So happy he could cry, Randy Gradishar gently rubbed the aching shoulders on which the Orange Crush was built, one slobber-knocking tackle at a time.
“That’s my cost of playing football for the Broncos,” Gradishar told me Wednesday, a smile as warm as the Colorado sun brightening every crag and crease on his 71-year-old face.
Four long decades after he made the last of his 2,049 bone-crushing tackles, but only five weeks removed from surgery No. 4 to rebuild his right shoulder, Gradishar has finally knocked down the door to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“All in God’s timing,” Gradishar said Wednesday.