Former Broncos All-Pro running back Otis Armstrong died on Wednesday, the team announced Friday. Armstrong was 70 years old. According to the Broncos’ website, Armstrong passed while being surrounding by “family and loved ones.”
“It’s a very sad day,” former Broncos Pro Bowl receiver and Armstrong teammate Haven Moses said, via Denver’s NBC affiliate. “Otis was a very special person. We had a very close team. Otis was a wonderful teammate, a wonderful running back. He’ll definitely be missed. He was part of a Bronco era that laid the foundation for the team’s success today.”
The ninth overall pick in the 1973 draft, Armstrong led the NFL with 1,407 rushing yards in 1974. An All-Pro that season, Armstrong was named to his second Pro Bowl in 1976 after rushing for 1,008 yards. In 1977, Armstrong helped the Broncos capture the franchise’s first AFC championship. He scored a touchdown in Denver’s divisional round playoff win over Pittsburgh and recorded the Broncos’ second longest play from scrimmage against the Cowboys in Super Bowl XII.
Armstrong enjoyed three more productive seasons with the Broncos before retiring after the 1980 season. He is fourth in franchise history in carries (1,023) and yards (4,453) and eighth in touchdown runs (25). Armstrong, who continued to live in Denver decades after his retirement, was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
A member of the College Football Hall of Fame, Armstrong is Purdue’s third all-time leading rusher with 3,515 yards. His 276-yard rushing performance against Indiana in 1972 remains the school’s single-game record. He was inducted into the Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997. A Chicago native, he was inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.
