The ring fit a hand full of Crushed fingers perfectly.
“I think I’m going to have to get put it on the scale to see how much it weighs,” ex-Broncos linebacker Randy Gradishar, the heart and soul of Denver’s “Orange Crush” defense, said Sunday at Empower Field as he flashed his spanking-new Pro Football Hall of Fame ring. “Because it’s hurting my finger already.”
A little ache never hurt so good.
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Gradishar, 72, was finally inducted to Canton after years of near misses. The NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1978 and a seven-time Pro Bowler was honored before the Broncos-Raiders game for becoming the 16th Bronco and 15th Broncos player selected for HOF honors earlier this year.
“And as I think I mentioned out on the field, I’m number 373 as far as guys going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” Gradishar said. “And if you look at it, think about it, since whenever (selections) started and for thousands of NFL players who went through playing in the NFL, (the Hall’s) only (had) 373 (inductees). So again, it’s just another blessing for me and having that athletic talent in order to be able to do that.”
Gradishar was doubly appreciative of the Broncos for bringing so many members of the ’77 AFC champions back for the Raiders game. Two of his former teammates on that Super Bowl squad, tight end Riley Odoms and safety Steve Foley, were inducted at halftime into the franchise’s Ring of Fame.
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