Lonnie Wright, who played defensive back for the Broncos in the 1960s and was an outstanding all-around athlete who also played professional basketball, has died.
The Denver Post reports that Wright died from congestive heart failure at age 67.
After playing two seasons with the Broncos as a starter in the secondary, Wright signed with the Denver Rockets, the American Basketball Association team that would later change its name to the Denver Nuggets and join the NBA. His basketball teammate Larry Jones said Wright was such a gifted athlete that playing two sports professionally came easy to him.
“He made the transition from football to basketball that year almost from one day to the other,” Jones told the Post. “He was an exceptional athlete.”
Wright also played baseball and ran track, and in college he set a Colorado State University record in the shot put.
(Photo credit: DenverBroncos.com)