Jack Elway John Albert " Jack " Elway , Sr . ( May 30 , 1931 – April 15 , 2001 ) was an American football player and head coach ; he was the father of John Elway , a Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback . Early life . Elway was a native of Hoquiam , Washington , and played quarterback at Washington State University in Pullman for one season until a knee surgery ended his playing career . He earned both bachelor ' s and master ' s degrees from WSU . Early coaching career . Elway then taught and coached at Port Angeles High School ; all three of his children were born in Port Angeles . In 1961 he was hired as the head coach at Grays Harbor College , a junior college in Aberdeen , near his hometown of Hoquiam in southwestern Washington . Following the 1966 season , he became an assistant coach in the Big Sky Conference at the University of Montana under head coach Jack Swarthout . After five seasons in Missoula with the Grizzlies , he moved to the Pac - 8 at his alma mater following the 1971 season , as an assistant under head coach Jim Sweeney , and stayed in Pullman for four seasons . Sweeney abruptly resigned after the 1975 season and went to Fresno State , so Elway joined the staff at neighboring Idaho under head coach Ed Troxel in February 1976 . Elway replaced Dennis Erickson , who had joined Sweeney at Fresno in December . Elway didn ' t last long in Moscow ; he left in late March after only five weeks on the Vandals ' staff to become a Division II head coach in southern California . Head coaching career . In late March 1976 , Elway was introduced as the head coach at Cal State Northridge in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles . At the time , Elway ' s son John was a budding high school quarterback , finishing his freshman year at Pullman High School . He transferred to Granada Hills High School at the start of his sophomore year , and his play over the next three football seasons invited scores of scholarship offers ; he selected Stanford and enrolled in 1979 . After three seasons at Northridge , Jack Elway moved up the California coast ( and up to Division I ) to San Jose State following the 1978 season , where his first offensive coordinator was Dennis Erickson . They employed the spread offense , which Elway had picked up from his son ' s high school coach , and then used at Northridge . San Jose State had considerable success , especially against Stanford , where son John was the starting quarterback through the 1982 season . Jack Elway ' s Spartans won three consecutive games over Stanford from 1981 – 83 , and he compiled an overall record of 35 – 20 – 1 ( . 634 ) in five seasons . After John ' s graduation , Jack Elway moved the few miles up the peninsula to Stanford in 1984 , where he was head coach for five seasons and compiled 25 – 29 – 2 record ( . 446 ) . In 1991 he coached the Frankfurt Galaxy of the WLAF during the team ' s first two years . Elway later worked in the Denver Broncos scouting department from 1993 – 99 , the last five as director of pro scouting . Death . Elway died on April 15 , 2001 , following an apparent heart attack in Palm Springs , California . Elway was survived by his wife , Jan , daughters , Lee Ann and Jana , son John , and eight grandchildren . Jana , twin sister of John , died of lung cancer in 2002 at the age of 42 .