At 37, Elway has become something of a grand old man. It wasn't always this way for Elway. For a while those embarrassments he suffered in the Super Bowl seemed a sort of comeuppance. But Elway persevered in the classic American hero style of Gary Cooper, and now he's seen as a valiant warrior who has been somehow wronged. It wouldn't have turned for Elway had he been one of those athletes who likes to call attention to himself, like a Deion Sanders or a Rick Barry.
Nobody bleeds for a big mouth.
But by dint of his quiet struggle Elway has become venerable.