Joe Rizzo (born December 17, 1950 in

Glen Cove, New York Glen Cove is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Nassau County, New York, United States, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island. At the 2020 United States Census, the city population was 28,365 as of th ...

) is a former

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

of the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

. He played for the Broncos from 1974 to 1980 and was a starter in

Super Bowl XII Super Bowl XII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the ...

and member of the

Orange Crush Defense The Orange Crush Defense was the 3–4 defense of the Denver Broncos during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The National Football League (NFL) team adopted the 3–4 defense during the 1976 season, and the nickname "Orange Crush" for the team's ...

.Armstrong, Jim
"Price of playing the game"
''

The Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...

'', 1 September 2007. Retrieved 4 July 2020. He had 9 career interceptions. He was part of one of the most dominant linebacking corps in NFL history. Known as the

Orange Crush Crush is a brand of carbonated soft drinks owned and marketed internationally by Keurig Dr Pepper, originally created as an orange soda, Orange Crush. Crush competes with Coca-Cola's Fanta. It was created in 1911 by beverage and extract chemist ...

, it consisted of, Joe Rizzo,

Randy Gradishar Randy Charles Gradishar (born March 3, 1952) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a middle linebacker in the 1970s and 1980s for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). A native of Ohio, ...

Tom Jackson Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

and

Bob Swenson Robert Charles Swenson (born July 1, 1953) played college football for the University of California. He joined the National Football League (NFL) in 1975 as an undrafted free agent and played professional football as a linebacker for the Denve ...

. The corp was named the 9th best linebacking corps in NFL history by nfl.com. Joe was also voted by Bronco fans as one of the top 10 linebackers in the 50-year history (1959-2009) of the Denver Broncos. A commercial real estate broker since 1984, Joe owns a commercial real estate firm and resides in

Wilmington, NC Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is th ...

References

1950 births Living people American football linebackers Denver Broncos players Merchant Marine Mariners football players People from Nassau County, New York Players of American football from New York (state) American people of Italian descent Glen Cove High School alumni {{Linebacker-1950s-stub