time growing up in Indonesia and Kenya before playing high school football in Canada and playing college football for the Washington Huskies.
After being picked by the Calgary Stampeders in the fifth round of the 1989 CFL draft, Hasselbach went on to earn CFL All-Star honors in 1993 and win the Grey Cup in 1992.
After playing in Canada, Hasselbach joined the Broncos in 1994 and he went on to play seven seasons in Denver, winning back-to-back Super Bowls in the 1997 and 1998 seasons. He totaled 154 tackles, 17.5 sacks and four forced fumbles in 112 games with the Broncos.
A member of the B.C. Football Hall of Fame, Hasselbach coached defensive linemen at Regis Jesuit High School in Colorado after hanging up his cleats.
A member of the first Denver Broncos team has passed away.
Offensive lineman Ken Adamson died peacefully at his home in California on Tuesday, the Broncos announced. He was 85 years old.
After playing college football at Notre Dame, Adamson was on the inaugural Denver team that helped launch the AFL in 1960. He started 14 games (of a 14-game schedule) in 1960, 12 games in 1961 and four games in 1962 before retiring from pro football.
Adamson’s best year came in 1961 when he earned All-AFL honors from the Associated Press. Adamson was part of an offensive line that blocked for running back Gene Mingo, a two-time AFL All-Star and a member of the Broncos’ Ring of Fame.
Denver went 4-9-1 in its inaugural season, most notably winning the first game in American Football League history 13-10 against the then-Boston Patriots.
The former guard is survived by his wife, Joyce Adamson; brother, David Adamson; three daughters, Kelley, Seanne and Colleen; sons-in-law, Matt and Charlie; and five grandchildren, Sean, Kenny, Clare, Elizabeth and Emily.
Broncos Wire sends condolences to Adamson’s family and friends.
The Who Dat Nation got a little smaller on Saturday with the news that longtime celebrity fan Jimmy Buffett has died at 76. Buffett, a lifelong New Orleans Saints fan and native of Pascagoula, Miss., was a frequent sight at the Caesars Superdome and Saints training camp over the years.
Buffett was also a legendary singer and songwriter, building an empire out of his unique brand of country music with pop and calypso influences that celebrated the “beach bum” lifestyle. A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, he developed an appreciation of the natural world around him that led to charitable efforts supporting hurricane relief, wildlife conservation, and cleanup following the BP oil spill disaster.
The Saints issued a statement on Buffett’s passing, expressing condolences to his family, friends, and sprawling “Parrothead” fanbase: “He was an iconic performer, a true Saints fan, a dear friend of New Orleans, and the life of the party. Jimmy will be dearly missed but celebrated forever.”
From football to flying & the Florida keys grateful for this man who was a true inspiration to make every dream become a reality. We were all made better by your music, laughter and presence. RIP Jimmy Buffet pic.twitter.com/Arb58pptxZ
Protections for high school athletes are being ignored and kids are dying as a result.
Even though youth sports are a multi-billion-dollar industry, even eclipsing the National Football League, protections for high school athletes are being ignored and kids are dying as a result.
The Louisville Courier-Journal, part of the USA Today Network, did some significant reporting on the topic and found that most states and thousands of high schools don’t have “gold standard” policies in place to protect young athletes. What’s frustrating is that the cost of life-saving equipment, often used as a reason not to implement safeguards, is a tiny fraction of what schools spend on athletics.
Although many have introduced legislation at the state level to fix the problem, it has been routinely defeated or watered down and, according to the paper’s reporting, policies and laws that are in place have little enforcement and are often ignored.
Sudden death in high school sports is not a rare occurrence.
It happens multiple times across the nation every year. And sudden cardiac arrest, the leading cause of death in high school athletes, happens once every three days during the school year.
This isn’t just a Kentucky problem or a Midwest problem. It’s not only a big-city problem or a small-town America problem. And it’s not just a football problem.
Athletes collapsing and dying is a national problem ― one that happens again and again, but rarely goes beyond a local news story.
Schools drill for fires and tornadoes because one day, they could happen.
In the last 10 years, seven students have died from a tornado on school property in the U.S.
In the last 10 years, no student has died from a fire at a school.
In the last 10 years, at least 200 students have died playing high school sports.
And that’s a conservative estimate.
While football and other cardio-intensive sports dominate the death rates, golf hasn’t been completely spared.
Tyler Erickson was a senior at Holmes County High School in Bonifay, Florida, and was practicing for an upcoming golf tournament when he was found dead on the course. He was just two days shy of his 18th birthday.
Tyler Erickson, 17 A senior at Holmes County High School in Florida was found lifeless on Monday at a golf course while practicing for an upcoming golf tournament, according to his family. Doctor believes he might have had a heart attack or blood clot and requested an autopsy pic.twitter.com/NmwxGgxKhy
For those who have high school athletes in their families, the paper offered an important series of 10 questions that should be asked of the local school administrators. Among them:
Who determines what sports/events get covered by an athletic trainer and which don’t — and how is that determined?
Who is the point person for emergency situations on the field? In the weight room?
There are many dangers for high school golfers, but heat is often the one that is most prevalent. One part of the in-depth series highlights the four ways that 90% of deaths are caused: head, heart, heat and hemoglobin.
Expanded, those conditions look like catastrophic brain injuries (head), sudden cardiac arrest (heart), exertional heat stroke (heat) and exertional sickling (hemoglobin).
SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Korey Stringer Institute, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
One of the greatest to ever play football at Notre Dame died on Tuesday. Johnny Lujack, 1947 Heisman Trophy winner and three-time national champion was 98-years old.
Simply put – you can’t tell the story of Notre Dame football without going into great detail on Lujack. He was a force at quarterback in the 1940’s, putting his college career on pause as he enlisted in the Navy during World War II.
As you would expect, the college football and Notre Dame communities took to social media to share their thoughts on the passing of such a legend. Here are a few of the most notable memories:
Johnny Lujack, winner of the 1947 Heisman Trophy and on the short list of greatest players to ever play for the University of Notre Dame, has died. He was 98-years old.
In addition to winning the Heisman Trophy, Lujack helped guide the Irish to three national championships as a player. He was a stellar quarterback both as a passer and a runner and also stared as a defensive back when the game was much differently played.
Lujack, along with his head coach Frank Leahy left Notre Dame in the middle of their careers to enlist in the United States Navy during World War II. Two of the three national championships they won together came after they returned.
Following his time at Notre Dame, Lujack was drafted by the Chicago Bears where he he’d throw for over 6,000-yards and become one of the most mobile players to play the position at his time.
Simply put – you can’t tell the story of Notre Dame football or college football for that matter without telling of Lujack.
