When hard work is not only a cornerstone of one's career path but is passed along to their children as an absolute must, it is funny how "lucky" guys get.
This past week was another banner one for Ed McCaffrey and his family, who have largely followed the adage of making their own luck.
Not only did Ed and Lisa proudly watch their youngest son, Luke, announce that he intends to attend and play football at the University of Nebraska, but a major national honor came Ed's way as well.
Luke is going into his senior year at Valor Christian High School, where Ed will be in his first season as the head coach, but Luke becomes the fourth McCaffrey brother to have a college football career before him.
The others are Max (Duke), Christian (Stanford) and Dylan (Michigan).
Like his brothers, Luke has been highly touted as a college prospect; he is a quarterback, like Dylan. It has become common for top players to select their college before playing the senior year of high school, eliminating a lot of the recruiting pressures, and young McCaffrey becomes a top big-name quarterback for new Nebraska coach Scott Frost.
Meanwhile, all those genes must come from somewhere!
Ed McCaffrey, who was a standout wide receiver for the Denver Broncos on our back-to-back Super Bowl championship teams in the '90s and who did the color commentary on our game broadcasts for many years at KOA, this week saw his name on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot for the first time.
McCaffrey heads up a stellar list of Broncos and Colorado connections on the 2019 ballot.
Of course, selection to the College Football Hall of Fame is for one's accomplishments at the college level, and Ed had plenty of them as well as those he amassed as a professional.
McCaffrey was a star wide receiver at Stanford, where he was a first team All American as a senior.
He was a two-time team most valuable player for the Cardinal and led the team in receptions for three of his four years at the offensive powerhouse West Coast school, and Ed remains in the Stanford top 10 in both career receptions (146) and yardage (2,333).
Six other players with Bronco or University of Colorado connections are on the College Football Hall of Fame 2019 ballot.
Alphabetically, they are as follows.
Terrell Buckley played for the Broncos in 2000, but he was also a 1991 All-American at Florida State, where he also won the Jim Thorpe Award while leading the nation in interceptions (12) and return yardage (501).
Phil Olsen played for Denver as a center in 1975-76, and he was a first team All-American at Utah State in 1969.
Jake Plummer played quarterback for the Broncos from 2003-06 after a stellar college career at Arizona State. Plummer was a 1996 All-American and the Pac-10 Player of the Year in leading the Sun Devils to an undefeated season and the Rose Bowl. He had more than 2,000 yards passing for three straight years at Arizona State.
Simeon Rice, a Bronco in 2007, was a two-time All-American at the University of Illinois.
Rashaan Salaam was one of the most legendary players ever at the University of Colorado, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1994.
And Al Wilson had a notable career as a multiple Pro Bowler for the Broncos from 1999-2006, and as a college star at Tennessee, Wilson led the Volunteers to the BCS national championship in 1998. Wilson also led Tennessee to three SEC crowns.
Great players all, but usually the fan focus is on those names they know most recently, and that made the 2019 College Football Hall of Fame ballot the capper to a McCaffrey kind of week for the Broncos and our legions of fans.
Good luck to young Luke McCaffrey in his future career, and as a voting member of the National Football Foundation I think I have pretty well-tipped hand as to the players who will head my voting ballot for the 2019 Hall of Fame.
Very few things in sport bring communities together like football, and these names once again remind Broncos fans that the present is supported by the past to create even more future memories.
