Had it happened on another day, Glenn Cadrez figures he would be dead.
The former Super Bowl champion Broncos player was driving home from a pizza party after his 14-year-old son Kannon’s Pop Warner game on Aug. 23. He was two miles from his exit around 9:30 p.m. on Interstate 15 in California, when a huge cloud of dust caught his eye in the northbound lanes.
Seconds later, a black BMW M4 sailed through a concrete divider, veered into the southbound lanes and smashed into an oncoming car, according to a Los Angeles Times report citing the California Highway Patrol.
“It happened so quick. I was like, ‘What the (heck) was that?’ Then it slammed into the car, maybe two seconds in front of me. Just boom!” Cadrez recalled from his Temecula home Sunday night. “Normally, I would have been in that left lane. But I wasn’t on a Saturday with my kids in another car following me. I was driving slower in the middle lane. Thank God. I don’t think I would have survived.”
What happened next has caused Cadrez multiple sleepless nights. He said he swerved left to avoid the wreck, jumped out of his truck and ran to the scene. He saw a man hunched over outside the Nissan Sentra that was struck, so he raced to the BMW that was on fire. When he pulled open the door, his face became engulfed in black smoke and flames.
“I couldn’t see really anything in the car, not even the passenger seat, just the silhouette of the driver. I grabbed and felt his body and began pulling him out,” Cadrez said. “It looked like he had a compound fracture in his leg, and he was in a lot of pain. … I was able to get him out, and another guy showed up and we moved him away. A few seconds later, the car was fully engulfed.”
Cadrez’s two sons arrived with their mother not long after — and braced for the worst. When they saw his truck stopped on the shoulder, they thought he had been hit. Cadrez was overjoyed to see them, but struggled to make sense of the scene. How did that car end up here, going the wrong way?
The 25-year-old man Cadrez removed from the vehicle sustained major injuries and charges are pending, the L.A. Times reported. But he was alive.
Three others in his car — a 23-year-old woman in the passenger seat and a 14-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl in the backseat — were killed, the L.A. Times reported. The news hit Cadrez like a thunderbolt.
“It was really hard to hear that. Those are the ages of my sons. It’s so sad,” Cadrez said of the crash that also took the life of the driver in the other car, according to the CHP.
“When I got there, I was yelling to see if anyone was there. I was asking the driver if anyone else was in there. I never heard anything. No voices. Maybe I couldn’t have saved them. But I wish I could have done more to help. It hurts.”
His mind and heart racing, Cadrez barely slept in the days following the wreck. It never entered his mind, however, not to do something.
“I have got kids. Everything I do is with them in mind. I would like to think if they were in trouble, someone would help them,” Cadrez said. “So my only thought was, ‘I have to get this guy out.’ I just wish I could have been there maybe a few seconds sooner. It just torched so fast. The heat was unbelievable. I thought it was going to blow.”
Cadrez, 55, served as a critical special teams member in 1997 and a starting linebacker in 1998 during the Broncos’ back-to-back Super Bowl championships. We like to think that we would all be good Samaritans. But let’s be honest, it takes a special person to run toward a fire.
When news spread of Cadrez’s actions, his former teammates were not surprised. This is how they described him.
“Glenn was an absolute rock star teammate. He showed us what it means to be tough and committed,” said former star fullback Howard Griffith. “He made sure we were all on the same page. And he always put the team first.”
Cadrez called Hall of Famer Steve Atwater not long after the crash. About 30 Broncos from those glory days remain in a group chat as a way to stay in touch.
“He saved a young man’s life!” Atwater said. “… Glenn was an awesome teammate, a great player.”
As the texts came in about Cadrez, they carried a common theme. Smart. Athletic. Selfless.
“He knew every position on our defense,” said edge rusher Alfred Williams. “He is a great dude.”
I covered Cadrez during those Super Bowl years, and can vividly recall how popular he was in the locker room. He was someone who could be trusted, who was more concerned with playing for his teammates than personal accolades. Told of their recollections, Cadrez paused.
“That means a lot,” Cadrez said.
What happened on that Saturday night, what he did, makes Cadrez even more special. Even if he doesn’t see it that way.
“I was there at the right time to do something. That’s it. There wasn’t really a thought process,” said Cadrez, who flies a Broncos flag outside of his home on game days and plans to attend an alumni function in Denver this season. “I am not a hero. It happened so quick. I just wanted to help. That is what it is really all about.”
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