Peyton Manning, Rashaan Salaam among 6 elected to Colorado HOF
Oct 11, 2017, 12:00 AM | Updated: 11:02 am
Add another honor impressive honor to the resume of NFL legend Peyton Manning.
The former Denver Broncos star and the late University of Colorado football great Rashaan Salaam headline a list of six individual elected to the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
Former University of Northern Colorado head coach Joe Glenn, longtime Colorado high school football coach Sam Pagano, Colorado girls basketball star Tracy Hill, and standout sprinter and football player Alex Burl will join Manning and Salaam among the 2018 class.
The selection for Manning comes on the heels of his former club, the Indianapolis Colts, honoring his achievements last weekend with a statue and a place in the franchise’s Ring of Honor.
After spending 14 seasons of his professional career with the Colts, Manning joined the Denver Broncos as a free agent in March 2012.
In four seasons with the Broncos, Manning led his club to four-straight AFC West titles, two Super Bowl berths, and one world championship. In that span, Denver had the most wins (55) and highest winning percentage (.764) of any team in the NFL.
Individually, Manning posted arguably the best offensive season from a quarterback in league history in 2013, throwing for a record 55 touchdown passes and 5,477 passing yards while generating the top-scoring offense (37.9 points per game) and earning his fifth MVP honor.
Salaam, a standout throughout his time with the Buffaloes, became the only Colorado-based player to win the Heisman Trophy in 1994.
That season, Salaam rushed for 2,005 yards, joining Barry Sanders, Tony Dorsett, Marcus Allen, and Mike Rozier as the only players to rush for more than 2,000 in a single collegiate season. He also added 24 touchdowns, averaged 6.9 yards per carry, and ran for 100-yards or more in 10 games — not to mention adding 294 yards receiving on 24 passes to his stats total.
Skipping his senior season at CU-Boulder, Salaam entered the NFL as a first-round pick (21st overall) with the Chicago Bears. His rushed for 1,074 yards and 10 touchdowns his rookie season but lasted just a few more years in the league before retiring.
Salaam passed away in Boulder late last year at the age of 42 of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
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