Now in Year 18 with Cardinals, Calais Campbell still champions Denver

Luca Evans, The Denver Post on Aug 16, 2025

Published in Football

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DENVER — Surrounded by faces he didn’t know but faces that felt familiar, Calais Campbell asked the Park Hill Pirates a question.

Do you know the pledge?

Campbell still does. He has been a Pro Bowler in Arizona, Jacksonville and Baltimore, and manned front lines from Atlanta to Miami and back to Arizona again. He is one of the NFL’s elder statesmen near the end of a career unlike few others. At his heart, though, the 38-year-old freight train is still a kid. A kid who grew up as a Park Hill Pirate.

Earlier Thursday morning, Campbell trotted out for the Cardinals’ joint practice with the Broncos. He’d invited the Pirates to come out for his hometown reunion, his first-ever youth team as a 6-year-old from Park Hill. He spotted them in the stands and pointed. Campbell has never forgotten them, because the football love that’s kept him going for 18 years is inseparable from his love for this city.

After Campbell chased around Bo Nix and his once-beloved Broncos for a couple of hours, he gathered with his guests. And Campbell launched into the Pirate Pledge, the kids joining in.

To participate, to do my best. And after I’ve done my best, to feel and say, I’ve done my best to play.

To play my best, and after I’ve played my best, to feel and say, I’ve played my best.

All for one, and one for all.

“I felt like,” Campbell said later, “they’re my family.”

On Thursday, the six-time Pro Bowler returned to his hometown, where he was a standout at Denver South High School decades ago. In spirit, though, he’s never lost his connection to the city. Park Hill made him. Quietly, he’s lifted the Pirates up over the years. One for all.

Founded in 1968, the Pirates have produced some of the city’s best athletes for generations, combining youth football with academic-development programs. Chauncey Billups was a Pirate. So was LenDale White. Former Mayor Mike Hancock even came through the program. Campbell, all these years later, reps his beginnings as hard as anyone.

“We’re grateful, man,” said Dane Washington, president of the Park Hill Pirates. “Because some guys don’t come back home. Some guys don’t care about their community like that.

“He makes it a point — that when he’s in Denver, he connects with us or somebody that’s attached to the kids in that park.”

A few years ago, Campbell bought jerseys for all 250 kids in the Park Hill organization, Washington said. After he was named the NFL’s Walton Payton Man of the Year in 2019, Campbell donated a portion of his charitable winnings to the Pirates. He spoke to the program’s kids during COVID-19. He handed out tickets. In 2024, after his Dolphins beat the Rams 23-15 on Monday Night Football, Campbell gave a live shoutout to the Pirates with Scott Van Pelt on ESPN.

“That’s unheard of,” Washington said. “But that’s Calais, right. He really talks about, like, ‘That’s where I started,’ and he holds onto that. He values that.”

Campbell has seen it all in the NFL. He’s made several All-Pro teams. He has played for Bruce Arians and John Harbaugh, and played with Larry Fitzgerald and Lamar Jackson. And yet, his return to Denver still ignites wonder. He marveled at banners of the Broncos Ring of Famers hanging in the team’s indoor practice facility. Campbell saw Hall of Fame safety Steve Atwater walk out at practice, now the Broncos’ fan engagement manager, and went full fanboy.

“I’m still like, ‘Man, Steve Atwater,'” Campbell grinned.

It made for a distinct Colorado flavor at Thursday’s joint practice, a small football “fraternity,” as Campbell put it. Cardinals Pro Bowl tight end Trey McBride is a Greeley native and Colorado State alumnus. Mike Nolan, a former Broncos assistant, was also in attendance. The Sheriff himself made an appearance, as Peyton Manning cracked on Campbell post-practice about the 2014 play he ran him down after a pick.

“I tell everybody, Peyton Manning could’ve been an All-Pro linebacker,” Campbell said. “Nobody knows.”

For all the love still burning in his heart, though, he’s never been a Bronco. He probably never will, now, as Campbell told a group of reporters after Thursday’s practice that he’d be “very surprised” if this wasn’t his last NFL season. He is 38, after all.

Signing in Denver has crossed his mind over the years. It just didn’t make sense, Campbell said. He hit free agency as a starting-caliber defensive lineman this offseason, and the Broncos were already loaded up front.

Still, over the years — when he’s not actually playing Denver — Campbell has gotten upset when the Broncos lose. Old habits die hard. And his connection to Park Hill remains unbreakable. Never a Bronco, maybe; always a Pirate.

“When he sees the kids, man,” Washington said, “he just lights up.”

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