Sacramento native Jeff Sperbeck, friend of John Elway, dies in golf cart incident
Jeff Sperbeck, the Sacramento-raised and Jesuit High School-graduated business partner, agent and decades-long close friend of Hall of Famer John Elway, died Wednesday morning, three days after he fell off the back of a golf cart driven by the retired Denver Broncos quarterback.
A resident of San Clemente and an agent to more than 100 professional athletes, coaches and team executives, Sperbeck was 62.
He is the brother of former Sacramento State head football coach Marshall Sperbeck, and the son of famed 1960s and ‘70s Christian Brothers High School football coach Dick Sperbeck, who later was a fundraiser for Sacramento State athletics and died in 2017.
Sperbeck was Elway’s agent when Elway starred in the NFL, and their many business ventures included owning a winery. The two attended a golf function over the weekend in a gated community in Southern California, where Elway owns a home and where they attended the Stagecoach music festival at the Madison Club in La Quinta.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department confirmed in an online release that Sperbeck suffered his injury Saturday, hitting his head. Sperbeck was transported to a hospital in Palm Springs, where he succumbed to his injuries early Wednesday.
Sperbeck regularly attended Broncos games as a guest of Elway when Elway was the club’s general manager from 2011-20. Their families regularly vacationed together.
Said Elway in a statement: “I am absolutely devastated and heartbroken by the passing of my close friend, business partner and agent Jeff Sperbeck. 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. My heart and deepest sympathies go out to Jeff’s wife, Cori; his children Carly, Sam and Jackson, and everyone who knew and loved him. 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 kept his deep ties to Sacramento close to him. He has family who live in the area, and he was devastated when one of his closest friends and a longtime client, former Sacramento State quarterback and assistant coach Greg Knapp, was struck in the Bay Area while riding a bike by a distracted driver in 2021. He died from those injuries.
Sperbeck helped found the Coach Knapp Memorial Fund whose aim was to educate people on distracted driving.
A longtime NFL assistant coach, Sperbeck helped get all NFL coaches on board to do an annual stadium climb. That’s also become a tradition at Sacramento State. Knapp enjoyed running stairs before games to relax.
Sperbeck played multiple sports at Jesuit, where he graduated in 1981. He played quarterback at Sacramento City College in 1981 and ‘82, and he graduated from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.
Sperbeck became an agent in the late 1980s, and his first clients included 49ers great Ronnie Lott. He started to represent Elway in 1991.
This story was originally published April 30, 2025 at 5:10 PM.