John Elway enjoyed a remarkable 16-season career in the NFL, all with the Denver Broncos. Recently, the retired quarterback shed light on an intriguing aspect of his athletic journey—football wasn’t his only professional sports option.
In the NFL Hall of Famer’s documentary, *Elway*, which is now streaming on Netflix, he revealed that he was once drafted by the New York Yankees. However, something held him back from pursuing baseball full-time.
“I wanted to play football. The quarterback gets to touch the ball every down, and you’re in control of a lot of different things,” Elway explained. “I love playing baseball, but I was an outfielder, so it wasn’t quite as exciting as the quarterback position. If I couldn’t get out of [being drafted by] Baltimore, I was going to play baseball for a year. You never know—if I’d had a good year in baseball, would I have stayed in baseball? I think ultimately my big goal was to play football.”
Sports have always played a major role in Elway’s life. He shared that his father was a football coach and also talked openly about his love for basketball, which he described as his “first love.”
“I always thought I was going to be the next Jerry West because it was my favorite sport at that point in time,” Elway recalled. Unfortunately, an injury put an end to those hoop dreams. “I hurt my knee junior year in the Christmas tournament and missed a couple of months; then my senior year in football, I tore my knee up and had surgery, so I couldn’t play baseball or basketball,” he added. “So, basketball kind of eliminated itself. But when I first started, it was actually my favorite sport.”
Despite not pursuing a career in Major League Baseball or basketball, Elway cemented his legacy in Denver. He led the Broncos to back-to-back Super Bowl victories in 1998 and 1999 during his final two years in the league.
In recognition of his legendary career, John Elway was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 2004, forever securing his place among football’s greatest players.
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