Broncos lineman Louis Vasquez continues to do Corsicana proud

Louis Vasquez was 8 years old when the Dallas Cowboys won their last Super Bowl, but he remembers it well.

“Until I got to San Diego [as a player], I was a Cowboys fan,” the Denver Broncos starting right guard said. “Things have changed a little bit, but I for sure watched them in their dynasty days and rooted for them.”

Vasquez will play in his second Super Bowl. The Broncos lost to the Seattle Seahawks to end the 2013 season, Vasquez’s first season in Denver after signing as a free agent.

“The Super Bowl means everything,” said Vasquez, who made All-Pro and the Pro Bowl in 2013. “If this happened to be Peyton [Manning’s] last year, I can’t speak for him, but it’d be great to send him off with a win. It’d be a dream come true for all of us.”

Vasquez grew up in Corsicana and played at Texas Tech. He and New Orleans Saints linebacker David Hawthorne continue to represent their hometown in the NFL. Defensive back Danieal Manning retired after the 2014 season.

Corsicana, in recent years, has become almost as famous for its NFL pipeline as for its fruitcakes.

“It’s just a small town in Texas, but all around football is king,” Vasquez said. “Everybody in Corsicana loves football, and most everybody watches the Cowboys. I don’t know what it is, something in the water maybe.”

Vasquez will never forget his days in Corsicana, where he still has family.

“I remember being in the middle of Texas summer, biking with a baseball glove and a football, riding up and down the streets, because I didn’t care how hot it was,” he said. “I didn’t realize it; it was just how I grew up. Holes in my pants, sweat stained. Those were some of the best days of my life.”

Forgiven

Bruce DeHaven admits he didn’t like Wade Phillips for a long time after the then-Buffalo Bills head coach made the special teams coach the scapegoat for the Music City Miracle.

But DeHaven, now the Panthers special teams coach, swears he since has forgiven Phillips, now the Broncos defensive coordinator.

“Any problems I had with Wade, I got over,” said DeHaven, who has terminal prostate cancer. “It took me almost 10 years, but I talked to him before a ballgame down in Houston a couple years ago, and we ended up embracing. I don’t think he had a problem with me, but I had a problem with him, and I think he was very happy that I reached out to him, approached him.

“That’s just the way the business is, and I am now old enough and experienced enough to understand that.”

During the 1999 playoffs, Tennessee’s Kevin Dyson scored on a 75-yard kickoff return off a cross-field lateral from Frank Wycheck with 3 seconds left. It handed the Bills a heartbreaking 22-16 loss in an AFC wild-card game and propelled the Titans to the Super Bowl.

Phillips fired DeHaven.

DeHaven coached the Cowboys special teams for four seasons under Bill Parcells, but left after the 2006 season when Phillips became the head coach.

More Cowboys ties

Broncos special teams coach Joe DeCamillis will never forget his days with the Cowboys. How could he?

DeCamillis suffered permanent damage from the collapse of the Cowboys’ indoor practice facility in 2009.

“It’s moving around a lot better than it used to, but it’s always there,” DeCamillis said of his injured neck.

The Cowboys were holding a rookie minicamp May 2, 2009, when a thunderstorm ripped apart the bubble. DeCamillis required surgery to repair fractured vertebrae.

“It’s always going to be with you,” he said. “It’s an everyday situation. I also think that it’s also something that hopefully shaped me a little better as a person. You’ve got to learn to struggle through tough times, and there were some tough times involved. Hopefully, I came out on the other side of it.”

DeCamillis spent four seasons as the Cowboys special teams coach, leaving after the 2012 season. He served under Phillips, now the Broncos defensive coordinator, and Jason Garrett.

“There were some good things,” DeCamillis said. “Obviously, we won a playoff game [in 2009], which they hadn’t won one in quite a while. That was pretty cool. I had some good relationships. I still talk to a lot of those guys in that building. That was part of it. There were some tough times, obviously, involved with it. But it worked out good and now I’ve got a chance to hopefully win a world championship.”

DeCamillis was with the Bears for two years before returning to Denver, where he started his NFL coaching career in 1988.

“I think it was an easy fit,” Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said. “I think Joe enjoyed Denver and the organization as much as we did in the past time around there, so for us to have the ability to get him to come join our staff, I’d say was an easy one for me. Joe would have to speak for himself, but he’s done a great job.”

DeCamillis lost his first two Super Bowl appearances, with the Broncos in 1989 and the Falcons in 1998. He’s hoping the third time is the charm.

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 7:27 PM with the headline "Broncos lineman Louis Vasquez continues to do Corsicana proud."