I recently had the privilege of sitting down and having a phone conversation with one of the best players in Denver Broncos history, linebacker Karl Mecklenburg.

Mecklenburg was drafted by the Broncos in the 12th round of the 1983 NFL Draft as a nose guard out of Minnesota. Throughout his NFL career, he proved to be more versatile than a Swiss army knife, playing every position on the defensive front seven.

He performed all the way to a Ring of Fame career with the Denver Broncos that included six Pro-Bowl appearances and four All-Pro selections.

As a player, Mecklenburg helped the Broncos to three AFC titles and a regular season record of 114-65. Still, Mecklenburg didn’t keep the experience of and lessons learned from the NFL to himself, as he has just finished writing his first book entitled Heart of a Student Athlete: All Pro Advice for Competitors and Their Families. 

You can find more information on purchasing the book at www.studentathlete.us , where there is a sample chapter and a guest page. 

I strongly encourage all of you to check out this book even if you are not a parent or a student athlete. The lessons it teaches are absolutely outstanding, and reading the experiences of a professional athlete, to me, are always interesting.

In addition to his book, Mecklenburg operates the REACH (Rewarding Experiences for All Children) Foundation and performs motivational speeches all across the nation. Check out www.karlmecklenburg.org for more information about this program, and see a later segment in the interview for more details.

I am honored to have spoken with him personally, and I would like to share our conversation with you readers after we reminisced about the great city of Sioux Falls.

Sayre Bedinger: What was it like writing this book? What was your experience and what did you learn from it personally?

Karl Mecklenburg: The book was a challenge for me. I have dyslexia, so the writing part was really a challenge. It took more than five years to put together. I had another book from 1987 with a ghost writer and I was not happy about the experience. I really wanted to finish a book myself and I am pretty happy with the result but it was a long haul.

SB: Early on in the book, you state multiple times that success is overcoming obstacles on the way to your dreams. Why do you feel this interpretation of success is so important?

KM: I think a lot of people on the outside looking in, just getting started, they will realize that everybody who is successful has overcome. If you have an extravagant dream, the obstacles can be daunting. Both of my grandfathers worked in the stockyards of south St. Paul (MN), my dad went through grad school in three years then into the Army for med-school, and my mom had a daunting road to her eventual work in the government. 

You decide your own future. God has given us all different talents and abilities, and He also gives us free will. It’s up to you to go out and try new things.

SB: Do you feel, having been drafted in the 12th round that this particular derivative of success was prevalent in your playing career very early on?

KM:  It really was, you know, I went through challenge after challenge after challenge in football. Every one of them reinforced in my mind that I had to decide whether it was important enough for me to go through this. Doing things to get to the next day of practice, it really was a big part of it.

SB: You were part of some of the best teams in Broncos history, winning multiple AFC titles and going to six pro bowls; What is your greatest memory from your experiences with the Broncos?

KM: So many, but the obvious one is “The Drive” game when we went into Cleveland and won that game. It was such a hostile environment with the fans throwing dog biscuits at us, honking their horns outside of the hotel trying to keep us awake—Going into the situation and getting that win on the road; it was just a great feeling and I’ll never forget it.

SB: You have been honored by the Broncos by being named a member of the “Ring of Fame.” Do you feel you should be in the Hall of Fame or is it all just a bunch of politics?

KM: Well, it obviously is a political situation. I mean, if I could vote for me, I would, but you do what you do on the field and it’s out of your hands after that. I have a lot of respect for the players I played with and I feel there are a lot of guys from those Bronco teams that deserve to be in as well. You know, Pat (Bowlen, Broncos owner) has got to be disappointed that only John (Elway) and Zim (Gary Zimmerman)—you know, only two guys in the Hall of Fame. I know he is doing a lot with the committee to get some of these guys in.

SB: You said in your book that you grew up a Minnesota Vikings fan. Does playing for a team for over a decade change your loyalties?

KM: I’m a Bronco guy, there’s no doubt about it. The Vikings passed on me for 12 rounds, and I’m glad they did because with my knees, I probably wouldn’t have been able to play as long as I did on that artificial turf. I love it here in Denver; the people, the fans, being gracious for what this team has done. They have accepted me.

SB: The book talks about how the media favors the negative aspect of off-field life of NFL players in particular, but you go on to make a very compelling argument about how only one player from your team in 1983 has had legal issues. Do you feel that trend is still true in today’s NFL world where it seems like a player is arrested every day?

KM: I think it applies, I really do. The characteristics that allow you to succeed in the NFL are the same characteristics that allow you to succeed in life. The vast majority of NFL players are great guys, wonderful guys. In fact, there is a player from the Minnesota Vikings out of Maryland; young guy (safety Madieu Williams) who has started a foundation for his home town of Sierra Leone where children often die before they turn five years old. I think it’s really admirable what he is doing and, you know, it’s a shame that that sort of thing doesn’t make the news. If he were to hit his wife, it would be the front page headline. I can speak at a church every week, and that barely gets any news but you can guarantee if I were to hit my wife, my name would be all over the place.

SB: Going along with that, what was your reaction to everything that happened in Denver this offseason: The Shanahan firing, the Cutler trade, Brandon Marshall demanding a trade and acting like a fool in practice?

KM: A wait and see attitude. I know Mike had gotten to a point where he’d lost the ear of the team. It became apparent that players were becoming much more concerned with themselves than the team. You know, you saw last year with the Denver Nuggets trading Allen Iverson. Iverson is a great player, but he’s a selfish player. Chauncey Billups is a team player and a leader, but if you were to put him up against Iverson, Iverson would win nine out of ten times. Billups is just a great leader and he is willing to do whatever it takes to win.

SB: It’s interesting that you make that comparison, because some have compared Iverson and Billups to Jay Cutler and Kyle Orton. What do you make of that comparison?

KM: Well, I have gotten to know Jay through the Broncos and golf tournaments, and he is a child still. He is more concerned with himself than the team, and when Josh McDaniels came in, he came in with a system that wasn’t going to throw as much, and Jay saw that and put McDaniels in a tough place where he had really no choice but to get rid of him. He wasn’t happy with his contract or the prospect of not throwing the ball as much as he did in the past.

SB: With the Cutler situation and all of the negativity in the media surrounding for the Broncos—they tried to sugar coat it by saying they didn’t pay any attention to what the media was saying, but it’s got to feel good to stick it to everyone who doubted them.

KM: Certainly, every ball-player can get that blackboard material. We’re competitors, that’s what makes us athletes. You want to succeed. I think they have done an amazing job defensively, the way they play fundamentally. You know, I have been paying attention to the Broncos’ defense since I was drafted in 1983, and I am really impressed with the changes they have made on that side of the ball.

SB: Mike Nolan was a coach while you were there, correct?

KM: Yeah, Mike coached me he was a young guy. He got his first coaching job as a linebackers coach with the Broncos and I think he learned as much from us as we learned from him. He coached fundamental football; a lot of tackling drills, shedding blocks—He has taken things to a whole other level  He’s a good guy and he really cares about his players. 

SB: Talk about the REACH Foundation and what people can do to get involved.

KM: Yeah, we just started a program called “Reach for a Book” where kids in Denver elementary schools are encouraged to read 100 minutes a week. If they complete that goal, they get a free pizza. There is also a scoreboard on the classroom doors, so there is a little competitions between the kids. The top two readers are invited to Invesco Field to be honored for their efforts. The website is www.karlmecklenburg.org , and we would love to hear from people. As far as getting involved, donations help, but we do a golf tournament. This past year we held a poker tournament, and there are other volunteer opportunities. 

 

My interview with Mecklenburg, along with reading his book, have shed a whole new light on professional athletes and the NFL in particular. It has also been a key tool for me in focusing my goals and what I want to do in life.

I hope you all enjoyed this experience as much as I did, and again, I strongly encourage purchasing this book. It is great for aspiring youth, parents, coaches, pastors, or simply someone who is a fan of the NFL and likes a good story. Mecklenburg did an excellent job in his first solo book, and it is a great gift idea for the coming holiday season.

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