IRVING, Texas -- Not long after the Dallas Cowboys selected DeMarcus Ware with the 11th overall pick in the 2005 draft, I went to Troy, Alabama, to do a feature on the player who would become the franchise’s all-time leader in sacks.

We spent a few days together, driving around his college town, then his hometown, Auburn, Alabama.

One drive went through a particularly affluent section of Troy with big brick houses and large lawns. Ware slowly drove his new BMW 750Li down the street and talked about wanting a house like this one day.

Only a few weeks earlier Ware was driving a broken down Mercury Grand Marquis and he was making the 90-mile round trip to Montgomery for draft workouts and still taking classes. His agents told him he could get a new car, but he kept turning them down. He secured the line of credit to purchase the car on his own after the draft.

There was an innocence to Ware then. He wasn’t a pampered, high-profile athlete. As he stood outside the Auburn High School football stadium 11 years ago, he remembered thinking that was as big as it would get for him.

On Sunday with the Denver Broncos, Ware won a Super Bowl, beating the Carolina Panthers. He had two sacks of Cam Newton. He had four quarterback pressures and five tackles.

Denver pass-rusher DeMarcus Ware saved his best for the playoff run. In three games he had 10 tackles, 3.5 sacks, four tackles for loss, 12 quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery. AP Photo/Matt York

"I wouldn’t say there’s a sense of relief," Ware told reporters after the game. "I would say that there’s a sense of 'I have arrived,' just being a champion. It was a hard-fought battle for so many years for me. It just feels great to (relish) this moment right now."

Early Monday morning Ware made appearances on ESPN’s "SportsCenter", ABC’s "Good Morning America" and NBC’s "Today Show". There might have been others, but those were the ones I saw. His voice was scratchy and his eyes were a little tired since he was working on no sleep.

But his smile was wide and bright.

It was the same wide and bright smile he had in 2005, except then he was walking across the Troy campus, speaking to anyone and everyone. On his graduation day, students wanted to take pictures with him. We stopped at a local restaurant where a few weeks earlier he could slip in or out without being noticed, but on this day the manager asked for an autograph.

We went to the public housing where he grew up and then to the football field where he caught the game-winning touchdown pass against Smith Station.

"I just think about where I’ve come from and that if you really want something you can actually get it done," Ware told me in a Dallas Morning News story in 2005. "Hard work. Never give up. Where you come from, it doesn’t matter the circumstances, just make them your own and you can do good."

At small church not far from Troy’s campus was a sign that read, 'Everything is difficult before it’s easy.'

Things haven’t always been easy for Ware. His father was in and out of his life. He shared an apartment with his mother and sister. He would buy a cheap pair of shoes at WalMart and sew a Tommy Hilfiger tag on them to impress friends.

He and his ex-wife, Taniqua, suffered through the loss of a child but found the joys of parenthood through an adopted daughter, Marley, who was born in 2008, and son, DeMarcus Jr., who was born in 2010.

On the field, the Cowboys released Ware after the 2013 season. He missed three games that season, the first of his career, and finished with just six sacks. The Cowboys thought he was a declining player with a too-hefty salary-cap figure and decided to part ways with him, despite 117 sacks.

The Broncos quickly signed him to a three-year, $30 million deal that included $20 million guaranteed. In two seasons he has 17.5 sacks, clearly showing he was not done.

He saved his best for the playoff run. In three games he had 10 tackles, 3.5 sacks, four tackles for loss, 12 quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery. If not for Von Miller's sublime game, maybe Ware could have been the Super Bowl MVP.

But it was a vintage Ware run, one seen plenty in his days with the Cowboys.

Ware turns 34 in July and is entering the final year of his contract with the Broncos. Retirement is not in his plans. Whenever that day comes, he will likely sign a ceremonial contract with the Cowboys and one day earn a spot on the Ring of Honor.

"I’ve got a lot of gas in the tank," Ware said. "Von was the one that added that gas to that fire for me. That’s why I’m playing the way that I’m playing right now. I don’t think about retiring. God still wants me to play. That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing. When I start bringing the cane out, you guys make sure that you tell me, 'DeMarcus, it’s time to hang the cleats up.'"