Gary Kubiak attended his first NFL training camp in the 1970s. The team that employed him, the Houston Oilers, no longer exists. The Oilers featured running back Earl Campbell, quarterback Dan Pastorini, coach Bum Phillips and a catchy fight song, “Luv Ya Blue.”

During those days, Kubiak fell hard for football.

Four decades later, the ball boy who impressed Oilers players with his arm, the young man who earned all-state honors for Houston’s St. Pius X High School, the leader who played quarterback at Texas A&M with a dislocated hip, the grown man who stood in John Elway’s shadow for nine years, remains every bit as passionate about the sport.

Kubiak has been gripping a football since he could walk. But really, it is the other way around.

Gary Kubiak loves the game.

Football tried to kill him Nov. 3, 2013, when stress and 18-hour workdays led to a transient ischemic attack, or mini-stroke, during a nationally televised game. He came back long enough to get fired by the Houston Texans on Dec. 6. Under contract through 2014, Kubiak could have sat out last season.

His concession? He agreed to take a vacation from football, which he soon abandoned, when Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh called needing an offensive coordinator.

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It is now 2015 at Dove Valley, and Kubiak’s whirlwind adventure brings him back to Denver, where he will be introduced as the Broncos’ new head coach Tuesday. He jump-started the Texans, whose stadium is only 8 miles from where he grew up, but he was unable to finish the job.

He takes over the Broncos as the 15th head coach in franchise history, the magnetic attraction strong from his days as a player and offensive coordinator. He is driven to win a championship.

“Gary is coming home. I am sure that’s the mind-set he’s taking. You see former Broncos and fans fired up on Twitter and Facebook,” said erstwhile Broncos wide receiver Mark Jackson, a former teammate. “Of course there is pressure. Pressure from the media. Pressure to do well. But it won’t be greater than what Gary puts on himself. This sets up for Gary to coach here until he doesn’t want to do it anymore. To make this his last job.”

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Kubiak arrives with a four-year contract, and comfort with Elway, now his boss. Kubiak owns three Super Bowl title rings, one as a running backs coach with San Francisco and a pair with the Broncos, in 1997 and 1998. He enjoyed a silent playing career, starting only five games in nine seasons, trusted to keep the seat warm on the rare occasion Elway’s body betrayed him.

But Kubiak is not competing with his own ghost of Broncos past; he’s been asked to exorcise Elway’s demon as a general manager.

Elway wants a Super Bowl title, a team that will go out “kicking and screaming.” The parallel remains easy to draw. John Fox is out because he was Dan Reeves, wildly successful in the regular season but bearing no title rings. Elway needs Kubiak to play the role of Mike Shanahan, the only Denver head coach to win the Super Bowl.

“It’s tough; your best friend is now your boss. I have never been in a situation like that before. For a lot of people that can rankle some feathers. But Gary has always gotten along with John,” said Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe, a former Broncos star. “At the end of the day, Gary was brought here to win a championship. Anything less than that is unacceptable. And of course, it’s a lot easier when you go into that locker room having won championships as (an assistant coach). He’s not guessing. He knows how it’s done.”

Thank you, Houston

Kubiak’s history in Denver and his connection to Elway explains this opportunity better than first glance at his résumé. Kubiak went 63-66 with Houston, including playoff games. But he led the team to its first winning season in 2009, and to its initial playoff victory in 2012. It ended badly in 2013, injuries, ineffectiveness and ultimately his own health scare conspiring to create a two-win season, and his first firing in 31 years.

Yet, Kubiak exited with class and dignity, buying a full page ad in the Houston Chronicle, thanking the players, coaches, staff and fans for “eight great years.”

Those who know Kubiak insist, feverishly, that he remains more than the sum of his record. He creates strong bonds with players.

“I would take a bullet for him,” said former Broncos tight end Joel Dreessen, who played for Kubiak in Houston. “I have no doubt that he will make the Broncos better. He turned things around in Houston, and that last year there wasn’t his fault in my opinion. He will have a more talented roster here. He will be demanding and provide energy.”

Sharpe, who knew Kubiak as a player and assistant coach, said Kubiak goes out of his way to “establish relationships.” Not long after he joined the Baltimore coaching staff, Kubiak took quarterback Joe Flacco to dinner and barely talked football, eager to get a read on Flacco the person, not the player. He bonded with Jake Plummer when Plummer was the Denver quarterback, serving as a buffer to Shanahan’s white-hot temper.

“I don’t see how it couldn’t work,” Plummer said of the Elway-Kubiak reunion.

Work and rolled-up sleeves define Kubiak. His father, Alfred, told him that life is full of “chicken and feathers,” according to a story in the Houston Chronicle. Kubiak drew from the analogy that “you have to deal with the good and bad. My old man taught me that when things aren’t going well, it doesn’t mean you’re not doing a good job. When things are going really well, I think you have to be humble in your approach.”

The idea of leaving coaching after suffering the mini-stroke never occurred to Kubiak. That’s why retirement exists, he deadpanned. He is a coach, and all three of his and wife Rhonda’s sons — Klint, Klay and Klein — played college football and remain involved in the game, Klein as an intern with the Broncos.

Because Kubiak backed up Elway, his own ability gets lost. He was a terrific athlete. He starred in high school, where he met Rhonda, a freshman cheerleader, and in college. As a QB, he relied more on timing, accuracy and knowledge of the game. This suggests he can appeal to Peyton Manning even if his zone-blocking, foot-in-the-ground, one-cut rushing attack and play action, bootleg calls don’t mesh perfectly with the NFL’s reigning MVP.

“You cater your offense to the quarterback. There’s no question in my mind he can do that if Peyton comes back,” Sharpe said.

Long to-do list in charge

Kubiak’s intelligence transformed him into a coach when he was still playing for the Broncos. Jackson remembers his rookie training camp, in 1986. Kubiak called him over and told the young receiver that if he had questions, to ask him.

“He said we were going to spend a lot of time together at practice during the season. So it was a vote of confidence that I was going to be on the team at that time when I didn’t know nothing from nothing,” Jackson said. “I will always remember that.”

What makes Kubiak a fit for this job also creates pause. His strength is pure X’s and O’s. In Baltimore, tight end Owen Daniels, a staple of Kubiak’s Texans offenses, remarked how much more refreshed and relaxed Kubiak appeared this season with a more narrow job description. As a head coach, the responsibilities are endless, from media obligations and overseeing meetings to extinguishing brush fires.

But Kubiak loves to coach. Elway loves to win, leaving the one-time backup quarterback unable to pass up a twice-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“Being in meetings with him for seven years, he can be stern enough. He knows what to say and how to stay it. He had no problem letting us know we had to do better,” Sharpe said. “He would take responsibility for his mistakes. And the one thing with Gary is that he will put in the work and absolutely will be prepared.”

Troy E. Renck: trenck@denverpost.com or twitter.com/troyrenck