Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco just spilled the beans that it seems like nothing shady went down during the golf cart mishap that tragically ended the life of John Elway’s buddy and business partner, Jeff Sperbeck. The sheriff spilled that his team’s investigation is almost done and could wrap up by this weekend. “We haven’t found anything fishy that would suggest this was anything other than a super sad accident,” Bianco spilled in a phone chat on Friday night.
Sperbeck took a tumble from a moving golf cart in the Madison Club hood of La Quinta on April 26 around 6:50 p.m. and smacked his head. The 62-year-old dude from San Clemente kicked the bucket at 1:10 a.m. on April 30 at Desert Regional Medical Center, as per the Sheriff’s Office. Apparently, Sperbeck was standing in the back of the cart when he fell off, Bianco spilled. The cart was supposed to fit two or four people, according to the sheriff, but there were five folks—Sperbeck, Elway, their wives, and some mystery person whose identity Bianco didn’t know—cruising on it at the time of the incident. The sheriff said nope to confirming reports that Elway was the one driving the cart. He also said the driver doesn’t seem to be at fault and there’s no sign that alcohol played a role.
“There doesn’t seem to be any cause other than, for whatever reason, he fell off,” Bianco shared.
Elway dropped a statement on April 30 saying he’s “absolutely devastated and heartbroken” by Sperbeck’s passing. “There are no words to truly express the profound sadness I feel with the sudden loss of someone who has meant so much to me,” Elway said. “Jeff will be deeply missed for the loyalty, wisdom, friendship, and love he brought into my life and the lives of so many others.”
Sperbeck was in the game for 30 years as an agent and business advisor, representing over 100 NFL players, including Elway from 1990 onwards. The two dudes later teamed up to start the 7Cellars winery and Sperbeck was the big cheese as the chief executive. Elway, a football stud at Granada Hills High and Stanford, tore up the field for 16 seasons with the Denver Broncos. He snagged the league MVP title in 1987 and led the Broncos to two consecutive Super Bowl wins (1997, 1998) and three other Super Bowl showdowns. After hanging up his jersey, Elway stayed in the game as the team’s general manager and executive vice president of football operations, helping the Broncos make two more Super Bowl appearances, including a win after the 2015 season. He was working as a consultant for the Broncos when his contract ran out in 2023.
