Wyoming Football Legend Now Owns An Italian Restaurant

Rick Egloff ranks among the greatest quarterbacks to ever play at the University of Wyoming. These days, the Pokes legend has traded for footballs for meatballs at the Italian restaurant he owns in Evergreen, Colo.

Egloff was Wyoming's starting quarterback for three seasons and led the Cowboys to an upset victory over Florida State in the 1966 Sun Bowl. After college, he was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the sixth round of the 1967 NFL Draft. Eggloff was later traded to the Denver Broncos and finished his football career with the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League. In 2010, Egloff and the 1966 team were inducted into the UW Athletics Hall of Fame.

Egloff's love for sports continued as a high school teacher and coach at his alma mater Mullen High School in Denver. In 1996, Egloff bought the Evergreen Sports Grill. In 2000, he opened the Tuscany Tavern, which is still going strong 18 years later. In 2016, the Evergreen Rotary honored Egloff with their Ethics in Business Award.

"He pays it forward every day,” his wife Peg Schroeder told the Canyon Courier in 2010. “He does something for everyone."

Along with authentic Italian fare, the Tuscany Tavern is renowned for their banquet room, which includes mementos from Egloff's travels around the world. And if you look behind the bar, you may even notice an old picture from his playing days at Wyoming.