The Arapahoe County Courthouse sits just a couple of turn lanes down from the Broncos’ practice facility off South Potomac Street, roughly a quarter mile but an entire world away. And every day for years, Magistrate Beth Elliott-Dumler drove by Broncos Park on her way to her juvenile courtroom with the same thought flashing in her head.
“I was like – ‘If these men knew how much power they could have … with a very small investment of time, it could mean the world to these kids,’ ” Elliott-Dumler recounted to The Denver Post in August.
Then, of course, she met Garett Bolles, the Broncos left tackle who showed up one day and just kept on coming.
On Thursday, the NFL announced Bolles was the Broncos’ club winner and nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, the NFL’s annual honor bestowed upon a player’s commitment to off-the-field work. The 33-year-old Bolles has become a foundational piece in the Arapahoe County juvenile detention system, taking on a mentorship role for hundreds of kids over the years at the Marvin W. Foote Youth Services Center and rewarding them through an incentive program in Elliott-Dumler’s court.
Bolles managed to convince Elliot-Dumler to redecorate her courtroom with photos of him and inspirational slogans, even. It wasn’t easy.
“Whatever they need, I want to reward them,” Bolles told The Post in August, on his work with kids in the juvenile system. “Because it’s hard to change. It’s hard to change those habits. And when you do it, you need to be rewarded. You need to train your brain, like, if I can do hard things, I’m going to get rewarded.”
In late August, too, Bolles opened the Bjorem & Bolles Apraxia Training Center in Parker in partnership with Jennie Bjorem, a renowned expert in the field of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). The center’s goal is to expand access for care for children with apraxia of speech, and serve as a training ground for speech pathologists across the country. Bolles’ son Kingston was diagnosed with CAS when he was 3 years old, and the Broncos’ stalwart tackle has been an outspoken voice for children with speech impediments and learning disabilities over the course of his career.
This is Bolles’ second Walter Payton Man of the Year nomination, after earning the Broncos’ nod in 2023 as well.
Bolles’ advocacy is directly tied to his own story, a kid who had brushes with gangs and jail growing up in Utah, a kid who was kicked out of his childhood home and picked up off the side of the road by a foster family. He has long since turned his life around — a “complete 180,” he put it — a first-round draft pick in 2017 who endured some tough early years as a Bronco to earn a sizeable extension last December.
“Being a guy that’s come from that similar lifestyle, it just made me want to give back to them and to show them how much I love them and how much I care for them, because that’s what I needed,” Bolles said in August. “Like, a family took me in and loved me, and (gave) me a life and a voice and a platform to use it. And that’s what I want these kids to understand. Like, what is your why?”
Bolles is having one of the best years of his career in his ninth NFL season, yet to allow a sack in 797 offensive snaps this season, according to Pro Football Focus.
The winner of the NFL’s overall Walter Payton Man of the Year Award will be announced Feb. 5 at the league’s NFL Honors ceremony.
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