0:02

Hello, and thank you for joining us here on the Broncos

0:05

Podcast Network on Philolani, joined

0:07

as always by Eric Dealala,

0:09

back with another episode of Broncos

0:12

Country Throwback. Today. Joining

0:14

Jim Sakamano is Billy Van Houghson

0:17

UF Phil and Billy is a member of the Broncos

0:19

Top one hundred team that was selected

0:22

last year. So kind of cool to get to talk

0:24

to some of these guys who were named to that group

0:27

that uh, you know, unique prestigious

0:30

group that we selected last season.

0:32

And Billy, of course wide receiver

0:35

and punter for the Broncos, lots

0:37

of stories to tell from his time playing here

0:39

in the sixties and seventies. What's

0:41

up. Let's get to Jim Sakamano's conversation

0:44

with Billy van Houson. We

0:54

are talking today with Billy van Houston,

0:57

great Denver Broncos punter and

1:00

a member of our top one team

1:03

of all time history.

1:05

And you know, I've I've given a lot of thoughts to that, Billy,

1:07

and you think, I wonder if we picked

1:09

the right guy. I wonder if there's another putter

1:11

we should have picked. And the answer, after

1:14

even more of research than I gave her in the first place

1:17

is a resounding no. We picked

1:19

the right guy. Um,

1:21

Billy, you might be the most athletic putter,

1:24

certainly the most athletic putter in Denver Bronco's

1:27

history. And

1:29

I was reading the paper. A lot of good things have been

1:31

said about Sam Martin, who's

1:33

our putter. Now we got it from the Detroit

1:36

Lions. Are you familiar with Sam at all?

1:38

Billy? You know, Jim, I don't

1:40

know much about him. I'll be honest with you. I've

1:42

not paid a lot of attention to

1:45

the Lions in the last couple of

1:47

years. Um, so, so I'm

1:49

really not too familiar with him. Well,

1:51

that's okay. Just to refresh

1:54

from our fans who might be listening, Billy,

1:57

you put it for nine years for the Denver

1:59

Broncos and uh, that

2:01

was from sixty to seventy

2:03

six. Now, of all the of the forty

2:06

eight putters who had at least a hundred

2:08

punts in that period of time, your

2:10

gross average of forty one point seven

2:13

was seventh overall, and

2:15

there were five times in

2:17

which you were the top ten in those

2:20

close average. However, you

2:24

were also the only one of those

2:26

guys who was a significant

2:28

position player during that same time

2:31

and in all time Broncos history,

2:34

you still are the all time leader

2:37

in average catch average yards

2:39

per catch with twenty point five on

2:41

eighty two catches. Did you realize that,

2:43

Billy Um? You know, Jim,

2:45

I had been told, oh, a couple of years

2:47

ago, so I mentioned that guy

2:49

had sent me a card to be

2:51

signed, and uh

2:54

he mentioned in his letter that,

2:56

and I really wasn't aware of it. But then going

2:59

back um to college

3:01

at the University of Maryland, Uh,

3:03

it's interesting. I still have the longest average

3:05

for catch in their history. And that's strange.

3:08

You know, That's that's really something sometimes

3:11

outstanding athletes. You

3:13

play the game, you're not counting the game. Uh.

3:17

Somebody asked Babe Ruth once, Uh

3:19

you know here the home, They said, is that forty

3:21

seven or forty eight? Babe? But he said, I

3:23

don't know, but I'll hit him and you count them. There

3:26

you go, that's that's the way to do it. So uh,

3:31

go ahead. Yeah, It's just you

3:33

know, statistics, they're

3:36

they're great measuring sticks, I guess for some

3:38

people. But I think it's

3:41

just like the the average

3:43

um, you know, yardage on punts

3:46

and and so on and in our day,

3:49

you know, we were we did a lot more directional

3:51

type kicking than they do now. And

3:54

a lot of times, you know, you're on the four

3:56

d yard line, you're trying to kick the ball out on

3:58

the ten yard line, so you don't look.

4:01

You're not looking at kicking a fifty yard pund. You're

4:03

trying to You're trying to punt it down there and

4:05

pin the other team back so

4:08

your defense has a better chance. And you

4:10

know, I think that's kind of a statistic

4:13

that gets lost. You know, I remember one

4:16

year, Ray Guy and Gerald

4:18

Wilson and I all were within I think

4:20

three tenths of a yard of each other and

4:23

in average for a punt. But

4:25

then when you go back and look at the number of punts

4:27

that were kicked out out of bounds inside

4:30

the twenty UM, I think

4:32

there was a pretty good difference. I think

4:34

that I was ahead in that category,

4:37

UM significantly, uh

4:39

and Gerald was second. But Ray Guy was

4:41

such you know, a boomer um. It

4:44

was just he just kick it into the end zone. It wouldn't worry

4:46

about it. So yeah, I think,

4:48

uh, quite honestly, I think Daryl Wilson

4:51

I could have gone to the Hall of Fame. I head a Ray guy,

4:53

but what the heck? Life

4:56

is never perfect, Sam Martin. The current

4:58

kind of for the Broncos, the coaches are working

5:00

with have a lot of special team coach

5:03

Comic McMahon on the directional

5:05

kicking. I think that I've talked to Sam quite

5:07

a bit and I think that's one of his best

5:10

things. So hopefully that works out real well for him

5:12

and the Broncos. Yeah, it's

5:14

it's so important. You know. We used to bring uh they

5:16

used to bring out the traffic cones,

5:19

and we've put the cone on the goal line and then

5:21

the ten yard line or the fifteen

5:24

and then um stand you

5:26

know, whether we're on the same

5:28

side of the field as punting,

5:31

you know, on on that hash mark

5:33

or the opposite hash mark. Uh. Typically

5:35

you wouldn't try to kick out of bounds across

5:38

the field. You'd always go to the side of the hash

5:40

market. And we

5:42

set up these cones and

5:45

it was it was fun. Merlin Moore and I would

5:47

have you know, uh who we

5:49

bet how many times I could get it inside

5:52

a certain certain yard line and

5:54

it really it made it fun, but really accounted

5:56

in the games. It was a big help. Yeah, it's

5:58

interesting you say it was, and it was fun

6:01

because you could do it. Really, it

6:03

wouldn't be as much fun if a guy couldn't do it.

6:05

Now, you know you're really

6:07

you're a New York kid. You you went to the University

6:10

of Maryland. I'm sure you have a lot of offers and

6:12

so forth. But you were a free

6:14

agent with the Broncos, played nine

6:16

years. Tell us how you know Loose

6:18

Saban had been your coach at Maryland and then also

6:20

with the Broncos. Tell us how you wound

6:22

up coming here. Well, that's

6:25

it's an interesting story. I had um

6:27

been told and had letters

6:30

from the Cowboys. Um.

6:32

Let's see, at the Cowboys, the Lions,

6:35

a couple of other teams had expressed an

6:37

interest and it indicated they were going to UM

6:40

the drafting me. And

6:43

so after my senior year of Maryland,

6:45

I had a cartilage that was floating

6:47

in my knee. I went and had it removed, and

6:50

then all of a sudden, those guys weren't

6:53

interested anymore. So right

6:55

after the draft, UM,

6:57

I got a call from a couple of teams.

7:00

Was but lou Saban called and

7:02

having played for him in Maryland. I got

7:04

to know him really well, and uh,

7:07

he asked if I want to come out and take a shot as

7:09

a free agent, and he and Sam martig

7:11

Leiano. You probably remember Sam

7:13

Um. Oh yeah, yeah,

7:15

So he was our receiver coach at Maryland that one

7:17

year. And uh, when

7:20

Lou brought the whole staff really

7:22

from the University of Maryland out to Denver

7:26

when he decided to come back into the professional

7:28

ranks. Uh, he had, as

7:31

you know, have been a Buffalo and been very successful

7:34

and wanted to When

7:36

he came to Maryland, he was basically told

7:38

that Um the

7:40

athletic director, Bill Colby Kobe

7:43

told him that he

7:45

would be interested in moving

7:49

Maryland out of the Atlantic Coast Conference

7:51

in football and starting their

7:53

own conference with independent

7:56

teams like Penn State, Army

7:58

and Navy, Florida State.

8:00

There are a number of schools that were independent at that time.

8:03

And when we were

8:05

flying down to play the last game

8:08

of the year against Florida State, Bill

8:11

Kobe was sitting up front with coach Saban

8:13

and they were having a discussion and

8:15

then all of a sudden it

8:18

became an argument, and

8:20

uh, none of us knew what that was about.

8:23

And during that game, the

8:26

Florida State game, I

8:28

heard lou tell coach for Tagliano

8:30

to come on down to the sidelines at the end of

8:32

the third quarter. He said,

8:34

I get yourself a hot dog and a drink

8:36

and come on down to the sidelines. We're heading to Denver.

8:39

And what is he

8:41

talked about? So that

8:43

was that was the first we heard of

8:45

it. But what happened was

8:47

that Kobe had told him on

8:50

the plane that that he could not get Maryland

8:53

into independent status, so

8:56

he had to stay in the Atlantic Coast Conference,

8:58

and that did it for Louke. He was, Uh,

9:01

Now, didn't you tell me once that

9:03

when lou was leading Maryland

9:06

he had told you that,

9:08

you know, it was something like our

9:10

past might cross again, or I

9:12

might be said you had called or something. Yeah,

9:15

he said, he said, Billy, he said, you keep working

9:17

hard, um, and you never

9:19

know what the future might bring quote unquote

9:23

h uh. And so then when he

9:25

called uh, he just said,

9:28

uh, Billy is coach. And

9:30

of course you know you recognized his voice.

9:32

I said, are you doing coach? He said, listen, Um, I

9:35

would love for you to come out to Denver um

9:38

see if we see if we can add you to

9:40

the team if you're interested in trying out,

9:43

and I said, I'm absolutely interested.

9:46

Um, I'll just he said,

9:48

there were a couple of the teams that were interested in signing

9:50

me as a free agent, but he had already said

9:52

he had already talked to them, and uh,

9:55

he thought I would be the best you know, his

9:57

team would be the Bronx would be the best bet for

9:59

me. And you

10:01

know we're great. And

10:04

all these years later, you still how can you stayed

10:07

here, Billy? You know you're an East Coast guy.

10:09

Really, for so long you were, how can you stayed

10:11

in Denver? I just, you know,

10:13

Jim, this this Denver community, especially

10:16

when I came out here in sixty it

10:18

was a much smaller community. But the people

10:20

here are great, you know, the just the whole

10:23

environment. I love the mountains, I

10:25

loved all the people in Denver. Have

10:27

always just loved being here.

10:30

And one thing I would say that that I

10:33

miss is being close to the

10:35

ocean because we grew up

10:37

right down what's called the Long Island Sound,

10:40

and that's uh, you know, a body

10:42

of water that's it's really Long

10:45

Island separates um

10:47

the Atlantic Ocean from the Long Island

10:49

Sound and it butts up to Westchester, New

10:51

York. And so you

10:54

know, we used to we used to go to Jones Beach

10:56

in Long Island Way. You

10:59

know how we had those waves. It was

11:01

great. But that's the

11:03

only thing I really missed. But the mountains certainly

11:05

make up for that. Now.

11:07

You know, Billy, you putted five

11:09

hundred and seventy four times for the Denver

11:11

Bronco. Give an idea how many

11:13

times you had to kick blocked? Um,

11:18

you know, I don't know, Jim, I know Philadelphia

11:21

got one, let's say

11:24

four times. I don't know one

11:26

time. One time. Well,

11:28

you had exactly as many kicks blocked

11:31

as a professional as

11:33

when you ran out of putty formation,

11:36

which you did a bunch of times. You

11:38

ran a heck of a long ways that you scored a touchdown

11:40

on one. How long was that? Oh

11:43

gosh, that was I think sixty

11:46

well sixty three yards something like that. It was

11:48

against Houston. I'll tell you a story

11:50

on that if if, if you got him home

11:52

and the we got all the moments you want,

11:55

Billy, Yes, sir, well we're we're

11:58

winning that game by three point. We're

12:01

playing Houston in Denver. And

12:04

we're punting. I think the ball is on about seven

12:08

yard line something like that, getting ready

12:10

to punt, and John Ralston calls time

12:12

out and go

12:14

over to the sideline. I think there was less than two

12:17

minutes left in the game, or maybe just two

12:19

minutes, and go over the sideline

12:22

and Coach Ralston says,

12:24

uh, what do you think

12:26

about faking this punt to murrow more the

12:29

special teams coach, And Merrell said,

12:32

um, well, why do you want to do that? And

12:34

he said, well, if they block it,

12:37

or if right,

12:40

or if if we shank it, they

12:42

might be able to make a fair catch and have

12:44

a free kick for a field goal to tie

12:46

the game. And so Merle

12:49

looked at me, you know, and we both

12:51

kind of sugar her head, like really, and

12:54

so he says, yeah, let's uh,

12:56

I think we had to run the fake. That'll run some time

12:58

off the clock anyway. So that's

13:02

that's how it, uh it transpired,

13:04

and I walked we were on time out, and

13:06

I ran over, uh into

13:08

the huddle for a second, and I looked

13:10

at Mike Simony, if you remember, Mike, Oh,

13:14

I said, listen, if we faked this punt and go left,

13:17

can you get your guy hooked. He

13:19

said, I got him hooked. He's going inside all

13:21

the time. And then I talked to fran

13:23

Lynch on the other side, frant if if we go

13:26

right, you've got your guy hooked, he goes at least he's

13:28

sometimes going in and sometimes going out. And I

13:30

said, okay, let's go left. I went back and told

13:32

Merle and so we

13:35

we've called fake punt run left

13:37

and went for a touch down. Yeah.

13:42

I remember that. I was in the stands watching it.

13:45

That. Uh, that was that was very

13:47

cool. You had a lot of great moments

13:49

and uh, you know again, I

13:52

know your self deprecated about some of this, but

13:54

eighty two catches for a twenty five

13:56

average. This is the real deal.

13:58

And that's while you're you know, you were. You

14:01

compared a little bit too, like Bobby Joe Green,

14:05

who was a running back, uh at

14:07

a at a putter. He played fourteen years. Bobby

14:09

Joe had like ten carries in his whole career.

14:13

Yeah, I mean running back. But look,

14:15

actually you carried the ball thirteen

14:17

times.

14:20

You can carry the ball more times that Bobby Joe

14:22

Green carried it as a running back. Yeah,

14:25

No, I gotta I think I got one out of field

14:28

goal to fake field goal. I mean

14:30

I think one, maybe two. On those, I was

14:33

I would back up Charlie Johnson as a holder,

14:35

and once in a while they'd just sneak me in there and uh,

14:38

we'd hold, and then we took off

14:40

on one and threw it. And we took off on one

14:42

and ran it for the first time. Yeah, I

14:44

remember you. You passed, Uh, I think

14:46

you passed like five times completed too.

14:49

So was that a field goal formation? One

14:52

of those anchors field goal? The other one's punt

14:55

formation? Got it? Got

14:57

it? Well, Billy, you

15:00

you had quite a career, And I

15:03

think there's a there's a noble

15:05

ending to it beyond the

15:07

scope that anybody knows about.

15:11

Most guys kick or play forever

15:13

and ever as long as they can in their

15:15

career ends. But then some guys

15:18

occasionally or maybe involved in something

15:21

and when it's over, they don't get

15:23

to play anymore. Yeah, and

15:26

Billy, this is a time

15:28

kind of like of a lot of social movements and

15:30

so forth. But you made

15:32

a sacrifice that

15:35

almost no athlete in history has ever

15:37

made. I can't

15:40

I can explain it, but I think it's better if you explain

15:42

it. There was the era of the Dirty

15:44

Dozen, but a lot of those guys

15:46

ran for cover when the shooting stopped, and

15:49

Billy Van Houston and the doctor run for cover.

15:52

You stood up and took the bullets and you

15:54

never kicked again. You want to explain

15:57

that, well, I I

15:59

don't know if a lot of people listening

16:01

will remember it, but you

16:03

know, at the end of John Rawlson's five

16:05

years here, um, it was

16:08

announced in the locker room

16:11

to us at San Diego the last

16:13

game of the season. Uh

16:15

Mr Fitts came in and made the announcement

16:17

he was going to give John Rawlson another five

16:19

years on his contract. And

16:22

as a team, we had,

16:27

from my perspective and a lot of guys on

16:29

the team, we realized that John Rawlston

16:31

wasn't the answer. We knew that we had

16:33

some incredible talent, really good

16:36

football players and really

16:38

were on kind of the on

16:40

track to make it for the playoffs for

16:42

the first time, and we felt

16:45

that the coach Ralston I

16:47

just couldn't get that job done. So as

16:51

as one of the older guys on the team, maybe

16:54

yeah it might have been the oldest, but I was one of the older

16:56

guys on the team and

16:59

when they had now said before the game

17:01

against San Diego, I believe we were about a ten

17:03

or twelve point favorite. We got shut out

17:06

because yeah,

17:08

the air no air. Yeah

17:12

yeah, it was it was crazy. And

17:15

uh so I went

17:17

in and talked to Mr Phipps. Uh

17:19

called him and went in and talked to him, and I said,

17:21

you're making a big mistake. And other

17:24

players did too, and that's where you get the

17:26

Dirty Dozen. There were a

17:28

bunch of guys Alsado,

17:31

Tom Jackson, I believe,

17:33

Billy Thompson, louis right. There are a lot of

17:35

guys that that expressed

17:37

to Mr Phipps that that just you know, they

17:39

shouldn't have done that. So when

17:42

the Ralston

17:44

was coaching in Mobile,

17:46

Alabama at the Senior Bowl, he was

17:49

named as the coach for one of the teams

17:51

there, and um

17:53

it's Mr Fipps said as

17:56

well, uh, I'll

17:58

consider this or something like this. But

18:00

he never did anything to follow it

18:02

up. So that's when we

18:06

um the group the Dirty

18:08

dozen, if you will, call the press conference

18:11

and down I think it was a Hilton

18:13

Hotel on Colorado Boulevard. Yeah,

18:17

just we just wanted to make the statement. We did

18:19

not back up the decision

18:22

of Mr Phipps that we felt

18:24

like John Rawlson had done everything

18:26

he could do, UM, that we just

18:28

needed to make a change. The team just

18:31

didn't have a confidence in him. And

18:34

when Mr Phipps got winto

18:36

that, he came to

18:38

the Hilton and said

18:41

he would be in touch with Ralston

18:43

at the Senior Bowl and that

18:45

he would talk to him and have a meeting with him when

18:47

he got back to Denver. And we

18:50

had basically, you know, a

18:52

kind of a press release put together, and

18:55

so he said, so, I don't really want

18:58

much of this to get out. I want to us to get

19:00

out until I talked to Ralston,

19:03

right and so yeah, and so

19:05

at that point, Um,

19:07

after that meeting, a number

19:09

of the guys, including me, gave

19:11

the press statement two different

19:14

reporters. I gave it to what he

19:16

paid and I said, you

19:18

know, I don't I don't know if you should release

19:21

this we find out what Mr

19:23

Phipps works out with Ralston,

19:25

but it should definitely get released. At

19:28

which time would he

19:31

being woody when released it

19:33

right away? And yeah,

19:35

that's where I got yeah, that's

19:38

yeah, where I got nailed. Yeah,

19:40

Because then some guys were not that

19:42

good. You were good enough to kick for a number

19:45

of years yet, but when somebody

19:47

fairly or not has a stigma attached to

19:50

him, that was it. Well

19:53

yeah, I um, you know the further

19:55

the story. When um Rolston

19:57

came back, fifth said to

20:00

me, well, if you and your guys

20:02

had any whatever

20:05

courage, let's say, courage, you would

20:07

go out to talk to Rawlston

20:10

personally at the Bronco headquarters. I

20:12

said, that's no problem. I'm happy to do that,

20:15

and so I went out to the headquarters. Um.

20:18

In fact, I called a number

20:20

of the guys to say, listen. Mr

20:22

Tripps called said we should go out there and

20:24

meet Ralston and talk to him personally,

20:27

and none of them would go, And

20:30

so I said I'm going, And I went out anyway,

20:32

and I met him, and of course I

20:35

don't know who tipped off K

20:37

O A and and a couple of the

20:39

stations, but there was a guy out

20:41

one of at least one cameraman out there, UM,

20:44

kind of filming the whole situation. You're doing a

20:47

live deal. I don't remember the reporter.

20:50

And I met Ralston

20:52

alone and uh

20:55

deep, yeah, no, I listen,

20:58

I figured you gotta stand up if you believe, you stand

21:01

up for it. So I went in there and and listened

21:03

to John Ralston essentially

21:06

begged for me to

21:08

talk to the guys and withdraw the

21:11

statement and the feeling that we've

21:13

expressed. And I said I can't do that. I

21:16

said, we've you know, we expressed what we

21:18

felt. I have expressed what I felt, and

21:20

I just can't do that. And

21:22

he basically begged me not, you know, to please

21:24

don't don't make the releases. Said

21:27

I can't do it. And so when

21:29

I left his office, he followed me out

21:32

and unbelievably

21:36

waiting until we got to the front door where

21:38

the cameraman was. Then he walked up and

21:40

gives me a big hugs. He's

21:42

telling me, yeah, somebody

21:44

get here, thanks for coming by a billy. Well

21:47

wait a minute, I'm trying to push him away.

21:50

I didn't to be hugged, you know. I wasn't

21:52

there to make friends. And I was

21:55

unbelievable. But as

21:57

I recall, fip Stead, Mr Fhip

22:00

gives rowls to the choice that

22:02

you've got so much on your plate, you need to be the

22:04

coach of the GM. So he I

22:06

want to coach so he's the coach. So

22:09

Mr Fifth meets Fred Gurkey,

22:11

John's former assistant, John's boss.

22:14

But that Fred calls all you guys in to

22:16

just meet with you as the g F. Basically

22:18

you all tell him the same thing and

22:21

we make a move. Yep. So

22:24

yeah, and I and the

22:27

crazy part, I guess the crazy

22:29

part about that UM to me, the

22:31

thing that it was probably

22:33

most discouraging. It was how everybody

22:36

fell out of the ranks. You know, they were all

22:38

going home, we're gonna do this, We're gonna do this,

22:40

and everybody realized that, you

22:43

know, we needed to make a change. But as

22:45

you said, when it when it got down to the final

22:47

moment um kind of I

22:49

was left hanging out there alone. Yeah,

22:52

that was a very courageous thing, Billy.

22:54

Well, but tell you the probably the most disappointing

22:57

thing, UM for me, others

23:00

and the guys that

23:03

we're absolutely standing up that never

23:05

did stand up at the end. They fell

23:07

out. But I went back to

23:09

Philadelphia about the second

23:11

I think it was the second after the second week of

23:13

the season. I think that putter name was

23:15

Spike jones Um

23:18

and he had had two punts blocked in the

23:20

first two games of the season, and essentially

23:23

they lost both games, and

23:25

so I got a call. Dick Vermill

23:28

was a coach and Dick Corey,

23:30

who had been the receiver coach here

23:33

under Ralston when I played. Uh,

23:36

he called and asked

23:39

me if if I would come back and

23:41

and try out with the Eagles, and

23:44

I thought, wow, this is great that you know, I'm going

23:46

to get a chance here. And when

23:49

I went back and tried out, you

23:51

might remember Ken i'man He played for the Packers.

23:54

He was their special team's coach. And

23:57

so we went to the VET, went to

23:59

the state him and I punted for him

24:01

and he had to stop watch out and

24:04

he kept double taking the stop

24:06

watch. He's going, whoa that

24:08

whoa that was five one, whoa that was

24:10

four nine, that was five to He

24:12

goes, wow, you know, we've not had that kind

24:14

of hang time here ever, and

24:16

I said great. You know. So then they had me run

24:19

the forty and I was still running four or

24:21

five in the forty, and

24:24

so he said, this is great. So

24:27

I went back in and met with coach Corey

24:30

and UM, he said, listen,

24:33

UH, come in tomorrow morning at nine o'clock.

24:35

I think we we want to get together on getting

24:38

getting a contract put together, and

24:40

I thought, wow, this is fantastic.

24:42

That called home, said it looks like I got a

24:44

shot. Next morning, um

24:47

Vermill says, Billy, Mr

24:50

Toast wants to talk to you. He's the owner and

24:53

went in and said, um, hey, Billy, you

24:56

know, um, you really did good

24:58

with the times and you're punning. But you

25:01

know, we got a really really young team. And I

25:03

gotta tell X last night from Denver that

25:05

said you might be a radical and have a could

25:08

have a negative effect on a young team.

25:11

And so at this point we're just going to hold

25:13

off on signing. And

25:17

the obviously the light went on at that point

25:20

and it was over, and I don't

25:22

know, would have no other chance. So

25:26

yeah, it was. It was a sad ending, but

25:28

I had a great I listen I had.

25:30

I thoroughly enjoyed playing in

25:32

the NFL. I loved Denver, thoroughly

25:35

enjoyed being in Denver. I didn't want to leave.

25:38

And the ironic thing out of it all

25:41

is that they went to the super Bowl. Yeah,

25:44

and you know you could have would

25:46

have been a part of all that and everything, but we

25:49

only get one shot at whatever it is.

25:52

And uh, you know you're on the

25:54

hundred, the top hundred all time team.

25:57

You had a great career, you still live here.

26:00

Yuh, everything's been good, Billy,

26:02

it is it is. I'm very blessed. And you

26:05

know, I'm working with my son in the real estate

26:07

business. We work together, and

26:10

I'm blessed to have that situation and

26:13

have met just so many wonderful people here

26:15

in denver Um. You know, we very

26:18

often run across fans that used

26:21

to be fans and see my name as a realtor and

26:23

call up and say, hey, you know coming over. We like

26:25

talking about sam our house things like

26:27

that. So I am I

26:29

am the luckiest guy in the world, Jim. To tell you the

26:31

truth, I am very less being

26:33

here. Billy. We're lucky to have had you.

26:35

You know, you You've always had just a

26:38

great attitude. Nothing, nothing

26:41

sours you, nothing makes you frown, although

26:43

I'm sure things do, but that's not how you

26:45

meet people. You're always glad to meet everybody.

26:48

And uh, it's it's really

26:50

cool. And Uh, all I can say

26:52

is, you know, we're very proud of you. Thanks

26:55

again for talking to us on dron to his

26:57

country throwback and certain

27:00

Lee I'd be remiss even though I didn't

27:02

make a cake if I didn't stay

27:04

Happy birthday. Once again, thank

27:06

you. I appreciate it very much, Jim, and I

27:08

appreciate you. And uh

27:11

again, thanks to all the people in Denver. They've been

27:13

great to me and I'm just extremely blessed

27:15

it's been it's been a lot of fun. It's

27:19

a lot of fun for us to thank you. Billy vn

27:21

Hughson. That

27:24

was Jim Sakermano's conversation with Billy

27:26

Van Hughes and the former wide receiver and hunter

27:29

for the Denver Broncos. Filled

27:31

this this Broncos top one

27:33

under it. I feel like we get to talk to some of these

27:35

guys that maybe aren't on the minds

27:37

every day of Broncos fans. Yeah, he's

27:39

definitely the definition of the more

27:42

you can do, I mean, hunting and

27:45

catching the football. What a unique

27:47

set of skills. And uh, we were lucky

27:49

enough to chat with Billy on his

27:51

birthday, so that was kind

27:53

of cool there too. So if

27:56

you enjoyed conversations like this, make sure you

27:58

subscribe to Broncos Kind Tree

28:00

Throwback. You can find this podcast

28:02

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28:10

Radio. And make sure you check

28:12

out some of the other podcasts

28:14

on the Broncos podcast

28:16

network. That's The Neutral Zone,

28:19

Andre Amigos, and

28:21

now also The Snap,

28:23

so make sure you took those out. We'll

28:25

be back next week with another conversation

28:28

with a member of the Broncos alumni. Until

28:31

then, for Jim Sakamano and Eric Dalala,

28:33

I'm still Blan