RANDY CAYCE

It was our pleasure this afternoon in Denver, CO to have lunch with a Crystal City legend; 1966 Hornet grad Randy Cayce and his wife Deborah.

In 1965 Mr. Cayce was in my eight-year-old world a Friday Night end zone fixture, a high school football hero in a football crazy town. Time moves in one direction, memories in another. To meet him today, 60 years hence, was both surreal and an honor. 

He came of age at a tumultuous time when a young black man believing in a cause, stood for that cause with a million people or maybe by himself. But he stood. A living history lesson, he and his wife were compelling lunch time companions. 

For Randy Cayce life after football became a second peak, not a decline. Following a five-year professional NFL career as a running back with the Denver Broncos and Buffalo Bills, he leveraged his on‑field skills through networking into 38-year tenure with the Denver Fire Department. 

He also for 40 years ran a successful carpet installation business. His fire department job entailed nine monthly 24-hour shifts. He spent his off days laying carpet. While others were sleeping, he was grinding. He and his wife raised four children, all today successful adults - one a Georgetown University Law School grad and a current Colorado state court judge. 

Who would not want to lay claim to such an accomplished man as one of us? Once a Hornet, always a Hornet, right?  But tradition is nothing but ancestral peer pressure. It takes a concerted effort to document our heritage - all that makes us who we are.