Fort Mill alum Vance Walker relishing his Super Bowl moment

Nearly a week after the biggest game of his life, Vance Walker is still somewhere in California spending time with friends and enjoying the moment of a lifetime.

Walker, a 2005 Fort Mill High graduate, became the first Yellow Jacket alumnus to not only play in a Super Bowl, but be a member of the winning team after the Denver Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers to claim the Vince Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl 50.

He has been flying back and forth from California to Denver after Super Bowl 50, spending time with family, friends, and being a part of the celebration the city of Denver hosted for the Broncos. Nearly a million fans came out to attend the parade, according to an estimate by ESPN.

A defensive end in his first year with the Broncos, Walker said it took a while for the win to set in.

“I couldn’t be more excited,” Walker said in a recent phone interview. “It hit me when we were at the parade. We were all on firetrucks and I had never been a part of anything like that. It definitely hit me.”

Coming from a town like Fort Mill – which was about half the size it is now compared to when Walker graduated and went on to Georgia Tech – Walker said winning a Super Bowl was beyond anything he could have ever imagined.

“The funny thing growing up I never dreamed I would be in a Super Bowl, but at the same time I never thought I was special enough to be in that place,” he said.

“And that was because I never valued football. It never hit me how good I was at it until I was finished with high school. Just being able to make it this far and going through so many struggles, in my life there were so many struggles, so just being in the league itself, being able to be in the NFL, it’s a blessing. Starting with all 32 teams at the beginning of the year and to be able to accomplish this with my teammates, it’s a blessing.

“I felt like we were all brought together for one purpose. I can’t say more about it. I am speechless. I am very humbled and excited for me and my teammates. I am taken back by everything.”

Walker said not only just winning a Super Bowl, but winning this Super Bowl made the moment even more special because of the sheer magnitude of it being the 50th year of the NFL championship game.

“Fifty is a special number and even the game itself, it was a great defensive game,” he said.

“Our defensive line and me being on defense, I think it will always be special. Fifty years from now people will go back and look at the tape and say, ‘Man those guys were great. That was a special team.’ ”

The Broncos beat the Panthers 24-10 in the title game, played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., Feb. 7 to win the Super Bowl. While the score was close at the half at 13-7, Walker said he and his teammates, especially on the defensive side of the ball, knew the game was over. Walker was credited with two tackles in the game – one solo tackle and one assist. His solo tackle came on the Panthers’ Mike Tolbert, stopping a three-yard run with 11:31 left in the game on a second and seven at the Denver 19-yard line.

“I would say at halftime we knew,” he said.

“We knew we had to stop the run. And that is what we did. We knew we could stop the run and make them pass it. (Panthers’ quarterback) Cam (Newton) had to make scrambles and they got some good running backs, and we knew we had to shut them down.”

Walker said he tried to enjoy every moment of playing in the Super Bowl and being back in the Bay Area, where he played for a season with Oakland earlier in his career.

“It was surreal,” he said.

“The media coverage, the fans, it was always what I thought it would be. I have a lot of great memories of being out at the Bay, in being with the Raiders. I love it out there. The scenery, the weather, everything. I looked forward to it.”

Walker said he able to spend a lot of time with his family, despite all the chaos after the Broncos’ win, because the team incorporated the players’ families into team celebrations on the field and in the parade back in Denver.

While the game ended roughly at 7:30 p.m. on the West Coast, Walker said the celebration ended for him long after that.

“I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “I had to be up at 7 (a.m.) the next day, but I went to bed like maybe 4. It wasn’t because I was out partying. I was so excited. I couldn’t sleep.”

Walker splits his time between South Carolina and Denver during the off-season. The team starts organized team activities in April, so the 6-2, 305-pound Walker doesn’t have that much time off before preparation for next season begins. The seven-year NFL veteran has another year left on his contract in Denver and he said he could see himself finishing his career with the Broncos.

“I want to be the best player I can be,” he said. “I don’t want to get into too much about next season. I just want to enjoy the time off we have for the next couple of weeks, but obviously we want to be able to do it all over again.”

Walker has already been sized for his Super Bowl ring and probably will receive it in June.

“They are always bigger than the year before,” he joked. “So you will definitely be able to see it.”

This story was originally published February 15, 2016 at 1:09 PM with the headline "Fort Mill alum Vance Walker relishing his Super Bowl moment."