Elway and his twin sister were born in Port Angeles, Washington, to Janet (nee Jordan) and Jack Elway, then the head coach at Port Angeles High School on the Olympic Peninsula. The family of five included sister Lee Ann, a year older than the twins. They moved the following year to southwestern Washington, where Jack was the junior college head football coach at Grays Harbor Community College in Aberdeen for five seasons. As a youth, Elway lived primarily in Missoula, Montana, and Pullman, Washington, when his father was an assistant coach at Montana and Washington State, respectively.

On May 2, 1999, at the age of 38, Elway announced his retirement from professional football. Elway is regarded as one of the top quarterbacks ever to play the game. He has one of the best winning percentages in league history (148-82-1), and is tied for second most Pro Bowl selections for a quarterback (nine). As of 2016, he is sixth to Brett Favre, Dan Marino, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and Tom Brady in career passing attempts, passing yards, and completions. He also ranks seventh in career passing touchdowns, with 300. His four total rushing touchdowns in his Super Bowl games are the most ever by a quarterback. As of 2012, Elway and Tom Brady are the only quarterbacks to start in 5 Super Bowls. He is also the second player ever to score a rushing touchdown in four different Super Bowls (running back Thurman Thomas was the first).  On September 13, 1999, Elway's number 7 jersey was retired by the Denver Broncos during halftime of a Monday Night game against the Miami Dolphins; that same night he was inducted into the Denver Broncos Ring of Fame. (Craig Morton, his direct predecessor in Denver, also wore number 7 and is in the Ring of Fame alongside Elway). He was the first Broncos player to have the five-year waiting period waived. Also in 1999 he was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.  Also in 1999, Elway was ranked number 16 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, the only player to have spent the majority of his career with the Broncos to make the list (Willie Brown, who began his career with the Broncos but spent more of it with the Oakland Raiders, also made the list). In 2005, TSN published another special feature honoring the 50 Greatest Quarterbacks. Elway was ranked third behind Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana.  Elway was named the greatest athlete wearing the #7 by Sports Illustrated. Current Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who grew up idolizing Elway and Joe Montana, wears number 7 in honor of Elway.

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was anything named after him?