<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3JOzxB_0va2l5MQ00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3JOzxB_0va2l5MQ00" width="1200" height="630" >When tackle Marv Montgomery retired from the NFL after the 1978 season, he was dealing with shoulder and leg injuries and would have welcomed advice on career opportunities.“Back then when you retired you were basically on your own," he said.Montgomery, who played in the NFL from 1971-78, including 1971-76 for the Broncos, eventually settled into a career involving real estate, financial services and insurance in the Denver area. And it wasn’t easy finding out what benefits he could get for his injuries.“You’d call the NFL Players Association and sometimes they couldn’t even direct you,’’ Montgomery said.Flash forward more than four decades and Montgomery, 76, is pleased to see how much better it is now for retired NFL players. And he’s impressed to see how the Broncos have taken things to another level.After the Walton-Penner group bought the Broncos in August 2022, ownership sought to beef up working with the team’s former players. That included establishing the Alumni Huddles, designed to help ex-players in a variety of areas.“The ownership has been amazing in giving resources to alumni, specifically owner Carrie Walton Penner,’’ said Dominic Gaspari, the Broncos’ director of alumni engagement who manages the huddles. “She’s a big supporter of the alumni and what was very important was the personal and professional development, so we came up with the idea of Alumni Huddles.”The first one at Empower Field at Mile High was held last November and additional ones have been held there this year in February, March and May. Topics have included health and wellness, disability and benefit plans, career opportunities and a work/life resources program. There also was an event at the stadium in March in which former players could get a full-body screening, blood work, an EKG and assistance with mental health.Montgomery has attended some of the huddles and said they are “very helpful” in gaining information. That includes medical information since Montgomery said he probably will need to have his left shoulder replaced after suffering a torn rotator cuff when he was a player.Montgomery attended the first Alumni Huddle, which was led by former Broncos safety David Bruton, now a physical therapist in the Denver area. It dealt with health and wellness and included topics such as pain management, inflammation, proper diet and caloric intake.“(The Broncos have) done a great job as far as tapping into what we are interested in as individuals and what our post-career life is and how we can help former players,” Bruton said.Bruton, who played for Denver from 2009-15, said the Alumni Huddles provide an ideal opportunity for former Broncos players to reconnect to the organization. The events have been attracting an average of 18 former players.“I think the overall focus of the alumni engagement has been to make sure these players feel like they’re part of the organization,’’ said Bruton, who said there “might be a sense of bitterness” after players retire and are no longer a part of a team. “They did lay a brick as far as this foundation. They are part of the history of the team.“We’re definitely trying to build that tight-knit community and try to be involved and make sure we’re all good. It’s not just about reliving the glory days and watching football but it’s also talking about the life stuff that we have going on as well.”At the session led by Bruton, he provided information on the many benefits available to former players through The Trust, which is spearheaded by the NFLPA. That includes resources to help players with community and connection opportunities, health and wellness and personal and business development.“We wanted to get a name that represents that feeling of being back in the locker and being able to talk about topics that are important to (alumni) in a safe space, so that’s really how we developed these Alumni Huddles,” Gaspari said.The huddles have been open to all Broncos alumni, and now also are to wives and significant others. Speakers have been brought in to talk to the former players, including a personal trainer, a licensed nutritionist and a union representative to discuss benefits. Pro Football Hall of Fame guard Will Shields, a regional director for the NFL Legends Community, also spoke at one huddle about available benefits.A career opportunities huddle in May was hosted by former Broncos kicker David Treadwell and three former Denver players spoke. They were quarterback Jake Plummer, who owns a mushroom farm and talked about entrepreneurship, running back Knowshon Moreno, who discussed his successful real estate business, and tackle Ryan Harris, who talked about having become a broadcaster.“It brings back the locker room feel in terms of the ability to be honest and to talk about things that are bothering you and to hear about how other incredibly successful people have struggled with one thing or another and what they did to move through it," said Harris, who played for the Broncos from 2007-10 and in 2015. “There’s an opportunity for severe isolation when you’re done playing and the Broncos Huddles have made sure that former Broncos players have a place to come, to learn, to listen, to connect, and there’s no way to quantify how important it is for a lot of former players, especially guys whose careers just ended.”Harris said defensive back Taurean Nixon, whom he hadn’t seen since Denver’s Super Bowl-winning season of 2015, flew in from California to attend the Alumni Huddle at which he spoke. Nixon, who played for the Broncos from 2015-16, has stated he retired from the NFL in 2018 after four seasons due to mental health issues and he is now part owner of a company that manufactures tea.“I get messages from other programs around the NFL,’’ said Harris, who also played for Houston, Kansas City and Pittsburgh. “This is the most comprehensive and robust one. … The Broncos have excelled at providing opportunity and information in a way that other organizations have yet to do.”With the opportunities available to meet, Harris said the Alumni Huddles have led to former Broncos players having other groups that have become popular. There is a group of former players who get together regularly for breakfast and another that holds golf outings.The next Alumni Huddle is scheduled for Nov. 8. Other former players to have attended a huddle event include linebacker Karl Mecklenburg, safety Nick Ferguson, wide receiver Brandon Lloyd, offensive lineman Ben Garland and running back Reuben Droughns.“(The Broncos) are doing a fabulous job of reconnecting the alumni group and bringing us all together,’’ said Droughns, who played for Denver from 2002-04. “It’s been a great reconnection with the old and the new. … They’re basically giving us a bunch of information because a lot of guys don’t know how to get benefits and things like that. And it’s free food.”Montgomery, whose leg injury led to him getting a full hip transplant years after he left the NFL, said after he retired it took a lot of work to find out what benefits were available to him. He called the Alumni Huddles extremely valuable for more recently retired players to help them understand what is available.“I wish we had them back when I first retired,’’ he said.</div></body>

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Broncos' Alumni Huddles help former players reconnect with team, learn available benefits

When tackle Marv Montgomery retired from the NFL after the 1978 season, he was dealing with shoulder and leg injuries and would have welcomed advice on career opportunities. “Back then when you retired you were basically on your own,\" he said. Montgomery, who played in the NFL from 1971-78, including...

When tackle Marv Montgomery retired from the NFL after the 1978 season, he was dealing with shoulder and leg injuries and would have welcomed advice on career opportunities. “Back then when you retired you were basically on your own," he said. Montgomery, who played in the NFL from 1971-78, including...

Broncos' Alumni Huddles help former players reconnect with team, learn available benefits

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