Monday, August 31, 2009

How an old school #7 helmet is feeding families

Whenever I speak to groups, I always leave time for questions at the end. Inevitably I get asked “Who’s your favorite athlete to interview?” It’s a tough question, but there’s only one answer.

I’m not trying to name drop, but I’ve talked to, met, and/or interviewed some pretty incredible athletes and people. Gordie Howe, Lou Holtz, Bill Walton, Tom Jackson, Johnny Bench, Charles Barkley, and Shaq come to mind when thinking nationally.

On a local level, there are all the favorites like Patrick Roy, Joe Sakic, Ray Bourque, Todd Helton, Larry Walker, Carmelo Anthony, Shannon Sharpe, and the list goes on.

But it stops at John.

As a native of Colorado, orange and blue runs through my veins just like so many in this state. My parents watched Bronco games every Sunday and usually had friends over. The kids would go in the basement to watch the games and listen to our parents yell fanatically upstairs when the Orange Crush smothered opposing offenses and Craig Morton made big plays.

But then came John.

He changed everything about the Broncos, although it took a little while. Sometimes he made mistakes, newspapers poked fun at his teeth, and people wanted to know what kind of candy he gave out at Halloween.

But all the bad moments were forgotten when gave Broncos fans back to back Super Bowl wins. He can’t go anywhere without someone wanting an autograph, a picture or just a hand shake.

Thankfully I’ve been in settings where I didn’t have to stalk him to meet him.

During my time at 850KOA, I’d ran into John at various functions, but never had a chance to sit down and interview him. As luck would have it, however, I was covering the Arena Bowl Championship in Las Vegas in 2005 and his Colorado Crush won.

After the game, John and I sat in a room with the championship trophy between us as I conducted an interview. It didn’t matter if it was the AFL trophy or the Lombardi, I was interviewing John Elway, one on one, for the first time in my career.

He was incredible as usual, and continues to be. John always remembers my name AND my husband’s name every time we see him.

Which is why we opened up our wallets this weekend for Food Bank of the Rockies and dropped some dough on an old school helmet with John’s signature. Did we spend more than we were comfortable? Absolutely. But given today’s circumstances, Mike and I figured, what the heck.

The memento brings a smile to our faces every time we look at it, and the money we spent will bring many more smiles to children who take home Totes of Hope from FBR every Friday afternoon so their families have food for the weekend.

If you need a reason to give, there are plenty out there. Find what works for you and you’ll feel better about today than you did yesterday.