Karl Bernard Mecklenburg (born September 1, 1960), nicknamed "the Albino Rhino", is a former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 ...

for 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 ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL).

National Football League

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

, the Denver Broncos drafted Karl Mecklenburg in the 12th round with the 310th pick overall. In spite of his low selection, Mecklenburg went on to become an integral part of the Broncos'

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

teams of the 1980s. He played in six

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

s. His 79 sacks is the third highest total in franchise history; he is one of only three Broncos with four sacks in a game, and the only one to do so twice. In 2001, during half time of a game against the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

, he and Dennis Smith were inducted into the

Denver Broncos Ring of Fame 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 headquarte ...

. He is also in the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame and serves on the Broncos Alumni Council. Since retiring from pro football in 1994, Mecklenburg divides his time between family,

motivational speaking A motivational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep talk. Motivational speakers ca ...

, and his ongoing charity involvements. Karl and his wife Kathi have three children. The Mecklenburgs reside in

Littleton, Colorado Littleton is a home rule municipality city located in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties, Colorado, United States. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistica ...

. The son of

Fred Mecklenburg Fred Emil Mecklenburg (1935Smith, Joe T. (1968). American directory of obstetricians and gynecologists: Volume 8.' - April 6, 2020) was an American obstetrician-gynecologist who had been active in opposition to legal abortion. He was a founder o ...

and

Marjory Mecklenburg Marjory E. Malo Mecklenburg (born 1935) is an American government administrator. She has served as an advisor for the Office of Technology Assessment and was appointed by Ronald Reagan to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, serving in ...

, Karl has two brothers, Eric and Fred, and a sister, Carol. Mecklenburg is considered one of the greatest

of all time, according to

NFL Films NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries for and about the NFL, as well as ot ...

top 10 Denver Broncos of All Time.

Concussions

Mecklenburg suffered "at least a dozen +10 concussions" during his football career. By his early fifties, Mecklenburg was experiencing cognitive issues, including memory impairment, which he attributes to the concussions he sustained. Mecklenburg was a

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the p ...

in concussion-related litigation against the NFL: "I didn't buy in to professional football with the understanding that I was going to have brain damage. I expected to have a limp. I expected to have sore joints. Bad shoulder, whatever. But that other part, that was kept from us and that wasn't right."

Video games

The digital version of Mecklenburg anchored the

3–4 defense In American football, the 3–4 defense is a common defensive alignment consisting of three down linemen and four linebackers. It is a called a "base defense" because it is the default defensive alignment used on "base downs" (1st and 2nd downs). ...

of the Denver Broncos in the NES video games ''

Tecmo Bowl is an List of American football video games, American football video game developed and released by Tecmo. Originally released as an arcade game in 1987, the game features a large dual screen arcade cabinet, cabinet with up to four players betwee ...

'' (1989) and ''

Tecmo Super Bowl ''Tecmo Super Bowl'' is an American football video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) that was released in December 1991. Developed by Tecmo, it is the first sports video game that was licensed by both the National Football League ...

'' (1991). Mecklenburg appears in the video game ''

Madden NFL 15 ''Madden NFL 15'' is an American football sports video game based on the National Football League and published by EA Sports. The game was announced for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One on April 28, 2014, and was released on ...

'' (2014) in the Ultimate Team mode, as a 97 Overall player.

Charity work

Mecklenburg has been the Broncos representative for Taste of the NFL, started For Mercy Sake Sackem, started The Karl Mecklenburg's REACH foundation, has been a board member for Colorado Youth Outdoors, hosted charity celebrity ski races in Durango and in Aspen, worked with Project Healing Waters, and has served as an assistant Scout Master. Karl says, "I take the opportunity and responsibility to work with charities very seriously".

References

External links

Mecklenburg's statsKarl Mecklenburg's REACH Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mecklenburg, Karl 1960 births American Conference Pro Bowl players American football linebackers Denver Broncos players Living people Minnesota Golden Gophers football players People from the Denver metropolitan area Players of American football from Seattle