John Albert Elway Jr. (born June 28, 1960) is an American former professional football quarterback who spent his entire 16-year career with the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). Following his playing career, he then spent 11 years with the Broncos in various front office positions, eventually being promoted to general manager. Elway is also the only individual to be associated with all three of the Broncos' Super Bowl wins.
Elway is widely regarded as one of the best quarterbacks ever. At the time of his retirement in early 1999, Elway had the most victories by a starting quarterback and was statistically the second most prolific passer in NFL history. He was also a prolific rusher of the ball, being one of only two players to score a rushing touchdown in four different Super Bowls (the other being Thurman Thomas) and the only quarterback to do so.
While playing college football for the Stanford Cardinal Elway set several career records for passing attempts and completions and also received unanimous All-American honors. He was the first selection in the 1983 NFL Draft, famously known as the "quarterback class of 1983", where he was taken by the Baltimore Colts before being traded to the Denver Broncos. In January 1987, Elway embarked on one of the most notable performances in sports and in NFL history, helping engineer a 98-yard, game-tying touchdown drive in the AFC Championship Game against the Cleveland Browns, a moment later dubbed "The Drive". Following that game in Cleveland, Elway and the Broncos lost in Super Bowl XXI to the New York Giants.
After two more Super Bowl losses, the Broncos entered a period of decline; however, that ended during the 1997 season, as Elway and Denver won their first Super Bowl title by defeating the Green Bay Packers 31–24 in Super Bowl XXXII. The Broncos repeated as champions the following season in Super Bowl XXXIII by defeating the Atlanta Falcons 34–19.
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