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How Denver Broncos NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Randy Gradishar has family ties to Pueblo

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How Denver Broncos NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Randy Gradishar has family ties to Pueblo


Hall of Fame linebacker Randy Gradishar learned of his Pueblo ties on January 29, 1974 — the same day he was selected in the first round of the NFL Draft.

Gradishar had just capped off his senior season at the Ohio State University with a 42-21 Rose Bowl victory over the USC Trojans. Denver Broncos coach John Ralston called the consensus All-American linebacker to inform him that he was the Broncos’ choice for the 14th pick in the draft.

“After I hung up with Coach Ralston, I called home and talked to mom and dad,” Gradishar told the Chieftain. “At the end of the conversation… I find out that my father was born in Pueblo.”

Here’s how the Broncos legend stays connected to the Steel City decades after his retirement from football.

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‘Orange Crush’ linebacker maintains relationship with city of father’s birth

Gradishar’s father Jim grew up in the Eilers neighborhood near the corner of Mesa and Egan avenues. Jim, his parents and his siblings moved to northeast Ohio during the Great Depression. However, their cousins remained in Pueblo.

Like Pueblo, the northeast Ohio cities of Warren and Youngstown were steel manufacturing cities. While his siblings worked in steel, Jim started a grocery store in Champion Township north of Warren after returning from World War II. Randy was born in 1952 and began working at his father’s grocery store at age 11.

“I just know in my heart that it was all God-directed the way it was going because I didn’t even start playing football until ninth grade,” Gradishar said. “We ended up my senior year with like 25 guys on the football team… My high school football coach sent out films for me and then all of a sudden, I got recruited by a few schools.”

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Gradishar tallied 320 total tackles — 155 solo and 165 assisted — at Ohio State between 1971 and 1973, according to a 2022 Ohio State football media guide. He was named to the consensus All-American team twice and finished sixth in the 1973 Heisman Trophy voting.

When Gradishar began playing for the Broncos, his parents — Jim and Ann Gradishar — often flew to Denver to watch their son at Mile High Stadium before driving down to Pueblo and catching up with Jim’s cousins. Randy got the chance to visit the Pueblo Gradishars during the offseason.

Around the time of the 1977 NFL season — the season the Broncos made their first Super Bowl appearance — Gradishar and a few Broncos teammates worked with former University of Southern Colorado Coach Mike Friedman to organize a five-day football camp in Pueblo.

It was at the camp in Pueblo that Gradishar encountered a surname just one letter off from his own — Gradisar. Gradishar didn’t think much of the similar spelling at first but eventually found out that the two families are distantly related.

The names Gradisar and Gradishar both come from the Slovenian name Gradišar with the “š” sounding like an “sh,” according to Ben Gradishar, a Pueblo resident and a second cousin once removed to the Hall of Fame linebacker.

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“We’re all ‘Gradisars’ but we inadvertently got an ‘h’ added at Ellis Island in the 1880s… Now there is ‘Gradisars’ and ‘Gradishars,’” Ben Gradishar told the Chieftain.

All ten of Randy Gradishar’s NFL seasons were played with the Denver Broncos. He retired with 2,049 tackles, seven Pro Bowl appearances and the 1978 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award. He also grabbed 20 career interceptions and recovered 14 fumbles.

Gradishar is part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2024. He will be enshrined with fellow inductees Dwight Freeney, Devin Hester, Andre Johnson, Steve McMichael, Julius Peppers and Patrick Willis at a ceremony on Aug. 3.

Post-retirement, Gradishar has kept busy working in public relations with Phil Long Dealerships but said he makes visits to Pueblo “relatively often.”

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“That was pretty special knowing that there is family here and having the opportunity to know them as cousins,” Gradishar said. “Having that connection, again, goes way back to 1974 knowing that I was coming to Denver, Colorado and that my father was born in Pueblo.”

New PCC President: Chato Hazelbaker selected as next president of Pueblo Community College

Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached at JBartolo@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com



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Denver, CO

Wolves Back Up the Big Talk With Blowout Win Over Denver in Game 3

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Wolves Back Up the Big Talk With Blowout Win Over Denver in Game 3


“They’re all bad defenders.”

Jaden McDaniels called out Denver’s stars after Game 2, and the Wolves proved him right by bulldozing the Nuggets 113-96 in Game 3 Thursday night in Minneapolis

Minnesota has taken control of the series with a 2-1 lead, and Game 4 is in Minneapolis on Saturday night. With another win, the Wolves would lead the series 3-1 and put the Nuggets in a must-win situation entering Game 5 on Monday in Denver.

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The Wolves attacked the paint and made Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Cam Johnson, Tim Hardaway Jr., and anyone else McDaniels trash-talked after Game 2, from start to finish. Minnesota held Denver to a season low 11 points in the first quarter, built a 61-39 lead at the half, and led by as many as 27 points in the second half.

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The damage was done despite Anthony Edwards battling foul trouble, scoring only 17 points in 24 minutes. Julius Randle also struggled to score, finishing with 15 points on 6-for-15 shooting. Naz Reid had just five points in 17 minutes off the bench.

So who killed Denver? The others.

Ayo Dosunmu was a beast with 25 points off the bench, most of his damage coming in transition or simply blowing by Denver’s defense for layups in the half-court.

McDaniels was a monster, capping his big night with a three-pointer and then a monster jam in traffic late in the fourth quarter to put an exclamation point on the blowout. He finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds, knocking down 9 of 13 shots, all while playing relentless defense. Prime Video analyst and NBA Hall of Fame inductee Dwyane Wade said McDaniels’ defense was so tight that it was like he was wearing Murray’s jersey.

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The Wolves scored 68 points in the paint, compared to 34 for the Nuggets.

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Rudy Gobert and Donte DiVincenzo were also great. Gobert finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds, and three blocks. DiVincenzo had 15 points, seven assists, and four steals.

Jokic couldn’t buy a bucket, largely because Gobert, the four-time Defensive Player of the Year, dominated him. The three-time MVP finished with 27 points and 15 rebounds, but he shot just 7 of 26 from the field.

Murray also struggled, scoring 16 points on 5-for-17 shooting.

The Nuggets shot 34.1%, their worst shooting game of the entire season.

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Up next: Game 4, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ABC.

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Denver, CO

Roadrunner spotted far from its usual range in Denver surprises birders

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Roadrunner spotted far from its usual range in Denver surprises birders


A Greater Roadrunner sighting in Denver has birders buzzing with no sign of Wile E. Coyote in pursuit far from the species’ usual range.

File photo: A Greater Roadrunner in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 3, 2026. (Image credit: David Becker/Getty Images)

A Greater Roadrunner sighting in Denver is stirring interest among birders after the cuckoo was seen by multiple people in recent weeks.

According to a report on eBird.org, a Greater Roadrunner was spotted on April 15 along South Parker Road in Denver. While this is the only report on eBird for Denver, other recent sightings have sparked interest in the local birding scene, with mentions appearing on the Birds of Colorado Facebook group and other birding websites.

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Audubon Denver Master Birder Crystal Reser told AccuWeather that while the sighting is “unusual,” it is not a “rare bird alert” like a more recent sighting of a white-faced ibis in Colorado, a species that typically inhabits the southeastern United States. Still, the roadrunner is well north of where the birds are usually found.

Greater roadrunners are native to Texas, Oklahoma and the far southeastern corner of Colorado. They are not typically found in urban environments.

“They do like to run,” Reser said, referencing the Looney Tunes cartoon. “They spend most of their time on the ground, hunting snakes, insects and bugs and chasing them on the ground.”

Reser said the bird was spotted in a congested part of the city near the High Line Canal, which could provide clues about how it ended up so far north of its usual habitat.

“My guess, he followed the greenbelt heading north from Colorado Springs to Denver,” Reser said.

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This Denver newcomer may also be young. A juvenile bird could have become disoriented while searching for food or exploring. It could also be seeking a new habitat. Reser said no Greater Roadrunners have ever nested in the Denver metro area.

“We are seeing more kind of unusual birds showing up in Colorado,” Reser said.

Spring migration is a good time for birders to spot non-native species, but Reser said roadrunners do not typically migrate far from their southwestern habitat.

Still, she said the sighting highlights how bird-watching can reveal broader environmental patterns. Storms and weather changes can also push birds into unusual areas.

“The important thing is to pay attention to what is happening in nature,” she said. “Birds are one of the best ways to be in tune with nature…and trying to do something to improve it.”

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Providing water in birdbaths and planting native plants are two ways people can help their feathered friends.

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Red flag fatigue? Colorado sees near-record number of critical fire days

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Red flag fatigue? Colorado sees near-record number of critical fire days


BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — If you feel like we’ve had a lot of red flag days across Colorado since the start of the year, you’re right.

According to our Denver7 weather team, there have been 369 red flag warnings across the state since the start of 2026, marking the second-highest number recorded to date since 2005. In 2023, there were 408 red flag warnings from Jan. 1 through April 22 of that year, according to Denver7 meteorologist Danielle Grant

A red flag day happens when warm temperatures, low humidity and strong winds combine to create critical fire weather conditions.

▶️ WATCH: Denver7’s Claire Lavezzorio talked red flag fatigue with residents and officials

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Colorado sees second-highest number of red flag days since 2005

In Boulder County, officials say the frequency of these warnings in their area is breaking records, too.

“We’ve had 21 thus far since the beginning of 2026, and that number is almost as many as we’ve had in the previous years combined, 2024 and 2025,” said Vinnie Montez, a spokesperson for the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.

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Fierce winds, high fire danger Thursday across the Denver metro, plains

With the high volume of alerts, Montez worries the frequent warnings will become white noise.

Denver7 asked him if there is some red flag fatigue in the community.

“When you see the same commercial come up over and over again, you’re kind of like, flip the channel, right? I think that can happen in what we’re messaging,” Montez said.

At Chautauqua Park in Boulder, residents are taking note of how often these days are happening.

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“It’s almost every day,” Mac Whittington said.

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‘We’ve never seen this’: Rare fire danger grips Colorado mountain towns

Levi Brown, a Boulder resident, pointed out that all the ingredients for high fire danger are present.

“You look around, there’s a lot of fuel in the ground, a lot of wind blowing right now, in fact,” Brown said.

For Brown, who has lived in the area for 26 years, every warning carries weight.

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“It seems to be more prevalent now. And I don’t take it lightly,” Brown said.

For those who do not take the days seriously, Whittington offered a word of caution.

“Hopefully we don’t have to learn the lesson the hard way,” he said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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