At 38, John Elway retired from professional soccer with a stellar career already under his belt. He literally has done everything a player can do in a professional football career.

Elway is currently the executive vice president of football operations for the Denver Broncos; the team with which he has been his entire professional career. When he retired from the game in 1999, he was listed as the most prolific passer in NFL history. He led his teams to six AFC Championship Games and five Super Bowls, winning the last two. His #7 Broncos jersey was retired in September 1999. How do you create a super athlete like John Elway?

Well, Port Angeles, Washington is a good place to start. Born in 1960 to Janet and Jack Elway, John was destined for a career in sports. Dad was a coach for many years at the high school, college and university level. In 1976, Dad became the head coach at Cal State-Northridge, and John played football at Granada Hills High School for three years. The culmination of his high school career recorded 5,711 passing yards and 49 passing touchdowns. He was named to the Parade All America high school football team in 1979.

Not surprisingly, he was the number one interest for recruiting offers from high school. He was presented with more than 60 college scholarship offers. And with great talent in baseball, the Kansas City Royals selected him in the 18th round of the 1979 Major League Draft. This same draft Dan Marino was selected in the fourth round. However, John was college bound and enrolled at Stanford University.

At Stanford, John played football and baseball. In four seasons playing QB he completed 774 passes for 9,349 yards and 77 touchdowns. John’s 24 touchdown passes in 1982 led the nation, and he graduated with almost all Stanford and Pacific-10 career records in passing and total offense. He won Pac-10 Player of the Year honors in 1980 and 1982. In 1984 he was the most recruited prep athlete. For the Stanford baseball team he played pitching and right field. He finished his senior year batting .361 with nine home runs and 50 RBIs in 49 games. Plus, he went 5-4 with a 4.51 ERA. Throw in a second-round draft pick from the New York Yankees in the 1981 MLB draft and Elway has a pretty well-rounded college career.

By the way, John graduated with a BA in economics and is a member of the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity.

John was playing minor league baseball for the Yankees when the 1983 NFL Draft sent him first overall to the Baltimore Colts. John did not want to play for the Colts and convinced management to trade him. He hello Denver Broncos and the beginning of a record career. High school recruiting sure paid off for him.

With the normal growing pains of any new player, Elway worked hard and consistently put up big numbers. Even when the Broncos lost, his numbers were impressive. A 1986 Super Bowl appearance was lost to the New York Giants, 39-20. In 1987, Elway was selected to start on the American Football Conference Pro Bowl team and won the NFL Most Valuable Player award. He was heading to the Super Bowl and a trophy fight with the Washington Redskins.

It was a disappointing game and Elway’s first hit with the stats was underwhelming. But he became the first quarterback in Super Bowl history to catch a pass. And, he scored the team’s only touchdown from him.

Another Super Bowl loss in 1989 was even worse than the others. And, some may think that he would be embarrassed. But his reaction was to say that he would go to the Super Bowl every year if he could, even if the team lost. Another 8 years passed, but the Broncos were back in the Super Bowl. This time the result was different… they defeated the Green Bay Packers 31-24 and Elway was named MVP of the game.