K.C. Jones

In 1977, he proudly wore an “Orange Crush” T-shirt and dreamt of being a Denver Bronco someday. The dream came true for K.C. Jones and even included a Super Bowl Championship, but it didn’t last nearly as long as he had hoped.

K.C. was born in Colorado and moved to Texas when he was 8. Everything is bigger in Texas, including K.C. who excelled on the offensive line. He had countless scholarship offers and opted for sunny Miami. Along with great weather came an always-ready-to-fight Hurricane team that included Ray Lewis and Warren Sapp who he faced daily in practice as the ‘Canes center.

Despite a great college career, he wasn’t drafted because of injuries throughout his high school and college careers. That meant he could try to make his dream come true and be a member of the Denver Broncos as a college free agent. He made the roster and was a member of Denver’s legendary offensive line and Super Bowl XXXIII team. He also continued to deal with too many injuries and was eventually cut by Mike Shanahan.

In retirement, K.C. got his degree and does financial planning. To get in touch with K.C., email him at [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I get up there and I'm talkingto coach and he's like, he can
tell I'm pretty upset about it,and he like tries to like do a
smooth landing. He's like, youknow what, you know, you did
everything we asked you to do,the injuries gotten the way, and you
know you're always held a player,been a great part of this team.
But you know if you if youjust stay in shape, it might be
a chance of bringing you back.Welcome to Cut Traded, Fired, Retired,

(00:22):
a weekly podcast filled with stories andadvice from conversations with professional athletes and
coaches in a variety of sports.My hope is that you'll gain a nugget
or two for your own life onhow to handle setbacks and move forward.
I'm your host, Susie Wargon.This episode's guest has done a full circle
with Colorado. Casey Jones was bornin Denver, left for Texas when he

(00:42):
was eight, and was offered amultitude of scholarships. After playing some big
time Texas high school football, Caseyopted to play for the University of Miami's
offensive line, which meant he facedRay Lewis and Warren Sapp daily in practice.
Yikes. Despite a stellar career withthe Canes. Case He wasn't drafted,
but he was able to catch onas a college free agent with the

(01:03):
team he dreamed of playing for growingup, the Denver Broncos. Casey dealt
with a lot of injuries during hisfew years in Denver, but he learned
how to be a good teammate andbefore Mike Shanahan cut him, he became
a Super Bowl champion. After football, Casey finished his degree and these days
is still in the Denver area inthe financial planning industry, and he also
does some college football broadcasting Ladies andGentlemen. Casey Jones Cut, Traded Fired,

(01:30):
retired podcasts with Susie Wargin Casey Jones, how are you? I'm great,
Susie, how are you doing?Thanks for having me. Absolutely,
I'm onlike this big kick of offensivelineman for some reason. So I think
I've gone through the skilled positions andnow I finally get the offensive lineman to
come out of Michelle on the bone. That's right. Yeah, So you

(01:51):
were with the Broncos for a whileafter you went to the University of Miami.
We're going to go through all ofthat, but what's interesting with you
is you were born. You're inDenver. Ye left in the second grade,
went to Texas. Then you gotthe Miami experience, and then you
came back to Denver and you're stillhere now, which is cool. I
love it. I'm a Denver native. And where did you grow up up

(02:12):
until the second grade? So justtake a step back. Both sides of
my family are from here, andmy grandfather went to East and then my
dad, my father was only child, he went to Regis, played football
Regis. My mom was one offour daughters. I grew up in park
Hill and went to Saint Mary's andthey went to prom together. They went
to prom together. Yea, Ilove it. I went to prom together.

(02:34):
And so the story goes. Mydad went to he got a scholarship
to play the University of Wyoming,and shortly after he arrived, my brother
arrived. Because my parents were deeply, madly in love, couldn't keep their
hands off each other, and sothe story goes, happened in the late
sixties. Sometimes it happened, thathappened. So I'm I'm a proud Colorado
And you know I showed you thispicture before. It's a picture of me

(02:55):
and my brother before the seventy sevensuper You're in your orange crush, Orange
Crush, you got my orange crushedcandle in my head with big smile on
my face. And I look backat that picture and I think to myself,
I was born to be at Bronco. I was born to be a
Denver Bronco. Right that you havethat picture. I love it too.
It's it's amazing. And you know, looking back on their career, it's,

(03:15):
uh, you make plans. Godlaughs. Oh yeah, absolutely,
And you know, thinking back toit, like my family was a football
family. You know, we'd alwayseat dinner together, We sit down at
the dinner table, have dinner,and we'd always watch football after like that
was you know, we watched collegefootball and this was the time of you
know, it's Nebraska as a wishbone. It was Oklahoma when there were four

(03:36):
stations on TV before that, whenwe lived in a damn East Guess who
my name was, Norris Weis.It was my neighbor. Oh god,
right, So I had all youknow, I just we were surrounded by
surrounded by football. Yeah, andit became like I think it was a
teaching tool for my parents to kindof keep a rambunctious, aggressive, wild
kid. Keep him in line.And my brother played football as well aslutely.

(04:00):
I think, you know, hekind of blazed that path for me.
And that's all I could think of. And I also have I have
another picture. It was the firsttime I ever played team sports and I
was playing for the Red Barons asa soccer team. And this is when
we had moved from Denver to Houston. I had this big smile on my
face. I remember my mom askedme, she said, why are you
Why are you so happy? Imean, you're always happy, but you're
like especially happy right now. Whywhy are you so happy in this picture?

(04:21):
Where were you thinking? I said, you know what, finally I'm
on a team. You know,I'm on a team. I'm playing sports.
I'm doing you know. It waslike one of my proudest moments.
I look back on that, andit was always important for me to be
playing football, playing sports, playingteam sports on a team. That's how
I grew up. That's cool.So how early did you start playing football?
Do you think? So? Wemoved from moved from Houston to from

(04:44):
Denver to Houston to Midland. Welived in Midland in nineteen eighty two.
So I was in second grade Texasand Texas football, right, and I
grew up in Midland, Texas.So that's West Texas football. That's Friday
night lights. And they take it. They take it very seriously. And
I found it everywhere I gone andplayed football, whether it's in Midland,
Texas, if I played at LeeHigh School, they were the kind of
the rivals of Odessa Permian in thatbook and then the movie, and they

(05:08):
take it very seriously. And there'sa high standard everywhere I've gone. That
had to be huge in the buildingblocks of your football career, absolutely absolutely,
And it's also you know, Ithink when you go to a place
with a high standard, you knowthere's high expectations and it takes you a
while to kind of figure that out. And then once you reach that standard,
you want to push that standard.And that's I think that's what's great

(05:29):
about team sports and football and allof that. That's one of one of
the great things that I experienced wasI go to Lee High School and my
brother had played there before me.You go into their field house and they
have all these pictures of you know, Keith Bishop played in my high school.
He did junior Miller. Junior Millerplayed in my high school. Jake
Young was a two time All Americanat Nebraska. So you have all these

(05:49):
It seemed limitless at the time,like you have these big dreams. You
can have these big dreams. They'reencouraged and you can reach these big dreams.
Your high school had its own ringof fame. Yeah, yeah,
don't have that. You should lookaround and see who'd been there before you.
Yeah, And so you go outand you put all this work in,
and I think back then it wasa different time, Like we didn't
have water practice. Oh no,it was torture all the time. It's

(06:12):
torture. It seemed like it's almostpunitive like some of the practice. But
it got you to a point whereyou could practices were harder than the games.
They wanted you to be in aposition where fatigue wasn't going to be
an issue and you can think clearlyat the end of the game when you're
tired. And there's actually a lotto that. I mean, I've I've
done endurance sports before, as faras marathons and triathlons, and there is
something too that where you need tobring your mind and body to a certain

(06:35):
place that when you get to thatpoint where you're like, you have to
be able to mentally get past it. Yeah, that's not always fun.
And then also where it would showup is when in the competition we had
a scrimmage and we played some team. We played the team from San Antonio.
We beat him so bad that atthe end of the game, after
we shook hands, the coach hascalled us back and put us on the
line around gassers while the other teamwas getting on the bus because you're adding

(07:00):
hard enough. No, but youknow what, but that was like the
attitude then, right, that isthe attitude. But you know, I
remember a couple of years before that, we played so poorly in a scrimmage
that they made us line up youknow, different gases. Right, it's
a different idea, absolutely, butthe idea was the same to have a
tough team that plays together and theycan outwork anybody. I read a story
about you when you were in highschool that you had food poisoning before a

(07:20):
game and you're head coach Earl Miller, Right, yeah, he was a
ross. Yeah, so ross.He chewed up up horny toes on a
sideline. That was this thing sowhat happened when you had the food poisoning?
He said, nobody else can doit, you gotta go. And
it was a game, right,yeah, this game day, and it
was you know, everything's relative,right, everything's relative when you're you know,

(07:44):
this new discomfort that you feel isit as a kid growing up?
It's all new, but it's theworst thing in the world. You know,
you think you're dying, but infact, you're not dying. You're
just you're just vomiting endlessly and makingeverybody else vomited around you. Just you're
just miserable. Yeah, you're justYou're just miserable. But but I think
that's what's great about Team Sports twoand growing up the way I did,
is that you pushed further and furtherpast your limits and outside of your comfort

(08:07):
zone. Yeah, Casey, werealways on the line or did you play
other positions? I tried, youknow, I guess you've always been big.
Well, you know what, likethe last st off for any type
of like kid that wants to touchthe ball in the offensive the wishbone as
a fullback and it was basically justa glorified lineman. Were still in a
four point stance at that point andeven in the backfield, that wasn't me.
You know, it wasn't me.And I didn't really expect you were

(08:30):
quick quickness I had that. Imean, if you're small, you already
quickly you are, right. Iwas always under size, right, even
on my offensive line at high schooland even going into college and in the
pros, I was always the shortest, smallest guy, right, So you
have to have you have to usethat to your advantage, and you have
to be able to use leverage.Those are the things that I developed.

(08:50):
You figured out other skills to getaround your size, right, absolutely,
yeah, absolutely, But also inthat same breath, you have to say
that, you know I had aburnt high burn rate. I ran in
a hot temperature. What's the saying, and say twice as bright, half
as long. It caught up withme. It caught up with me.
I had my first I had myfirst injury in high school? Did you
yeah, first first injury? Whatwould you injure? My knee? One

(09:11):
of my left knee had a scope. And back then it's like, hey,
we went to a vet, wentto a veteran name. You did
not go to a vet. Imay as well have I may as well
have. Back then, they werein this They were in the it's called
the Great meniscus Harvest of the eightiesand nineties, where the doctors would just
go in there. They wouldn't repairto Carlos, they just scoop it out.
And so I was like in abone on bone our three egg situations

(09:33):
since I was like seventeen years old. So that's kind of like when the
hourglass got turned over and I figured, you know, I got this amount
of time. There's I have afinite amount of time to play football and
play at a high level. Andso that kind of that turns your temperature
up, but even hotter, Absolutelyit does. Yeah, so in nineteen
ninety one, you are all statein Texas and I'm guessing you're getting Are

(09:54):
you getting offers? You were?You were one of the top centers in
the country, right right, SoI was unbeknown to me back then.
There wasn't like any guides right fornothing, and nobody really shared information about
it. So my parents they thoughtand I thought it was a good idea
at the time too, that theysaid, you know what, let's just
have you played your senior year.Let's not get bothered by any of this

(10:15):
stuff. All this stuff is adistraction. You want to play high school
football. It's your big year,it's your senior year. Right, you
got a great team, you gota chance of winning state. Let's just
press mute, let's press pause onall this recruiting business. And then once
once you're done playing, you know, get through the playoffs, then we'll
turn it back on. I hada really good senior year, went twelve
and two, got beat biodes Permiantwice, beat real bad. It wasn't

(10:35):
even close, barely, but butwe felt at the time that we could
we could beat anybody except rodes APermier. So so they so they beat
us. They went on to wina state championship, national championship that year,
and we turned the switchback on,and I was getting recruited by everybody,
everybody. It was just pouring in. So I got offers. Basically,
my mom sent out tapes, likeevery week, she'd send out tapes.

(10:56):
Right the VHS stays in the day. I love it, and I
get offered from anybody. They sentthem to right Washington, USC, UCLA,
Arizona, Texas, Texas A andm Auburn LSU Alabama Florida, Floor
State, Miami, everywhere. SoI had to kind of like we had
to kind of move fast on it. Well, yeah, because by the
time that ends and you've got youknow, signing day in February, you

(11:18):
got to figure out where you needto go. And I'm sure people want
to come see you and sit inyour living room and talk to you and
your folks the whole deal. Andthen I kind of like in Nebraska and
the Colorado I was a big Coloradofan at the time, right, and
we ran the Wishbone in high school, so I was like, you know,
this makes sense, like y'all gofrom the Wishbone in high school and
Wishbone in in college. But Ijust we had played a game a few
weeks before, we played in WhishtaffFalls, and it was like it wasn't

(11:41):
cold, but it was like inthe twenties, and that was cold for
me. Were getting used to thethat was cold. That was cold for
me. That was cold for me. And then I remember coming back here
in eighty two, like for theI think there was like the big blizzard
here. Oh yeah, right,remember the Christmas blizzard. And I just
said, I don't like, Idon't want to playnywhere cold letters pretty much

(12:03):
everywhere, pretty much pretty much everywhereexcept for California and Florida. My cousin
went to TJ here right down thestreet. He was playing ball out in
California already Saint Mary's and I haddeveloped this kind of rivalry with my cousin.
So I was like, I'm notgoing to West Coast. I'm gonna
blaze my own trail. A matterof fact, I want to get out
of Texas. I want to getas far away as possible. So when
that Miami letter showed up, andthen I watched them beat the breaks off

(12:24):
of Nebraska, I was pretty muchsaid, I hadn't been there. I
hadn't set foot on campus yet.The only, the only, the only
uh communication I had was from EdOzron was my recruiter. He says,
it was his voice like that.Then listen to the phone rings in my
in my kitchen. I said,Jones residence, Casey speaking. He says,
is this Casey Jones? I said, yes, sir. He said,
uh, you ever heard university Mama? I said yes, sir.

(12:46):
I said, we're gonna offer youa scholarship play football. Airplane tickets on
the mail, see when you gethere by that was it? That was
it? So so I said andhim, I said, well, who's
on the phone? I said,I think I hit somebody from Miami.
I think Miami is Miami. Ithink they're gonna send something I don't know.

(13:09):
So sure enough, a couple weekslater, the plane ticket shows up
in the mail and I went thereand I just I fell in love immediately.
It was a very different place whereeverywhere else I went, everybody's like,
you know, they're blowing smoke andthey're propping you up, telling how
good you are. And there they'resaying, I remember the offensive line.
Coach r Ko asked me, likewhere else you've visiting? And at the
time, you know, my parentswould really involved my recruiting. So I

(13:31):
gave them two trips. My mompicked Duke and my dad picked Rice.
Interest for the education. Yes,right, like that those are those are
their picks, Right, I getit. I'd probably do the same thing.
Texas, A and m and Oklahoma. Oklahoma was just getting off probation
or they're on probation. It wascool to see the murals of Bosworth in
the hallways, right, and yousee him as a freshman. You see

(13:54):
him kind of like the boss,like the evolution of Boz and his hair,
and so that was cool, butI was never gonna go there and
you were going to go to Aand M because that was way too You're
still in the same state, samethe same state. So they're they're also
like they're like they're beating their chest. They win seven games a year.
And I was like, well,you know, I don't get this.
Guys are cool here, but you'renot cooling anywhere else, right, you

(14:15):
guys aren't doing it. And soI went to Miami and I remember talking
to coach Keio. I said,I'm gonna take trips to Rice, Duke
and M at Oklahoma. He saysthat it was great. That sounds really
great. That sounds awesome. Isaid, if those teams are worth a
damn, we'll schedule them and we'regonna whoop your ass. How's that.
I was like, all right,all right, So it's kind of like
that. That was the mentality then, and I loved it, and that

(14:37):
is the Miami attitude, and especiallyat the time like this is you talked
about like years and years of thewishbone offense, like in Oklahoma, Nebraska,
you know, the eyebone up atSEU, the national championships, going
through that offense. And who wasthe team that ended the domination of the
wishbone in college football? It wasMiami. So it all kind of like

(14:58):
and I'm looking through the lens offorty nine right now. Yes, you
see it. I see it now. I don't know if I saw it
then, but something in me wantedto go to Miami. It also developed
a different game. I was ina four point stance right They're running out
of the shotgun. It's different typeof football, absolutely, and I felt
I could make a bigger impact playingcenter there than I could anywhere. It's
in a wishbone offense. Falling onthe ground, you know. Well,

(15:22):
and so you read shirt your freshmanyear and then you start, yeah,
I start, yeah. I started. I showed up it. I was
six two two forty my retschirt.Freshman year, we played Colorado up and
Boulder. We had the big brawl. I was probably two fifty five to
sixty and I was always, always, always smaller. And what I remember
about that game is we came outand there was a lot of you know

(15:43):
that My mom would send me articlesabout it, and there's a lot of
trash talking already. And I rememberthere was a wind loser Drew, remember
those Yes, And they had twoluggage carousels, right, They had one
it said first class and had likeluggage at it, and then it had
no class and it had a carouselwith an ibis, a Miami Hurricane ibis
on it. I was like,all right, let's go. Drew is

(16:06):
just easy. E's a magician.Amazing. But it was also fun wearing
the black hat. Like the onlything better than getting you were the villains
getting cheered by a hundred thousand people, betting booed by one hundred thousand people.
So you love that, Oh Ilove it. I love people boo.
They boo with more passion. Youknow, everybody can do the golf
clap, But when you boo andyou hiss and opponents booing, that's that's
the thing. Not your own team. But if the opponents are booing,

(16:29):
and then that's inspiration. If yourhometown is is booing you and throwing batteries
at you, you got another problem. That's a problem. You had another
problem. You were one of theyoungest to ever start at Center for the
University of Miami. You were nineteenyears old and start. What was that
like in that especially you are onstage, like you said, everybody knew
about Miami and early nine. Ohyeah, it was great. But I
think I was used to it because, like what I said before, like

(16:52):
the standard, I knew how toplay football by the time I got to
the high school. Got you there, didn't it? Did? It did?
And then also the first day yousaid on campus at University of Miami.
I don't know if it's like thisnow, but back then, you
start fighting. It's a fight likeliterally or for your job or literally you're
fighting. Okay, you're fighting ina locker room, you're fighting on the
field, you're fighting a lunch room. I mean it's you've got to be

(17:14):
ready all the time. And that'sjust that was the nature and the culture
of that place, and you likethat. I loved it. I loved
it. Yeah it was. Imean, you're always on guard. Nobody
wants to it's exhausting, all right, looking back on it, and nobody
wants to go out and fight.But you know what, if you're ready
to fight at all times, Imean, it makes you, It makes
you that right, and that's whatMiamian like, you're always on edge,
always on edge, and I wasin a bad mood for five years.

(17:37):
The bad mood for five years.Well that set you up perfectly to become
an offensive lineman for the Broncos,because I feel like they were always in
a bad mood. But you getlet's see, you're you're all big East
your sophomore, junior, senior,three years in a row. Yeah,
three years in a row, andI was playing at a high level.
This is thinking about the offense there. We ran the spread offense, right.

(18:00):
We ran basically what they run nowin the pros without the handoff that
mesh. And this was Dennis Erickson'soffense. It was fun. It was
a fun, fun offense, andpeople didn't think we ran the ball.
We were in the extremely well becausewe cleared the box out. We'd have
a one backset, no tight endsthat we would talent people out of it
because we get the right matchups inthe box right. And I felt like
with that offense, you know,my talents were highlighted because I'd be able

(18:22):
to get downfield. I'd be ableto get to the next level on a
linebacker and once I get my handson somebody I don't let go. I
found it very rewarding and satisfying toplay in that offense. And I was
playing with guys that but the namesare unbelievable that you played with. I
mean, here's my Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Warren
Sapp and ray Lewis. All right, what are you gonna do? You're

(18:42):
either sing or swim and you're eithergonna get better. You're gonna get gone.
Oh yeah, you're gonna get justcompletely. Yeah. So so practicing
against those guys developed new skills andfound up new creative ways to block people.
You only some of the best footballI've ever seen play was It's not
like in the Orange Bowl for Dame, but it was on that practice field,
like Green Street practice field. Itwas amazing. Wow. Yeah.

(19:04):
So so it was a lot offun. Dennis Rickson took off after the
Orange Bowl. We we played Nebraskaand the Orange Bowl and ninety five.
It was a great game and agreat stage, but you know, we
fell short on that the next year. Butch Davis comes in with a totally
different style football and offense, disciplinarianand run the pro style offense with not
so pro style players and struggled alittle bit, and then we were on

(19:26):
probation two, which isn't a lotof fun. So it went kind of
a little downhill as you ended yourcareer there at Miami, but you were
still individually doing very well. Youwere a semi finalist for the outline travel.
I was an All Abarican and uh, you know, I battled through
injuries all through through college. Youhave more than just the knee. I
just it was just my left knee. Wow, okay, in my left

(19:48):
knee. Thatt that just getting Iwas named All American my senior year,
which that was a proud moment.Oh, absolutely, yeah, proud moment.
But also back then when you getthat awards, like what's next,
what's happening? So you turn yourattention to the to the draft. Did
you go to the Combine? Idid not go to the combine? Really
did they not invite you or didyou? I'm not sure what happened,
But it worked out just fine becauseit turns out when I went out to

(20:11):
like, I took trips to dophysicals with other teams. So I went
out to Baltimore, I went toDallas, I went I came here to
Denver, I went up to Miamiand I failed all those physicals. Really
yeah, so remember when the youknow that hourglass it turned over. I
mean those those sands were there timesthey're falling out. I finally found an

(20:32):
agent. It was telling me,like would actually tell me the truth,
right, I wanted someone to tellme truth, and I wanted I knew
I was gonna get drafted. Iknew, did you? I just knew
it. I just like I justkind of like, you know what,
this is how it's going to go. But you're one of the top center
of respects. I'm the best centerin the country. Okay, all right,
the best center in the country.And you were sure you're not going
to get you because of your knee, because how did you deal with that

(20:52):
mentally? Was that a tough oneer? You just kind of said,
all right, this is the wayit is, and I think it's just
it just you know it, justputting bigger chip on my shoulder, and
uh, you go prop yourself adifferent way. And I finally found an
agent. Ralph Sindrich is up inPittsburgh and he represent a lot of linemen,
quarterbacks, those types of guys,and he was just kind of like
a no Bs straight shooter. AndI said, hey, man, what's
the deal. He said, You'renot getting drafted, but I can get

(21:15):
you in camp. I said,where do I sign? I said,
that's the truth. I said,I need the truth. Yeah, because
then then you're gonna lie to meagain. You lie me on draft day,
and then you're gonna lie to megetting me in camp. How can
I trust you? Just tell metruth right now? So he told me
truth. I signed with him.At the end of the day. Like
I could go up to Cleveland,I could go up to Baltimore, go
up the street to the Dolphins.But I knew I was coming back to

(21:37):
Denver, did you I knew Iwas coming back to Denver, and I
had I had a good interview whenI came out here from my physical Could
you interview with Alex Gibbs? Idid so. I interview with Alex Gibbs.
Alex Gibs was like he was anice guy, Alex Gibbs. He
was like, oh hey he washe was that guy. He was like
the charming I never met that guyagain. And he asked me, he

(21:57):
was asked me silly questions. Ibasically I told I might say, hey
man, I'll play in the parka love you guys want me to right
now, Like whatever you want meto do, I'll do it. I
just want to play football, andthey were willing to take a chance on
me. Why do you think thatwas? You know, I think they
knew how to handle guys with theinjuries they had. You know, Marciareth
was here, he battled knee injuriesand then kind of like you know,
work him in and they were ableto rest him and get him to play

(22:18):
on Sundays. But I think theyI mean, I think they just saw
they turned my film on and Iwas doing things in college that nobody else
was doing, and I played aposition like nobody else played. This is
obviously me looking back. So no, but there's a reason why they saw
something in you. That's why Iremember I signed undrafted free agree contract.
I couldn't get some kind of signingbonus. I got ten grand? Was

(22:40):
that more or less than you madeat Miami? That's funny, I'm kidding.
I had just had the mindset thatI wanted to just go in and
come with me. I'm gonna playmy brand of football. I'm gonna represent
where I'm from from Middland, Texas, from Miami, Florida, University of
Miami. I'm gonna represent that typeof football, and I'm gonna represent with
the Deber Broncos. It was great. I show up for the first mini

(23:03):
camp and they told me you don'teven have to bring a cleats. It's
not even gonna be a big deal. It's a full contact It's like,
you know, you know how theBroncos play. It's helmets in its shells,
but it's like it's full go.And keep in mind they had just
come off of that loss to Jacksonvillethat was the most embarrassing thing in the
world. So you're coming in rightthen. Oh yeah, it was pretty
obvious that they were kissed, they'repissed off. But it was also like

(23:25):
the same standard I was used to, like running off on and off the
field, running to drills like allthis. So I didn't really it wasn't
dating different from me. I knewthere was an egg. You didn't see
the jump because you'd already had itat Miami, right, you already had
that kind of a yeah, SoI'm as fair I was. I mean,
I was winning one of ones againstWarren I was running a half man
drills with ray Lewis right and cuttingthem off and pin him, you know.

(23:45):
So it wasn't like a big leap. What I did find it was
leap was the the verbiage and theplaybook and all that stuff. So I
made sure that I, you know, I'm going to take care of the
stuff I do on the field,but I want to make sure that I
knew all the offense because they andshe and Han's offense. He rely heavily
on the center for lion calls anddrug traffic and all that stuff. So

(24:07):
I picked that up and I waswinning one on ones. I was having
a great camp, my my initialcamp, and I remember having a conversation
with my father the second day camp, so it was it was Friday Saturday,
two day Friday Saturday, were twopractices, four practice. So at
the end of that four practice,talked to my dad and he asked me
I was doing I said, no, Dad, I think I'm I'm doing
real well. I think I belonghere. I think this is gonna work

(24:30):
out. And he said, well, how are you one on ones?
I said, well, you know, I got won one. I got
lost on the inside move and remembermy desk, you'll lose on one on
once. I was like, allright, so I kind of like he
lit the fire, and so Iwent back out that last There was a
last day that Sunday, and uh, you know, one on ones and
I go to throw a guy andthat was kind of like my thing,

(24:51):
like good hands, where I couldgrab people then I could throw them,
you know, one on ones.And I went to throw the guy and
he threw out a kickstand and Iruptured my peck. My pectoral muscle in
my chest just blew up, anduh, it was it was real painful,
I remember, And then it wasyou know, there's a loss of
function, you know. I talkedto Greek and they said, yea,
it was probably just probably just abuice up, you'd be fine. I'm

(25:12):
like, well, just a biceup, all right. But I remember,
you know, going home. Iwent right to my mom's house afterwards,
and I was laying on the bedand when I went to roll over,
my left shoulder just hit stayed onthe bed and I was like,
man, it's something, there's somethingwrong, you know. At that point,
I had like I was gonna goback to Miami, and I was
gonna start my move back out toDenver. I went and saw my doc

(25:33):
out there and they're like, youneed to get this repaired. This has
to be repaired. And then whenI talked to the Broncos, they say,
no, it doesn't need to berepaired. You need you need to
fight through this. You know yougotta. I'm like, well, you
know, you gotta play the game. Sometimes. I rehabed my shoulder and
I went into camp that year thatwas ninety seven, and uh, first
one on ones. I think thefirst second day, I just blew the
rest of it out and I bruisedfrom my thumb, was bruised all the

(25:56):
way up my arm all the waydown to my hip. Oh gee,
that bad. It's very vascular muscleand it's it was terrible. It was
awful. I bet, did youhave surgery? So yeah, then they
found like they said, okay,you can have surgery now. Thanks.
And then you know when that classthat I went in with were two guys

(26:18):
that I actually knew from from highschool, so Dan Neil and Matt Lepsis.
They were on my all star teamin high school, and I'd stay
in touch with I'd stay in touchwith Dan a little bit. But with
Matt, I'd see him every Christmas, every summer when I come up here
to visit my mom, I'd spenda couple of nights up in Boulder hanging
out and see you. So hewas coming in. He was injured and
I think the senior bowlt tours kneeup. And so after my surgery,

(26:41):
Matt and I just rehab together,worked out together, and we were in
the classroom together with Alice Gibbs andthat offensive line during that Super Bowl year.
We weren't participating in the practice sideof it, but on the mental
side of it, we were expectedto have all the answers absolutely side note
as far as that last room foran offensive lineman, and I just had
Derek Weston and he was talking aboutand I know that you're probably prejudiced as

(27:04):
an offensive lineman, but it isthe guys that have to know so much
more than anybody else as far asthe actual game plan and everything and being
able to look up and know everywhere. So expand upon that about what the
offensive line has to know. Soin high school, the center, YEA,
at center, you're kind of likethe bell cow. You're the you're
expected to do more right. You'reexpected to know what you're the four guys

(27:26):
besides, you were doing right guard, right tackle, left guard, right
left tackle. You're expected to knowwhat those guys doing. So that's basically
your view of the game is tackledthe tackle. In college, you're gonna
get might bee some some things comingoff the edge. Maybe you're gonna get
to the next level, you're goingto know what you know, probably the
front seven, maybe sometimes the cornerback. In the NFL and with Alex Gibbs

(27:47):
and with Mike Shanahan, that centeris expected to know what all the guys
are doing on the field. Everybody. You have to so you have to
see twenty two. You have tosee what's going on right, so you
have to see what's going on infront of you. You have to see
the field, and then you haveto know you know obviously snap count,
you know the play blocking scheme.You got to know what everybody's assignment is
on the line. You got toknow any type of motion, personnel group,

(28:11):
any type of motion movement whatever that'sgoing to change your assignment. There's
a couple of pre snape five tenseconds before you're thinking about a million things.
Oh, yeah, and then beforethe snap, it's all you have
to clear it all out and yougot to go out and do it.
But you have to communicate all thatstuff to everybody else on the field at
the same time. Right, Sothat having that year with Matt, you
know, it gave me a yearto kind of like I was rehabbing my

(28:33):
shoulder, but I was also rehabbingmy knee. I finally got a year
off of my knee. But Ithink more importantly it allowed me to to
get ahold of that playbook absolutely andto absorb all of that and to do
it in a way that how AlxGibbs expected it to be done. Because
that's a lot of information. It'sa lot of information information. But by
you know, midway through the season, you know, I'm not playing,

(28:56):
so this is my My job isto learn this offense and to study and
do all that. So that's whatI'm doing. You know, in that
room, Alex would ask questions,and he'd ask questions until you get them
wrong, right, I mean,that's that's his way. And then he'd
clowned you and he like he'd cussat you, and then like you can
move on to the next guy andI remember I got up and he asked
me about it. We were playingthe Seahawks at the time, and he

(29:17):
asked me, you know, thisis a goal line defense drawed up,
dropped the play, dropped the personnel, dropped the motion. What do you
expect position by position? And thenhe asked me, well, what are
the numbers of these defenders? SoI went back. I did all the
numbers eleven and then he he ranout of question. So he's like,
oh, look at your arm pits. Man, you're sweating so bad.
You know you had to find something. But but being able to do that,

(29:40):
you know, we didn't feel wefelt like we're kind of like second
class citizens at the time, youknow, we weren't playing. We were
kind of like, you know,at the outcast of it, right,
We're kind of with the team,but not with the team. And so
I think that too, like kindof create a bond between Matt and I.
Sure we were already friends and wegot even to be better friends through
that, but also like we knewthat going into the next camp, you
gotta change this, we gotta changethe narrative on who we are. And

(30:03):
so going into that next camp,you know it's Dan, Matt and me,
and we we played really, reallyreally well, and it was to
the point where I mean, thisis every year after that, Like in
ninety seven, they move tom overto guard. They moved me in the
center. I'd run at the onceand I feel bad because I deprived the
world of Tommy Nayland, the AllPro guard, the Hall of Fame guard.

(30:27):
He would have been a Hall ofFame guard. But I kept on
getting hurt. You had to goback to center, said Tommy, if
you're out there, man, I'msorry, man, you would have been
a hell of you would have beena hell of guard. Man. He's
still got the ring of face.Oh sure, Oh yeah, no,
he's great. He's great. Butuh but like so every year, so
that year, preseason, I gotrolled up on my toe, touched my

(30:48):
heel on the same foot that shouldnever happen. I had kind of battle
through that. Once you're hurt likesomething like that, it's hard to get
back into it, but you getto learn a lot, and I think
you learn from that team. Ilearned how to be a professional. And
that was what Mike Shanahan demanded.And that's why it was this. It
was this, It was this newstandard. It's his way of the highway.

(31:10):
And he's right. But but alsohe's right, but this is how
you win, and this is howyou beat these teams, and this is
how you and this is how theoffensive line, I mean, I think
you know the offensive line during theduring that era, we ran the team.
We ran the We set the tone, we set the standard, we
set the tempo. Alex gives.What's funny about it, He said,
every he says, every game,you know, everybody's all crying about us

(31:30):
cutting people on the back side.It's there's all these injuries and all that.
The union's all up in arms aboutthis. And I just I tell
him every time I go out tothe midfield and I talked to the head
coach, I say, hey,coach, we'll make a deal right now.
We won't cut you on the backside if you don't hit our quarterbacks.
That's the deal. No deal,all right, all right, Yeah,

(31:52):
there shall be you guys. Getready, you better pack of lunch
because it's coming. Yeah, youknow, it was. It was.
But it was a great brand offootball, and I played with some just
extraordinary players. You did. Well, that's what's interesting too, with what
you said about Miami Casey and howit was always like you're ready for a
fight at all times, like everybody'son edge. Yeah, you come here
and while it's gotten you at astandard of winning and whatnot. The group

(32:15):
from thirty two and thirty three,those two super Bowls, I mean,
super tight knit group of guys.Yeah, you're not on edge fighting it's
not. No, no, it'snot. I'm still running hot and I'm
still fighting in practice every once ina while, but that's not like it
wasn't really the norm. And likeguys like if you're the only one doing
you're the only one doing it,Like there's probably something wrong, right,
there's something like what is wrong withit? That's wrong with that guy.

(32:37):
But you know, learning from allthose guys, like you learn how to
be a professional. And I feellike that's kind of like the first step
to get in my Like I feellike I got a doctorate in football,
right albeit it's like I graduated intwo thousand and two thousand and two whatever
is an old doctorate. But watchingthose guys, I mean, all the
positions from you know, take aguy like Shane and Sharp, great pass
catching tight end that they turned intoa run blocking machine. Rodsmith. Rod

(33:00):
Smith, right, Howard Griffith,you could just go over Zimmerman, right.
My favorite Tony Jones. Tony Jonesis my favorite. And you know,
getting to watch those guys do it. It was a pretty really incredible
moment in my life to be ona team like I always wanted to be,
to be a Bronco what I wasborn to be, and then to

(33:22):
go to the World Championship and winwin a Super Bowl with John Elway.
Yeah, that's that is super cooland I got you know, what's the
coolest part about it. I mean, there's a lot of cool parts about
it, right, you know,during this time, I'm seeing the whole
field, I'm learning this offense,I'm becoming a complete player. I played
my best There's no tape that's gonnashow it, right, but but I

(33:43):
played my best football over in DuveValley, Like that was my best football
where I played my preseason games,which you know whatever, but that's like
when I felt like I was themost complete player. It was a fun
brand of football because football had alwaysto that point had been so I mean,
it's been hard in a fight,and then the ninety seven team and
then that ninety eight Super Bowl.I mean everything ran on time, the

(34:07):
beer was always cold, laves werealways hot, right, But it ran
like a machine, right, andthere was no like, there was no
doubt. And I think that comesfrom, like, you know, the
whole organization be in a first builtmister b creating a world class organization.
And I think then it goes toyou know, the personnel, then making
moves like having Neil Smith to cometo that defense, getting Gary Zimmerman,

(34:29):
getting all the pieces together, andthen I think there was a spirit on
that team where nothing was gonna stopus. I remember back, I mean,
this isn't this isn't a secret.But like when Bill Romanowski had that
incident against JJ ste Right, Idon't think any other team in the world
could have to buy that zero.You go in the big team meeting room,
they throw all the coaches out,and it's ena Sharp stepping up for

(34:52):
his teammate. This is not BillRomanowski, this is what this is our
teammate and we gotta stand up forhim. And it worked. It worked,
and I think that was the onlything that could stop is something something
like that that was able to knowthat that team was so they're so cohesive,
so tight. Yeah, and alsoso driven and so focused that nothing

(35:14):
was going to stop us from gettingshot at that super Bowl and winning that
super Bowl. It's amazing. Yougot to be a part of that,
yeah, you know, and itdid set you up then, I think
Casey for later in life. Youknew that, Like you said, the
timer's not gonna last forever. You'vegot your expiration in football, and it
came, you know, a coupleof years later. You're there for four
years and then what do you do? How do you know that you are

(35:36):
done? And you did get cutas well? Right? Oh yeah,
so are we moving on to beingcut? Let's move on to being cut
unless there's a story in there thatI'm missing. Well, I mean the
one story is this, Uh,I had a back surgery. I came
back for that last year. Iwas in camp in two thousand and two,
and I remember like getting a stretchingline and this is like kind of
a every time you start a campyou're out of the stretching line. The

(35:57):
only thing I could think, Iwas like, man, this is the
best I'm going to feel for thenext six months. And I feel terrible.
I feel just I just feel justterrible, like like the first time
I everage. Really you had adoubt, you know. And so I
made a deal with myself. Isay, man, you don't you can
do this. You know a lotof self talk right on, all athletes
have it, right, So soI said, self, if you go

(36:19):
out there and just do your thing, played hard, be smart, be
a pro, and stay healthy.Right, if you could just get through
this camp, don't get nicked,You're gonna make this team. All right,
agreed, Let's do it. Let'sdo it. And so later that
day, uh, someone stepped onmy ankle and I blew up my ankle
and it was I was just like, I was like, come on,
man, And I was to apoint where like you're trying to like rehab

(36:43):
from it and your foot collapse,like you can't put any weight on it
or anything. And yeah, Iplayed my last two preseason games and the
big I don't lie. You know, when you see yourself on film and
it's not like I was like,man, who is that guy? I
don't I don't even recognize that guy. It's not there's no quick twist,
there's nort I lost it. Iknew it, and I was like I

(37:04):
had no like delusions. Like listen, when I came to Denver, I
knew I was taking jobs. I'ma young guy, I'm coming in here,
I'm cheap, I'm hungry, I'mtaking someone's job. And guess what,
man, there's there's always somebody everyyear, there's somebody like me coming
in there. And at the endof the day, like nfls not for
long, right you heard that before. I had no delusions like after that

(37:29):
last game. I remember even goingout across we played the Seahawks. Across
the field was Darren Cryne played SmokyHill and then played at University of Miami
and he played at San Diego.The name was a strength coach for nineteen
years in the NFL. But hewas on the other sideline. I walked
across, and I mean I talkedto a couple of guys, a couple
of Mike Rump was a cornerback fromthe University of Miami. He's a I

(37:51):
think at first round pick that year. He came over and talked to him,
talked to Tai Wise was another Cane, and then Darren Crying. By
the time Darren Cryn came out tome, I was like, man,
He's like, he's like, how'she going. I was like, man,
it's done, it's over. It'slike I was like, man,
I'm gonna go get my mom andtake pictures, you know, like this
is it. You know, it'sit's it's it. And so I came

(38:13):
to that realization. I kind ofaccepted it, and then you know,
I got my mom and my auntsand uncles on it. You know,
That's another thing that was so wonderfulabout this whole thing is I got to
share this with my family. Nottoo many people can do that, Like
they were all season ticket holders before, and they've gotten super Bowls before.
My my grandpa was a season tickethold. Oh yeah, that does not
happen very often. Well we're alreadygoing, so I might as well watch

(38:35):
you. Yeah, but it's butthen I got to share two super Bowl
championships with my mom and Alice someuncle buzz and yeah that's cool. So
yeah, good memories, Yeah,really cool. I love it. So
anyway, so I got you alittle bit different, yea, a little
bit. I told you the podcastis like mental relief, you know,

(38:57):
it is therapy. Yeah, Soanyway, I was fine, like you
know what I took my stuff off. I realized it's kind of like the
last end of the road, right, and uh go home. And I'm
like, I'm you know, I'mjust kind of like doing what's next,
what's next, trying to figure itout. And I remember him getting calls
from people and this and that,and I said, you know what,
I'll call you tomorrow. I gotta, I gotta take care of this because

(39:19):
I'm gonna get called in. Ijust want to like have a nice send
off. And I remember going inthere and and uh that upstairs, like
I never I wasn't like a politicguy. The way I grew up and
the way I learned how to playfootball was it like players playing coaches coach
and so that was like unfamiliar territoryevery time I go upstairs, and usually
like it was like I was talkingabout like an injury something or it wasn't

(39:43):
usually wasn't good. I was goingupstairs already, So like upstairs, it's
not like I wasn't familiar. Itwas an unfamiliar territory up there. So
I get up there and I'm talkingCoachhan and he's like he can tell him.
I'm pretty upset about it, andhe like tries to like do his
mood landing. He's like, youknow what, you know, you did
everything we asked you to do.The injuries gotten the way, and you

(40:04):
know you always held a player.We've been a great part of this team.
But you know if you if youjust stay in shape, it might
be a chance of bringing you back. Right, So he gave me the
let me it was the soft landing. Yeah, don't glimmer of hope there.
Yeah. Yeah. So so hewas all right, coach, you
know that's that's great. And Iremember I was upset. I was emotional
with the whole thing. I didn'tfeel like, uh, I don't think

(40:28):
anybody anything you really prepared you forthat moment, everything that's going on in
your life. You know, itwas hard. It was hard. So
I remember going getting out there,you know, should coach chan of hand's
hand and he made me feel okayabout it. I guess, you know,
for being cut, you know,for being told like you were good,
you've been good for this long,but you're not good enough anymore.
You know. Like that's a toughone, that's a tough pillow swallow,

(40:51):
but it's also the truth. Andthat's all I you know I ever expected
from Anybody's just like, you know, just be fair and be truthful,
be honest. It's what you solong, and so it's really hard to
you know it's coming, Yeah,but you don't want it to happen.
Well also, and also I thinkthe closer you get, you're like whistling
past the graveyard. You're just ignoringit, and you're just kind of going

(41:13):
by your way. And you feellike the more you put more at tension
you put towards it, the morelikely it's gonna happen. Right, avoid
all eye contacts. Yeah, it'sjust like I was just keep my head
down, maybe they won't notice.Yeah, you know, Sybyber going down
and packing all my gear up,and I saw the press outside and I
just was like, I just wantto talk to my family, you know,
I didn't want to talk to anybodyelse. I didn't want. I
didn't want I didn't feel like Iwant to give that to them. I

(41:35):
wanted to talk to my family first, completely understood. Yeah, And we
stand there because we're supposed to.And it's a weird, awkward moment for
everybody. It is weird. Imean, you're dealing with guys and like
what are you supposed to say?So what's next? Yeah, exactly,
well, like how do you feelyou know, like what I mean,
what am I supposed to say?But I kind of like, you know,
looking back on it now, Ikind of like, I know what

(41:59):
i'd say now. I would thankthe organization, first class organization forgive me
a shot. You know, Iwas I was a medical flunky, you
know, like I was disqualified medicallyfrom playing in the football in the National
Football League, and it was mydream. I was born to be a
Bronco. I was good enough player. This was my dream. This is
what I wanted to do. Andthey were the only ones that was They

(42:20):
would give me a shot. Andso I have to be grateful for that,
for Pat Bowling, the Joe Ellisto call, the coaches, Mike
Shanahan, I always Gibbs, Imean all of them, everybody, all
the players I played with, Greekand the training staff, doctor Boblick who
operated like to operate on me,doctor Stevman, and all those guys you
know, like this guy I puta couple of doctors kids from college.
So that's what I would say.I'd express my gratitude to his m because

(42:42):
it was a dream come true.I got to live my dream out and
be a Bronco in my hometown andbe a part of two World championship teams,
the first two World championship teams inDevin Bronco's history. And then I'd
also I'd thank my family for supportingme because they saw all this stuff.
Like I was. I was gettingserved every other every few weeks, my
mom and my mom had to comepick me up at the hospital, you

(43:04):
know, and like the horror ofthat, and like have my mom have
to live through that? And myaunts and my uncles and my grandma that
stressful and take care of you stressful? And I tell them that it was
always my you know, My goalwas always to represent them the way that
they'd be proud. And I feellike it did that. I think you
did too. That's cool, youknow what. That's a neat way to

(43:27):
think about that, because in themoment, the last thing you want to
do is see that red camera lightand get on a microphone. But it's
much easier as we get older tolook back and go, yeah, you
know, and I'm glad I gota chance to do that because it's not
stuff I think about it. Ihad to do all this research to kind
of like get my ears together andall this stuff. But but it is
like it was a true honor forme, and it was a dream come
true to be to play. Youknow, I get to play in front

(43:51):
of my mom, my grandma,got to see me play. Yep.
I love it. So then afteryou're done with football, Casey, what
do you do? Oh? Whatdo I do? Well? I had
to kind of shift gears a littlebit, right, So did you get
a degree from Miami? Yeah?So I went back. So I went
back to school eventually, you know, right after getting cut, guy said
he wanted me to play again.I'm you know, I'm stay in shape.

(44:12):
You know, I kept working out, So I kept working out,
and I remember one day going outand working out. I went to a
park down the street. You know, I'm just gonna run and maybe sprint
a little bit, just kind ofget my legs moving again. And I
remember running and spreading and then itwas like it's like the sound of the
gears just like halting. Yeah,everything just kind of shut down on me.

(44:35):
And that's when I realized. Iwas like, man, I don't
know if this is I don't knowif this is in my best interest now
sure right if my body's like totallyrejecting this fact, you know, my
ability to do this. So Ihad to pay attention to that. And
then a couple of weeks later,Tommy goes down with a knee and I'm
like, this is is working outperfect. He's gonna go back, go
on a nice vacation. You know, nobody knows that I can't run anymore.

(45:00):
You know, I will tell anybodyto be fine. And uh so
I want to pick up the phone. I called the numbers I got at
the Broncos and a man, uhsometimes the phone doesn't ring back, and
it didn't ring back, and Iknew I was done. That was it.
So it was like kind of likeI got cut twice because you thought
that you'd come back when something happened. I mean, I know I did,

(45:22):
I assumed, but that's not thereality of it. Whatever I had
that was special. When I didhave something special there for a while,
I used it up in that lastgrain and of saying went down the hourglass
and it was over. I hadto accept it. So so you go
get your degree. Yeah, Ihang around here. First, I get
into into finance here. I startedworking downtown. I'm like this big ape
in a in a suit, youknow, like that guy sweating at the

(45:45):
desk. Yeah, I sweating inthe desk for my food. You know.
My meal prep was that guy fora while. And then I was
like, you know what, man, I'm just like this isn't for me,
and I knew where I wanted togo back to. And I think
everybody kind of experienced a different ways. Like I kind of I felt this
uh storm coming in me, youknow, like just just kind of building

(46:07):
up in me where I probably needto get out of town for a little
bit. The last thing I wantto do. It has embarrassed my family
in my hometown, and I thinka lot of guys kind of deal with
it differently. But my deal wasI went to Miami, got with friends
and just kind of like went wildfor a little bit, went well for
a year. What's wild? Well, I mean, whatever happens in Miami
stays in Miami, right, Yeah, Like I just you know, I

(46:29):
just kind of have to like,you know, maybe it's part of like
punishing yourself. I'm not sure whatit is, but I had fun.
I had fun. I did havea lot of fun and I was around
people that loved me and supported me. Yeah, and so I did that.
I got out of my system.I started working, you know,
started got back into finance. Imoved up to Palm Beach. I worked
for Wacobi's private bank up there,and that's kind of where I started to

(46:51):
build my business as a financial advisor. I went moved back to Miami.
I became involved with the University ofMiami Sports Hall of Fame. Yeah,
you were the president for a fewyears. I was the presidente for eight.
So here's the other thing about it. Like remember when I was talking

(47:12):
about Miami, we were always fightingall the time. That's really not conducive
to like really building relationships and likebeing a good teammate in Denver like I
saw in Denver. And that's how, you know, I learned how to
be that if you're not on thefield, you got to find something that
you're good at. And I becamea good teammate and I became a very
supportive teammate to all the guys aroundme. That's kind of a role,
like everybody needs role, Yes,that was my role, and that's kind

(47:35):
of one of the things I learnedfrom from the Bronkers as well. Is
like I remember Steve Herndon comes inand he's big, like he was a
big, big dude, like allof our linement run to three hundred pounds.
He was three twenty at the time. He comes in and he bonks
his first day because he's so heavythe altitude and all. He said,
He's like, I mean, Ineed some pickle juice. I need pickle
juice, some Georgia, right,So a man we get some pickle juice,

(47:57):
And I like thought to myself,like, who's going to take care
of this guy? This guy's amess, and like like no one's around
to help this guy. And I'mlike, if you're asking the question and
you feel strongly about it, theanswer is you like, who's gonna help
this guy? I'm gonna help thisguy. These all the nuggets I've I've
come up with from football that likearen't totally obvious at the time, but
like, if you're looking around forsomeone to lead, you're the leader.

(48:21):
It's you. If you're looking outfor someone to help this guy, Like
this poor guy, he can't evenwalk, Like how is he gonna get
to the hotel? It's you.So I think becoming a good teammate is
something else that I learned. Butgetting back to the Hall of Fame is
like I felt like I met allmy teammates again at Miami because around we're
all kind of grow up. We'reall grown right, everybody's got families,

(48:43):
jobs, and and now we cankind of get to really know each other.
And through that role at the Hallof Fame, I became the leader
that I that I always wanted tobe at the University of Miami. Started
throwing events like bowling tournament, golftournament, a fishing tournament. It was,
it was, it was amazing,right, But I became that leader
and I became that friend to thoseguys that I was unable to be back

(49:04):
in college because it's so ultra competitive. That's really cool, super super cool.
And then eventually you make your wayback here. Yeah. After that,
I got my MBA from Miami,I moved back to Denver and I
moved in Like family has always beenimportant to me. My favorite uncle,
buzz was he had this is likea second heart attack and second bout of
cancer. So I moved in withhim to take care of him. And

(49:25):
that was another great part of mylife, get to kind of know him
differently to be able to help him, you know, kind of pass on.
Yeah. Absolutely, And with whatyou do financial planning wise, you
work with a lot of elderly peoplein the States and what so that's obviously
a passion of yours, which iscool casing. Yeah, I think it's
I've been in the business, financialadvisory business, whatever that is, like

(49:47):
investing, insurance all that, ButI never really understand the impact of it
until you start finding you know,your families and your family members in need
in facing the end of their livesand how I portant it is and how
important planning is. That's basically whatI help people do. Now, I
would think that's very rewarding. Ido real estate and I help a lot

(50:07):
of people that are either changing neighborhoods. It's they're having kids, or they're
done with kids, or they're elderlyand they're going on to it there and
it's just helping with those big lifechanges. Everybody goes, oh, I
could do that on my own.You can do everything on the internet now,
I'm will you can, But there'stimes when advocates are needed, like
you, like me, and itreally and it's very rewarding to me to

(50:30):
be able to help people like that. Absolutely, absolutely, And it's being
a part of a team again.Yeah, And everybody has their position,
everybody has their expertise, and noone person can do it alone. So
that's what I do. I helpfamilies build teams through CPAs, through trust
attorneys, through financial advisors, throughinsurance companies to help them accomplish their goals
and do it in a dignified way. Yeah. All right, Casey,

(50:50):
we have We've talked for a longtime. I don't think any offensive lineman
has a trough. For over anhour, I got so much more to
say, Right, you need yourown show. You're awesome. Okay,
last question. As you go backthrough your career and your life and you
think about ups and downs and allthe experiences you've had, when you talk
to people and in your business,I mean, you probably talk to people

(51:13):
and the advice you would give themas far as how to tackle some of
those ups and downs and the downsin particular as far as how to bounce
back from them. Right, Imean I think everybody can agree that,
like success takes hard work and hardworks not just what you see on the
field. Hard work involves sacrifice,takes enduring uncomfortable situations, and it also

(51:35):
challenges you to evolve. So myfirst year I tore my pack. I
got to find a new way toplay football. And life is going to
hand you these challenges and these obstacles, and you have to evolve. You
have to the way you've been doingthings might not be the way you you
end doing things right, and youhave to always be open, keep an
open mind, and be able toevolve and roll with the punches. And

(51:58):
also I think go back to whatI say about being a good teammate.
That's what I talked to kids about. Whenever I get a chance to talk
to kids, I say, numberone, you gotta be a good teammate,
showing up time, listening to coaches, taking care of your teammates.
Right, if you see a teammatethat's down, and go pick them up.
But it also you have to bea good teammate to yourself. Yeah,
right, and we forget that.Yeah. And so like the things
that you might be saying in yourhead to yourself, you'd never say that

(52:21):
to a teammate. You'd never saythat to a loved one. Why would
you say it to yourself, Soalways be a good teammate to yourself.
Have you thought about coaching? Youknow, I just got back from coaching
my cousin's eleven year old team outin Laguna. You should consider that case.
You would be a really really goodcoach for kids. I think so,
and I think everybody, like whenI got done with football, where

(52:43):
football was done with me, Ialways thought it was gonna be like I
just kind of I pushed it asidefor a while. And then, you
know, because I don't want tojust be a football player, and I
think it's not being a football playersto football experience. I had my football
experience the first things in that picturewith the orange crush jersey, right,
and then being part of a team, and then you know, going from
high school to college to the pros. I pushed it aside for a while.

(53:05):
What got me kind of back intoit wasn't coaching. I kind of
tried to coach and nobody would listento me. Can you imagine that?
I can't imagine that everybody should listento you. But I got involved.
I remember I got a knee replacementin two thousand and five. It was
right before my knee surgery. GinoTorretta, it was a Husman Award winning
quarterback University of Miami calls me andsays, hey, do you want to

(53:25):
do the Comcast Sports broadcasts of MiamiHurricane home games. I'm like, I've
never been good on I was neverbefore. I wasn't good on the air.
I was like, I was kindof like a moody, kind of
like I don't want to talk toanybody type of guy. Yeah. That
and then also, like with AlexGibbs, you couldn't talk to the media,
so you couldn't develop those skills.I thought to myself, that's not

(53:47):
me, Like how could I dothat? But like when Gino Torretto college,
you don't say no, And alsolike why not. I went up
there and it was at the Itwas August thirty first, and it was
an Orange Bowl in Miami. They'replaying Marshall And I went up to the
press box and I was on thisis after my surgery I had. It
was on crutches and I go intothe press box to check in. They
I say, hey, I'm hereto check in for the booth. They're

(54:09):
like, you're not in the booth. You're upstairs. I said, there's
no upstairs. I was on theroof of the press box in the Orange
Bowl. You're not afraid of heights? Yeah, but it's also like a
ton of degrees. Yeah. Theygive me a microphone, they say you're
ready. I'm like, what's goingon? I don't even know what's going
on? See action. You gottafigure it out. And I was terrible

(54:30):
for a long time. And Iknow I was terrible because people would come
up to me and say, you'reCasey Jones, right. I was like,
yeah, I said you were ahell of a football player. Man,
you're terrible broadcasting. It was liketerrible, Oh yeah, but because
it was true. But you haveto evolve yourself and learn new skills.
And I've learned the skills over theseskills over time, and now I'm still

(54:52):
doing games for GINO. That's awesome. So people can hear you pretty much
every weekend college football, every otherweekends whenever Gino like doesn't want to do
a game for him. Okay,oh that's super cool. It's still fine.
So it's another So you know,my football playing days are over,
but my football experience is still unfolding. Absolutely. So the broadcasting is kind
of a new part of that.Coaching will eventually become a part of it

(55:12):
too, it should it. Yeah, you'd be really good. Appreciate Casey.
This was awesome. Thank you forthe time. I appreciate it.
And yeah, I look forward toseeing where you go, Susie. Before
we let everybody go, I wantto turn the tables on you and I
want to hear your story. Iwant to hear I want to hear when
you've been traded, cut, fired. Can we do this? Well,
sure we can. Okay, soI've never been fired. Well, no,

(55:36):
no, this is gonna be awhole separate episode. We have to
do it all right now. Wedon't do it right now, but go
on, but go on. Yeah, no, never fired. I've been
super lucky. I mean, everywherethat I've gone, I've been able to
I like the word evolve what youused with evolve Instead, I use the
word reinvent a lot. But I'veevolved from just kind of one thing to
another, between radio stations and TVand real estate and back into rad you

(56:00):
and yeah, it's it's been alot of fun. It's it's cool.
And then I get to meet allkinds of great people like you well one
day day, I hope you're gonnasit me down for a podcast. Yes,
yes, but everybody I think alsotoo. U is uh. I
don't wish to sign upon anybody,but you know that me being cut was
you know, it was a sadpart of it was a sad part of

(56:21):
my life, but it was youknow, I saw my life turn on
that. It was a pivot pointin my life for sure. And life's
good. Good. I'm glad.Thanks Casey, Thanks Susy, thank you.
Casey Jones definitely not the norm whenit comes to talking to an offensive
lineman. If you want more informationabout Casey and his financial planning business,
I've got a link to his emailin the podcast notes. New episodes of

(56:42):
Cut, Traded, Fired, Retiredcome out every Tuesday on nearly every podcast
platform. Get social with the podcaston Twitter and Instagram at ctf our podcast
and check out the website ctfr podcastdot com. I'm your host, Susie
Wargin. To learn more about me, visit Susiewargin dot com. Thank you
so much for listening, and untilnext time, please be careful, be

(57:02):
safe, and be kind. Takecare