Denver Broncos legend Karl Mecklenburg joins the pod to talk about #77, his 6 Keys to Success and  being on the doorstep of the Hall of Fame. We've also got a heated Derrick Rose Award field and an impressive Heat Check list that could be Hall of Fame contenders soon.

Our Guest
Karl Mecklenburg went from being a college walk-on and 12th round pick to a spectacular NFL career highlighted by 3 Super Bowl appearances. He played 12 seasons for the Denver Broncos and was a 3X All-Pro and 6X Pro Bowler. He also sometimes played all 7 positions on the defensive front in the same game. Since retiring in 1994, he’s become a popular public speaker and is the only former NFL player to earn the designation of Certified Speaking Professional. He’s a member of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, The Broncos Ring of Honor and is an 10-time semifinalist for the Hall of Fame.

2:52 – “Number 77 was the third number I got from the Broncos.”
Broncos great Karl “The Snow Goose” Mecklenburg joins the podcast to talk about #77, his 6 Keys to success, bring a 10-time semi-finalist for the Hall of Fame and more.

13:21 – “Rudy, let’s dive right into number 77.”
We start with football, tipping our caps to Honorable Mention players Orlando Brown, Sr., Stan Mauldin, Dick Schafrath, Jim Jeffcoat and AJ Duhe.  The Contenders are Karl Mecklenburg, Jim Parker, Willie Roaf and Red Grange, “The Galloping Ghost’ (he could do a 95 going coast to coast.)

20:14 – “We have hockey guys aplenty.”
For the first time in PUN history we have a bevy of hockey greats associated with our number du jour. Pierre Turgeon, Adam Oates, Phil Esposito, Paul Coffey and Ray Borque are all lauded here for their contributions.

23:58 – “I think the great Georghe Muresan.”
Rudy hits our basketball Honorable Mention list with 7’7” legend Georghe Muresan, first pick bust Andrea Bargnani and Vladimir Radmanovic, the NBA player with the longest tenure in #77.

25:35 – “So, the Hall of Famer is Ducky Medwick . . .”
Baseball has two stars, Ducky Medwick, who wore 9 different numbers and obvious steroid user Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez.

27:12 – “We are going so deep it’s unbelievable.”
Screen Stars wearing #77 on the silver screen:

1. Jsu Garcia as Cerulo in Wildcats (1986)
2. Abraham Benrubi as Bud-Lite Kaminski in The Program (1993)
3. Christopher Severio as Brandon Burlsworth in Greater (2016) 
4. Romany Malco as Darren Roanoke in The Love Guru (2008)

28:55 – “Let me have a couple moments here.”
Rudy leads a discussion of how The Program could’ve been a better movie and then Tom steers the conversation back to Wildcats.

30:44 – “Let’s move on to the Hall of Shame and the Derrick Rose Award.”
These categories for #77 are a real bummer, but here’s the list:

Derrick Rose Award

1. Korey Stringer
2. Lyle Alzado
3. Jim Tyrer
4. Brandon Burlsworth

Hall of Shame

1. Tony Mandarich

35:33 – “We’re gonna disinfect this podcast.”
Awesome Heat Check list for #77:

1. Luka Doncic
2. Tyron Smith
3. Victor Hedman
4. Andrew Whitworth
5. TJ Oshie (USA! USA! USA!)
6. Clint Frazier
7. Taylor Lewan
8. Trent Brown
9. Mekhi Becton

 41:39 – “Drumroll, please . . .”
The definitive Hall of Fame list for #77:

1. Red Grange
2. Ray Borque
3. Luka Doncic
4. Paul Coffey
5. Willie Roaf

Our thanks to Karl Mecklenburg. Check him out here: https://karlmecklenburg.com

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