They knew. Whether from up close or from afar, they knew. The former Denver stars, many of them with media pulpits, knew that Broncos owner Pat Bowlen was afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease and increasingly affected.

This never was a “secret,” whether among Broncos Ring of Famers or sports fans in Colorado paying attention to the hints dropped in brief acknowledgments. Yet it wasn’t something you ran around and told the world about, either.

It was — and still is — about respect. About privacy and dignity. About gratitude. About sadness. And, yes, even about denial, leading up to the announcement this week that Bowlen was stepping away from an active ownership role.

“We saw some evidence early on that his condition wasn’t getting any better, but you kind of hold out hope and pray that he would get better,” said Terrell Davis, still the Broncos’ all-time leading rusher 12 years after his retirement and now an analyst for the NFL Network.

“Sometimes, if you know somebody well, you know them, you talk to them, or when you see them, it’s something different. That’s kind of how it was. You didn’t want to ask anybody; you didn’t want to ask him anything like that. You just hoped you weren’t seeing what you were seeing. You hope it’s not what you think it is. You just think that maybe he’ll get better, and unfortunately he didn’t get better.

“He’ll always have a place in my heart. It’s heartbreaking.”

Steve Atwater, the hard-hitting Broncos safety from 1989-98, also is in the Ring of Fame.

“When we went out to the (Ring of Fame) game last year, not anybody got too close,” Atwater said. “I don’t know if it was set up like that, but normally it was go in and see him, give him a hug, but last year, it was a little bit different, we didn’t get a chance to do that, so I figured some of that was going on. But that was fine. They went with what was best for him, Annabel and the rest of the family.”

Bringing up the effects of the disease on the Broncos owner might seem insensitive, but if it brings attention to the horrible toll of Alzeimer’s and perhaps plays a tiny role in seeking ways to combat it, that can be a positive.

“It’s hard to see,” said Ring of Fame defensive end and linebacker Karl Mecklenburg, who played for Denver from 1983-94. “I don’t know that there’s anyone reading this who hasn’t experienced Alz-heimer’s in one way or another. It’s that prevalent in our society.

“And to see someone you respect, someone you care for, someone who’s your friend, someone who’s been your teammate go through this … I coached young John Bowlen at Kent Denver and anytime I bump into him, he calls me ‘Coach.’ I know the family. To think about how that’s got to be for that family. … It’s a hard thing, it really is a tough thing for everyone who knows him.

“I’ve had family members go through Alzheimer’s. It’s such a terrible thing. The way Pat ran that organization was very much like a family. Everyone over there is going to miss him being there. For those of us who have been around, it’s not a surprise. He’s obviously had problems for a few years, and it’s sad.”

Former tight end Shannon Sharpe, with Denver for 12 seasons in two stints, was working out when he saw the news across the bottom of his TV screen.

“It’s sad,” Sharpe said. “Although it affects the person, I don’t know if the person realizes the toll it takes on those around him. Having been around someone who suffers from that, the toll that it takes on Annabel, the kids, John, Joe Ellis, it’s tough. You’re seeing a guy you’ve been around and you’ve known for 30 years and he’s changing before your eyes. He doesn’t know it, but you do.

“Now, I didn’t notice the changes in him. He was always happy to see me, saying, ‘How you doing 84, I wish you still were playing.’ I wasn’t there on a day-to-day basis. Obviously, someone who was around him more frequently probably noticed the changes more than someone who saw him as infrequently as I did, maybe once, twice a year at the max.”

Alfred Williams, the former Colorado star who played four seasons with the Broncos to wrap up his career, now is a talk-show host at Denver’s 104.3 FM “The Fan.”

“You start to wonder about what’s happened over the last couple, three months,” Williams said. “We knew something was wrong when he didn’t go to the owners’ meetings. That’s what he does. He was so much a part of the fabric of the NFL, so when he missed the owners’ meeting in the spring, that kind of sent a signal, so I got on the phone and called over to the Broncos to see what was going on and they kind of told me what was happening. I knew then that we probably would hear an announcement like this. So I wasn’t shocked.

“The last time we had a conversation was last year, and it was brief. He said, ‘Hey, Alfred’ and I called him ‘Mr. B’ and it was on to the next conversation. I haven’t had a sit-down with him for I imagine three or four years now. But I’ve been keeping in touch with guys over there.”

More important to the former players than what they knew and when they knew it, they wanted to make clear their affection, respect and concern for Bowlen.

“We’re praying for him,” Davis said. “I’d say, ‘Hang in there and keep on fighting.’ I’d let him know that we’re going to keep thinking about him.”

Davis said that Bowlen was the first one to contact him after his anterior cruciate ligament surgery in 1999.

“I’d want to let him know how much he meant to me and how he changed my life on two occasions,” Davis said. “Not only did he call me when I had my ACL, but when my family was going through some stuff, he was there for me. I am forever indebted to Mr. Bowlen and I want him to know that we love him and we’re praying for him.”

Mecklenburg made the Broncos as a 12th-round draft choice in 1983.

“My career wouldn’t have been what it was without Mr. Bowlen,” Mecklenburg said. “He went to bat for me. My understanding is he went to the coaches and said, ‘Hey, this guy’s going to start, what are you doing?’ … If you performed for him, he would do whatever he could for you. That to me was the mark of his desire to win. He wanted more than anything to win. He was loyal to a fault, just a wonderful guy to work for.

“When I talk about teamwork, when I’m giving my speeches, a lot of what I learned from Pat was what leadership should look like. It should look like community, and it was all about the people in that building, commitment to the team, passion, winning the Super Bowl and the clarity and consistency in that commitment. There was never a day he wasn’t trying to figure out a way to get the Broncos back to the Super Bowl and win it. His example of leadership and his personal connection to each and every person in that building made that thing run over there.”

Sharpe often was a workout partner of Bowlen’s at the Broncos’ headquarters.

“I’m sure he wouldn’t want me or anyone to feel pity or feel sorry for him, but to know the type of person he was,” Sharpe said. “I got an opportunity by being inside the building to see a different side of him. He is very charismatic, likes to joke, loves to have fun.

“I think he knew when I was going to be working out in the weight room because he was always coming down. He’d get on the treadmill or the elliptical or get on the bike. From about ’93 until I walked out of there, he was always challenging me. He could run longer than I could on the treadmill, he could put up better numbers on the bike than I could, and we were always going back and forth.”

One of Sharpe’s unofficial leadership duties was to point out, or make fun of, players’ wardrobes if they were too garish or otherwise suspect. One day, reacting to prompting from his teammates, Sharpe had the nerve to tell “Mr. B” that his outfit was a little over the top.

Sharpe remembered Bowlen saying: “I don’t care what you say about my outfit. I’m going to be back down here in another outfit.”

He had his own style.

Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or twitter.com/TFrei