Former Broncos defensive lineman Harald Hasselbach passes away
Nov 23, 2023, 2:54 PM
Harald Hasselbach, who played seven seasons (1994-2000) for the Broncos and was a part of their back-to-back world-championship teams in 1997 and 1998, passed away recently, according to his family.
Hasselbach was 56 years of age. He was recently diagnosed with metastatic mucinous adenocarcinoma.
A starter for the Broncos in 32 games — including all three postseason games in the 1998 run to Super Bowl XXXIII — Hasselbach ived a football life unlike any other Denver Broncos standout. He won two Super Bowls with the Broncos in the 1990s — and before he joined the team, won a Grey Cup in the Canadian Football League.
Hasselbach’s wife, Aundrea, and four children survive him.
HARALD HASSELBACH TOOK A UNIQUE PATH TO THE BRONCOS
Born in Amsterdam to a Dutch father and a mother from Suriname, Harald Hasselbach had a well-traveled childhood. As a 1994 story in The (Colorado Springs) Gazette-Telegraph noted, Hasselbach’s father — an agronomist — had a career that took the family around the globe. Hasselbach grew up in Kenya, Indonesia, the Netherlands and Surinam before eventually settling near Vancouver, British Columbia.
It was there that Hasselbach took up football. He played the sport for one season in Tsawwassen, British Columbia. Until that point, swimming, soccer, field hockey and rugby were his sporting interests.
But Hasselbach did enough to catch the eye of the University of Washington’s football program. He earned a spot with the Huskies as a rotational defensive lineman.
That was not enough to get NFL interest at the time. But his time in Canada allowed him to qualify as a non-import player in the CFL, giving him a path to a roster spot. The Calgary Stampeders drafted him, and he emerged as a solid nose tackle, contributing to the team’s 1992 Grey Cup win.
The CFL stint allowed Hasselbach to refine his craft. His athleticism was always evident — he ran a 4.7 40-yard dash time as a 280-pounder. He tried out for multiple NFL teams in 1994, but signed with the Broncos.
“Call me a late bloomer. Maybe I am,” Hasselbach told The Gazette-Telegraph in 1994. “That’s fine with me. I’m coming into my own.”
Hasselbach made the Broncos’ 1994 roster as a defensive end and remained there through 2000. Not only did he become a solid contributor with 17.5 sacks, but he also was one of three players to model the team’s then-new uniforms in February 1997, alongside John Elway and John Mobley.
That day, Hasselbach wore the all-blues. Coincidentally, those were the uniforms the Broncos wore Sunday night, on what turned out to be the final game they played in Hasselbach’s life — a 21-20 win over Minnesota.
