The final time Craig Morton visited Denver and saw many of his former Broncos teammates, it was memorable.

The former star quarterback had been urging the Broncos for several years to have an initial reunion for the 1977 “Orange Crush” team that made the playoffs for the first time in the franchise’s 18-year history and advanced to Super Bowl XII, a 27-10 loss to Dallas. His pleas finally were answered when in October 2024, the Broncos brought back members of that iconic team.

“He was really happy,’’ Morton’s wife, Kym Galloway, told The Denver Gazette on Tuesday about that weekend. “It was a special time with him being with all his teammates. We got to sit with Riley Odoms, he’s hilarious. (Rick) Upchurch is just a character. It was a really great time.”

Morton, who played for the Broncos from 1977-82, died Saturday at the age of 83 at MarinHealth Medical Center in Greenbrae, Calif., from what Galloway said were complications due to sepsis and a pulmonary edema. Galloway notified the Broncos of his death Monday, and the team put out a statement that night. She said there has been a tremendous outpouring of support since then.

“Phone calls, texts, Facebook, Instagram,’’ she said. “There’s been a tidal wave of outpouring from people. That says a lot about him. His family, his friends are just devastated by his loss. He was just a good guy, a good friend and an amazing athlete.”

Galloway, 69, did not know Morton when he played in the NFL from 1965-82, which included spending 1965-74 with Dallas and 1974-76 with the New York Giants. They first met in 1999 and were married in 2007.

But Galloway was a big football fan throughout Morton’s career and her family had season tickets when she was growing up in the San Francisco area. At 14, she attended the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 3, 1971, at San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium and, with Morton at quarterback, the Cowboys defeated the 49ers 17-10.

“I actually have a picture from that game of him picking up (Cowboys coach) Tom Landry on the sidelines after that game,’’ she said. “I was not a Craig Morton fan at that time because the Cowboys were our nemesis. But I met him later under different circumstances. I met him on Aug. 28, 1999, at Clear Lake outside of Napa.”

Morton prior to his death had been in poor health for several years. He told The Denver Gazette last August at his home in Mill Valley, Calif., just north of San Francisco, that he had serious back issues and had been hospitalized twice in recent years for stints of about two months with sepsis, a condition in which the body responds improperly to an infection. However, he said he had been feeling better due to getting an ablation, a procedure doctors use to destroy abnormal tissue with probes inserted through the skin.

Morton was feeling well enough he had planned last week to go to Las Vegas with his wife to see good friend Bill Medley perform with The Righteous Brothers. Galloway woke him up on the morning of May 5 to get ready for the trip.

“It came suddenly,’’ Galloway said. “He was shaking and in distress. I called the paramedics and they took him to the hospital. It was sepsis again. He had powered through and managed to recover from it before. But then he had a pulmonary edema in his lungs and they just made the determination he wasn’t able to survive.’’

Morton remained in the hospital until he died there at 6:55 p.m. PDT on Saturday. He was surrounded by Galloway, his second wife; his son Michael from his first marriage; Michael’s son Miller; and Galloway’s daughter Alexandra from her first marriage.

“We were holding his hand and he was ready to let go,’’ Galloway said. “Thank goodness it was a peaceful passing after a rough couple of days in the hospital. … He said, ‘I’m ready to go. I don’t want to keep doing this.’ And I think he was ready this time. It was too much for him (battling health problems).”

Meanwhile, many of his former teammates began to learn about his death Monday.

“It was really saddening to hear,’’ said Haven Moses, who played for the Broncos from 1972-81 and often was Morton’s favorite receiver. “I’m sure he’s in a much better place now and my thoughts and prayers are with him. He may be gone but he’ll never be forgotten.”

After being the No. 5 pick in the NFL draft by Dallas in 1965 out of California, the longtime Campbell, Calif., resident, became the Cowboys’ regular starting quarterback when he replaced the retired Don Meredith in 1969. He led them to Super Bowl V in the 1970 season but completed just 12 of 26 passes for 127 yards with three interceptions in a 16-13 loss to the Baltimore Colts.

Roger Staubach took over as the regular starter the next season and led Dallas to a win in Super Bowl VI. By the midpoint of the 1974 season, a frustrated Morton asked the Cowboys to trade him and they complied, sending him to the Giants.

Morton’s Giants tenure was a disaster. In 2 1/2 seasons with a woebegone team, he went 8-25 as a starter and was booed unmercifully.

Last August, he called his Giants tenure a “hiccup” on his career. But much to his delight he was traded to Denver in 1977.

“He was really down in the dumps in New York,’’ said linebacker Bob Swenson, who played at California a decade after Morton and with the Broncos from 1975-83. “He was criticized and ripped like he wasn’t used to, and New Yorkers can be pretty cynical and tough. But he just came out of the pit and rose with (the Broncos). He went from the pit in New York to the penthouse in Denver. He had a spiritual awakening.”

Morton that year became a born-again Christian. In 1977, with the Broncos having a dominant defense and playing a conservative style of offense, they went 12-2. Morton threw for 1,929 yards with 14 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year, AFC Offensive Player of the Year and league MVP by the NFL Players Association.

“In 1977, we were looking for a quarterback,’’ said Upchurch, a Broncos wide receiver and star kick returner from 1975-83. “Steve Ramsey (who was traded to the Giants for Morton along with a fifth-round draft pick) wasn’t the answer. Red Miller came in as a brand-new coach. We needed that quarterback who could pull the trigger for us. He was a guy who understood defenses.”

Upchurch said Morton told players on offense that if any didn’t do the right thing “they won’t be playing on this football team.” He also got plenty of respect from those on defense.

“He was a leader,’’ Swenson said. “He had this aura about him. When he walked into a room, he was like a four-star general. They say that if George Washington stood alongside 3,000 soldiers, he would still stand out. That was Craig, too.”

With “Broncomania” taking over Denver, the Broncos defeated Pittsburgh 34-21 at Mile High Stadium to open the playoffs. But Morton suffered a serious injury to his left leg in that game and spent the next week in the hospital.

His teammates weren’t sure if he would play in the AFC Championship Game against the Oakland Raiders. But Morton made it to Mile High Stadium. He said last August that he sat naked in the locker room for players to see what he had been going through with a leg that was full of blood.

“His leg was blacker than I am,’’ said Upchurch, who is Black. “But he was a warrior. He got out there and got it done.”

The Broncos defeated the Raiders 20-17 to advance to the Super Bowl. Morton completed 10 of 20 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns, both to Moses, one of 74 yards and one of 12.

“Craig was very tough-minded,’’ said Tom Jackson, a Broncos linebacker from 1973-86, who called Morton’s death a “big loss. “He was a big part of what you see today with the Broncos. We had our first real success with Craig at the helm. … That was a special win for us (over the Raiders), and that will stick with us forever.”

Unfortunately for Morton, he had another disastrous Super Bowl while facing his former team. Against the Cowboys, he completed just 4 of 15 passes for 39 yards with four interceptions. He was sacked twice and hit hard throughout the game by the vaunted Dallas defense, and was benched in the third quarter in favor of Norris Weese.

Morton last August said that “nobody will ever play as bad of a game” and “it had to be the worst game ever played.” But while Morton put plenty of blame on himself for the loss, Jackson said he shouldn’t have.

“The injury caught up with him,’’ Jackson said. “At the moment, you’re wanting to be at your best and in those days the quarterback doesn’t have the sort of protection they get today from the referees. But even though we lost that Super Bowl, it was the kickoff point for some very good things happening to the organization going down the road.”

Morton led the Broncos to playoff berths in each of the next two seasons. In 1981, even though Denver went 10-6 and fell short of the postseason, he had the best statistical season of his 18-year career. At age 38, he threw for a career-high 3,195 yards and tied his career high with 21 touchdown passes.

Morton retired before the 1983 season, with the Broncos having acquired rookie John Elway, who would lead them to five Super Bowls, two of them wins. Morton was inducted into the Broncos Ring of Fame in 1988.

“He was just a great football player,’’ said Odoms, a tight end who played for Denver from 1972-83 and was nicknamed the “Judge” by Morton. “On third down, if we needed some yards, he would say ‘Judgie, Judgie, Judgie,’ and he would say, ‘I’m going to Riley, so get open.’ And after the game, he would say, ‘I just love you.’ We were very, very close.”

Odoms said learning of Morton’s death hit him hard. He last had spoken to him by phone late last year.

“He was telling me he was ‘well,’ but not ‘well-well,’’’ Odoms said. “I didn’t know what he was speaking about. But when I was told about (Morton’s death), it touched me just like my oldest brother, who just passed. I just love him so much. My heart is bleeding heavy for it.”

While Morton often was very serious, Odoms said there was a joking side to him. While his nickname eventually was shortened to the “Judge,’’ Morton had first began calling Odoms the “Tanqueray Judge” due to his affinity for that brand of gin.

“He used to carry around in his wallet a $1,000 bill, one of those old, real $1,000 bills,’’ Swenson said of the bills that were minted from 1861 until being discontinued in 1934. “He would show it off to a waitress and act like he was going to tip her with it.”

Having grown up in Stockton, Calif., not far from California’s campus in Berkeley, and eventually attending the school, Swenson long admired Morton. He noted in his younger years that Morton was an “exceptional athlete” who also starred in baseball and basketball at Campbell High School. He said he was very mobile on the football field until injuries began to take their toll in the NFL.

“He was a legend,’’ Swenson said.

After he retired as a player, Morton did some coaching, including being head coach of the USFL’s Denver Gold from 1983-84. He was heavily involved with his alma mater, working in the athletic development office for a number of years.

Morton was a huge fan of the Golden Bears. Galloway, who said there only will be a private family service for Morton, said he requested to be cremated. She said he asked for his ashes to be spread over Tightwad Hill, which overlooks Memorial Stadium, where the quarterback had many great games for California.

As for mementos remaining from Morton’s career, there are few at the home in Mill Valley. Morton said last August he didn’t believe in keeping most items. On display then were a few trophies and a pair of shoulder pads from his 1970 season with the Cowboys. The generous former quarterback had given away his last No. 7 Broncos jersey in 2009 until his daughter, McKenna Foppert, found out about it and got it back for herself.

“He was very humble,’’ Galloway said. “He never understood why people cared about getting an autograph from him or why it was such a big deal. He still gets about 10 requests per day, but he always read the letters about all the beautiful things people wrote about him (and sent back autographs).”

While Morton didn’t think too much of physical memories, he did cherish interactions he had with teammates from his playing days. That’s why his final trip to Denver in 2024 for the reunion of the 1977 team was so special.