{"id":1023584,"date":"2026-10-10T08:48:36","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T08:48:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1023584\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T08:48:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T08:48:36","slug":"broncos-jim-saccomano-joins-less-talkative-tom-nalen-in-hof","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1023584\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos’ Jim Saccomano joins less talkative Tom Nalen in HOF"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jim Saccomano<\/a> couldn\u2019t help but chuckle when asked Friday about being inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame next April along with former Broncos star center Tom Nalen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Hall announced Thursday that Saccomano, a longtime Broncos media relations director, and Nalen will be enshrined April 15 along with former Rockies star Carlos Gonzalez, Olympic runner and medalist Jenny Barringer-Simpson, former PGA Tour mainstay Dave Hill and Bolder Boulder co-founder Steve Bosley. When Nalen played for the Broncos from 1994 to 2008, he was known for not speaking to the media.<\/p>\n

\n Recommended Stories
\n \u25b6\n <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s ironic,\u2019\u2019 Saccomano, who worked for the Broncos from 1978 to 2013, said of joining Nalen in being honored. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the guys who wouldn\u2019t talk to the press and the guy who encouraged everybody to talk at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nalen, though, did want to clarify Friday that he talked to the media with the Broncos, it just wasn\u2019t on the record. Many Denver offensive linemen during his era also were known to be mum.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to the media every day,\u2019\u2019 Nalen said Friday. \u201cI was friendly \u2026 There were guys I talked to, just not about football. It\u2019s not like I was this boorish inhuman character that just brushed everybody off. We all talked to the media, but we just didn\u2019t want anything printed. It kind of morphed into, \u2018We don\u2019t talk to the media.\u2019 I just didn\u2019t want to talk about the Broncos or who we were playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nalen, a Boston native and longtime Red Sox fan, said he would talk to the media about baseball. He didn\u2019t want to discuss the Broncos or himself in order not to give any secrets away or \u201csound like a fool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nalen said he always has been \u201cuncomfortable talking about myself\u201d but did offer thanks for being inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited,\u201d said Nalen, a five-time Pro Bowl selection who is now offensive line coach at Division III Massachusetts Institute of Technology. \u201cI know there are a lot of people who are more than happy talking about themselves, but I\u2019m more reluctant. I\u2019ll just say it\u2019s an honor. \u2026 I\u2019m just extremely honored the committee would think of (inducting) me and congratulations to the (other) enshrinees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saccomano was flattered when he got the call Thursday informing him of his selection.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am humbled and all I can say is, \u2018Thank you,’\u201d Saccomano said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice of all of these people to think of me years after I retired and so forth. It\u2019s great. I worked very hard. I tried very hard and did my job I think well. It\u2019s nice to be remembered by everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saccomano\u2019s final title with the Broncos was vice president of public relations. After he retired in 2013, he had the television show \u201cSideline Stories with Jim Saccomano\u201d through the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

Nalen was inducted into the Broncos Ring of Fame in 2013, Saccomano\u2019s final season with the Broncos. He remembers Nalen being reluctant to give a speech at Empower Field.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he got into the Ring of Fame, he said, \u2018Gee, I\u2019ve got to speak. I don\u2019t know what to say,’\u201d Saccomano said. \u201cWe told him, \u2018Tom, just say, \u201cThank you, thanks to the fans, the coaches, the players and the owners.\u201d\u2019 And that\u2019s what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nalen said he did talk at a private banquet the night before the Ring of Fame ceremony at the stadium for four to five minutes. But he kept it quick the next day.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy producer timed it at like 20.57 seconds,\u2019\u2019 said Nalen, who was then a Denver radio host. \u201cI just wanted to be out of there as quick as possible. It was awkward.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremonies, inductees regularly give speeches. But Nalen, who does plan to attend, might have found a loophole.<\/p>\n

\u201cI read the letter and it said, \u2018You have the option to speak for six to seven minutes,\u2019\u2019\u2019 Nalen said. \u201cI clued in on \u2018option.\u2019 It makes it sound like an out for me. Maybe I don\u2019t have to speak. I\u2019m really hoping to find a loophole to take up my six or seven minutes. I\u2019d much rather talk baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nalen said he might talk about Saccomano in his speech. That also would be ironic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jim Saccomano couldn\u2019t help but chuckle when asked Friday about being inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1023585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,133558,231,258,2426,7,133559,6,68334],"class_list":["post-1023584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-broncos","tag-broncos","tag-carlos-gonzalez","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos","tag-denverbroncos","tag-football","tag-jim-saccomano","tag-nfl","tag-tom-nalen"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117415752749225079","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1023584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1023585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1023584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1023584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1023584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}