Broncos booze culture pours down from the top.
“While the indiscretions of two individuals do not necessarily point to a problem that expands to the width of the entire Broncos front office, it is fair to point out that a man near the top of the organizational chart has an established reputation as a heavy drinker with a taste for debauchery. That man’s name is John Elway.”
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The Denver Broncos have an alcohol problem.
The arrests of two front office executives, Tom Heckert and Matt Russell, for driving under the influence (and other associated charges) has caused an unwanted kind of spotlight to be shined on the team prior to what is expected to be a Super Bowl season. Rather than Ryan Clady’s contract situation being the biggest Broncos story heading into camp, or Peyton Manning’s recovering nerves, or Wes Welker’s first season in orange and blue, ESPN, the NFL Network, Yahoo, SI, USA today and every other national media outlet is focused squarely on what appears to be a culture of alcohol abuse at Dove Valley.
While the indiscretions of two individuals do not necessarily point to a problem that expands to the width of the entire Broncos front office, it is fair to point out that a man near the top of the organizational chart has an established reputation as a heavy drinker with a taste for debauchery. That man’s name is John Elway.
Elway’s exploits with alcohol are not as well documented as they might be were he not a Hall of Famer and a sacred cow in the Mile High City. Elway has doubtlessly gotten deferential treatment from the local media over the past thirty or so years. There’s a good chance that law enforcement, too, has turned the other cheek a time or two. Still, some tales of Elway’s historical carousing have bubbled to the surface and his reputation as an alleged lush precedes him.
The most specific and notable tale of Elway’s excess made its way into the pages of the Rocky Mountain News in November, 2007. Penny Parker, then the society columnist for the Rocky, reported that Elway was cut off from drinking at the Cherry Creek Grill after consuming seven glasses of wine in a relatively short period of time. Elway, his girlfriend at the time Paige Green (a former Raiderette), and a friend named Craig Andrison sat at the end of the bar ordering appetizers and wine until the bartender determined that the group had become unruly and over-served. Elway objected loudly to not receiving an eighth glass of wine. He was, according to staff, “slurring his words” and “getting in the bartender’s face”. Elway denied the accusations and told Parker that he had enjoyed only four glasses of wine. He also told her that he would never return to the Cherry Creek Grill, saying “if that’s your policy that’s your policy, but I’m not coming back.”
Did Elway drive home from the Cherry Creek Grill that night?
In 2005 the web site Deadspin shared a story told by a reader of a 2003 encounter with Elway at a bar in Aspen. The reader, Ryan Van Bibber from Washington DC, told Deadspin that he spotted Elway and a couple of associates (non football players) sitting with a very young girl (presumably Elway’s date) at a patio table drinking and smoking cigarettes. Elway was, according to Van Bibber, smoking “like a Jersey dock worker”. Van Bibber’s Elway sighting took place very shortly after Elway’s divorce from Janet Elway.
Elway’s split from Janet capped off a series of difficult events in his life. In 2004 he told the Denver Post: “I lost Dad, and a year and half later I lost my twin sister Jana … and then a year later there was divorce and it was a boom, boom, boom. I don’t know if you ever hit rock bottom. …Really, the pain just doesn’t go away.”
His use of the phrase “rock bottom” is, in retrospect, quite interesting as the phrase is commonly associated with alcoholism. It’s conceivable that during that painful period Elway was self-medicating by regularly consuming large amounts of alcohol. While it cannot be proven that is the case, it would certainly make sense.
It would also make sense to construe that Elway was unfaithful to Janet Elway during their many years together and that the lack of monogamy was directly related a lifestyle that involved plenty of late nights, bars and parting. In March of 2008 Janet Elway told the Rocky Mountain News “I think you do need to be very, very strong to be married to someone like that, whether they’re rock stars or actors or athletes.” She went on to explain her decision to split from number seven, “It has a lot to do with having to share. I was very good at that for a long time. When it got to be too much, I just couldn’t do it anymore.”
Rumors relating to John Elway’s freewheeling lifestyle began to circulate long before his split from Janet. The quarterback addressed the rumors with then Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly way back in 1989. In an article titled “I’m about to suffocate”, Reilly wrote “Rumors abound in Denver that Elway has a drinking problem, but he has never been arrested for driving under the influence, has never been picked up on any charge by local police, has never worn a Betty Ford Center T-shirt.” In his own defense Elway told Reilly, “When something like that gets out, people think it’s true whether you’re innocent or not. I’m trying to be a role model, and I hate to have to sit there and answer questions on tape about whether I have a drinking problem.”
During Elway’s early post-playing career, he was heavily involved in a chain of car dealerships. He began buying them shortly before he retired. These first carried only the John Elway name then, after they were purchased by Wayne Huizenga’s Autonation, the names were changed to John Elway Autonation USA. In 2002 a woman named Lori Hanson sued the Elway dealerships for $1 million dollars, claiming she was sexually harassed by five managers. Unsubstantiated rumors had Elway being among those accused. The names of the managers named in the suit are not public record.
In 2006 the chain disassociated its self with the John Elway name. The move seemed almost inexplicable, considering the millions of dollars that had been sunk into marketing the association between Autonation and Elway. The dealerships were renamed “Go Automotive”, a name they have retained to this day. At the time of the re-branding a company spokesperson explained, “the time is right for our dealerships to establish their own identity and speak directly to consumers in a voice that is clearly focused on the automotive shopping, servicing and ownership experience.” But was it Elway’s lifestyle that ultimately caused the company to abandon its investment in his name? A source within the Denver media says that this is a common perception whether it’s true or not.
In 2009 the a maker of spirits called “Nude” announced via press release that John Elway had become a member of its advisory board. The release began, “NUDE Spirits, LLC the brains behind NUDE Vodka™; an American-born ultra-premium masterpiece, inked an agreement with the legendary John Elway to sit on their Advisory Board.” Later in the document Elway was quoted as saying, “NUDE Vodka is the smoothest vodka I have ever had; a true sipping vodka. I am honored to be on the NUDE Vodka team and look forward to growing our brand to be a global contender in the spirits industry”
It might have been unwise for a retired NFL player with a reputation for having had issues relating to alcohol to tie himself to a vodka distillery, but Elway did. It’s a move that he is probably looking back on with regret this week.
In much the same way that personnel men Tom Heckert and Matt Russell will struggle to look players in the eye while lecturing them on the perils of drunk driving, Elway may struggle to level with Heckert and Russell where booze is concerned. John Elway has his own history with the use of alcohol, if not its abuse.
As the person most responsible for establishing the corporate culture of the Denver Broncos, it’s incumbent on John Elway to rise above the fray where the issue of drinking – and particularly drinking and driving is concerned. Elway is a God-like figure in the eyes of Denver fans, but he is not perfect. He never was.
The challenge he faces now is to dole out the proper punishments to his personnel men while at the same time making it clear that things must change at Dove Valley where attitudes toward drinking are concerned.
The question is this: is he the right man for the job?
