In seven seasons with the Denver Broncos (1994-2000), he played in every regular season and postseason game (131). In addition to starting 29 regular-season games for the Broncos, he also started all three games in the post season en route to their Super Bowl XXXIII title.
It was reported on Thanksgiving that this legendary player has tragically passed away.
The Denver Broncos mourn the passing of two-time Super Bowl champion Harald Hasselbach
In a statement released by the Broncos:
Harald Hasselbach, a longtime Bronco and key member of Denver’s back-to-back Super Bowl championship teams, has passed away.
He was 56 years old.
Hasselbach passed away — free of pain — in the comfort of his own home after a courageous six-month battle with cancer, according to his family.
During his career in Denver, Hasselbach recorded 154 tackles, 17.5 sacks and four forced fumbles.
Before his NFL career, Hasselbach was drafted by the Calgary Stampeders in the 1989 Canadian Football League draft. He spent four seasons with the Stampeders, was a CFL All-Star and won a Grey Cup. He is one of at least 10 players to win Grey Cup and Super Bowl.
Born in the Netherlands in 1967, Hasselbach attended high school in Tsawwassen in the Greater Vancouver area of the lower mainland of British Columbia. He was inducted into the B.C. Football Hall of Fame in 2016 as one of South Delta Secondary School’s greatest athletes.Hasselbach played his collegiate football at the University of Washington.
Hasselbach leaves behind his wife, Aundrea; his four children, Ashlee, Terran, Aven and Kian; and four grandchildren.
Hasselbach Took A Unique Path To The Broncos
Andrew Mason of Denver Sports highlighted the path that Hasselbach took:
Born in Amsterdam to a Dutch father and a mother from Suriname, Harald Hasselbach had a well-traveled childhood. As a 1994 story in The (Colorado Springs) Gazette-Telegraph noted, Hasselbach’s father — an agronomist — had a career that took the family around the globe. Hasselbach grew up in Kenya, Indonesia, the Netherlands and Surinam before eventually settling near Vancouver, British Columbia.
It was there that Hasselbach took up football. He played the sport for one season in Tsawwassen, British Columbia. Until that point, swimming, soccer, field hockey and rugby were his sporting interests.
But Hasselbach did enough to catch the eye of the University of Washington’s football program. He earned a spot with the Huskies as a rotational defensive lineman.
That was not enough to get NFL interest at the time. But his time in Canada allowed him to qualify as a non-import player in the CFL, giving him a path to a roster spot. The Calgary Stampeders drafted him, and he emerged as a solid nose tackle, contributing to the team’s 1992 Grey Cup win.
The CFL stint allowed Hasselbach to refine his craft. His athleticism was always evident — he ran a 4.7 40-yard dash time as a 280-pounder. He tried out for multiple NFL teams in 1994, but signed with the Broncos.
“Call me a late bloomer. Maybe I am,” Hasselbach told The Gazette-Telegraph in 1994. “That’s fine with me. I’m coming into my own.”
Hasselbach made the Broncos’ 1994 roster as a defensive end and remained there through 2000. Not only did he become a solid contributor with 17.5 sacks, but he also was one of three players to model the team’s then-new uniforms in February 1997, alongside John Elway and John Mobley.
That day, Hasselbach wore the all-blues. Coincidentally, those were the uniforms the Broncos wore Sunday night, on what turned out to be the final game they played in Hasselbach’s life — a 21-20 win over Minnesota.
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