Topic: John Elway

As player:

John Albert Elway, Jr. (born June 28, 1960) is a former American football quarterback and currently is the executive vice president of football operations for the Denver Broncos. He played college football at Stanford and his entire professional career for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). Elway is widely regarded as one of the finest athletes of his generation to play the quarterback position. Elway recorded the most victories by a starting quarterback at the time of his retirement. He retired as statistically as the second most prolific passer in NFL history in 1999. Elway was one of the 1980s and 1990s most versatile and prominent quarterbacks who led his teams to six AFC Championship Games and five Super Bowls, winning his last two. His rugged competitiveness, durability, impromptu play-making and renown to excel in late crucial situations defined his playing career that changed the outcome of many of his team's close games.

Elway set several career records for passing attempts and completions while at Stanford. He also received All-American honors. Elway was drafted #1 overall in the 1983 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Colts before being traded to the Denver Broncos. In 1987, he embarked on what is considered to be one of the most clutch and iconic performances in sports and in NFL historiography, helping engineer the Broncos on a 98-yard, game-tying touchdown drive in the AFC Championship Game against the Cleveland Browns. The moment is known in National Football League lore as "The Drive". Following the AFC Championship Game, Elway and the Broncos lost in Super Bowl XXI to the New York Giants. It would be the first of a record five Super Bowl starts at quarterback in Elway's career.