John Elway was born on June 28, 1960 in Port Angeles, Washington. Standing at 6 foot 3 inches and weighing 215 pounds Elway was the perfect size for a top notch quarterback. And not only did he have the size to be a great quarterback, but he also had the knowledge of the game to dominate his competition time and time again. For this reason, Elway established himself as one of the best quarterbacks of all time during his career.
As a young child Elway moved around quite a bit, but his family finally settled down in Granada Hills, California for his final two years of high school. During these two seasons he passed for 49 touchdowns and 5,711 yards. At this time he was known as the number one high school recruit in the country, and this was evident by the more than 60 scholarship offers that he received.
After high school Elway finally decided on Stanford University where he played both football and baseball. In his four seasons at Stanford Elway compiled impressive statistics. They included 77 touchdowns, 774 completions, and 9,349 yards passing. He was named Pacific Ten Player of the Year in both 1980 and 1982.
In the 1983 NFL Draft the Baltimore Colts selected Elway with the first pick in the first round. After playing two seasons of minor league baseball the Colts traded Elway to the Denver Broncos on draft day 1985. Elway went on to lead his team to two Super Bowls, and retired with some of the best stats ever for an NFL quarterback. This includes over 50,000 yards passing, and more than 300 touchdowns.
John Elway was one of the greatest players in the NFL during his career. Not only did he put up big individual numbers, but he also made his team better. This is why he will always be regarded as one of the top players of all time.