My Interview With Denver Broncos Ring of Fame LB Karl Mecklenburg

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

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're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?