Is John Elway married? Yes the Denver Broncos legend has been married to Paige Green since August 2009. She is his second wife. Elway was previously married to Janet Buchan for nineteen years, from 1984 until their divorce in 2003, and his four children all come from that first marriage. Paige, a former Oakland Raiders cheerleader, met Elway at a celebrity golf tournament and married him at his home in Idaho. Below you will find how the couple met, what happened to his first marriage, who his four children are, and what has been happening in Elway’s life recently.
Is John Elway Married?
Yes. John Elway and Paige Green married on 30 August 2009 and remain married today a stretch of roughly seventeen years.
That makes Paige his second wife. The first was Janet Buchan, whom he met at Stanford and married in 1984. That marriage lasted nineteen years and produced four children before ending in divorce in 2003.
So the full answer to the question is layered. Elway has been married twice, is currently married, and has spent more of his adult life married than not. The two marriages together account for well over three decades.
One point of confusion worth clearing up immediately: Elway’s mother was also named Janet. Janet Elway the mother and Janet Elway the first wife are two different people, and search results mix them up constantly. His mother died in March 2020 at the age of 82.
Who Is John Elway’s Wife, Paige Green?
Paige Green Elway is a former Oakland Raiders cheerleader who has spent much of the past two decades involved in philanthropic work alongside her husband.
Her background
Before meeting Elway she cheered for the Raiders for several seasons, which is a small irony given that she married one of the most celebrated Broncos in history. The Raiders and Broncos have been AFC West rivals for decades, and Elway spent sixteen seasons playing against the team she once cheered for. Denver fans have found this funnier than Elway ever seems to have.
She keeps a modest public profile. She appears at charity events and public functions with Elway, has posted occasionally on Instagram under the name Paige Elway, and has otherwise not sought coverage of her own. Her philanthropic work in the Denver area has been the main reason she appears in print at all.
You will find sites listing her precise age and birth details. Those figures trace to unsourced celebrity-bio pages rather than to reporting, so this article does not repeat them.
How they met
At a celebrity golf tournament hosted by former Raiders running back Marcus Allen in Los Angeles.
There is a small discrepancy in the record here. Many outlets say 2005. Paige herself, posting the first photo of the two of them together on Instagram, dated the day they met to June 2006. Her own account is the better source, so treat 2006 as the likely year and 2005 as a widely repeated approximation.
When they got married
Elway proposed during a trip to Italy in September 2008. Shortly afterwards he told the Rocky Mountain News he was looking forward to a long life together with his fiancee a notably plain statement from a man who had spent two decades being asked about everything.
The couple had dated for roughly three years by then, which is worth noting given how the relationship is sometimes framed. This was not a whirlwind. Elway was in his late forties, several years past his divorce, and in no apparent hurry.
They married on 30 August 2009 in a private ceremony in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where Elway has a home. Note that some articles place the wedding in Italy that is a mix-up with the proposal.
The couple have no children together. Paige is stepmother to Elway’s four.
How Many Times Has John Elway Been Married?
Twice.
| Marriage | Spouse | Period |
|---|---|---|
| First | Janet Buchan (Janet Elway) | 1984–2003 |
| Second | Paige Green | 2009–present |
The gap between them was about six years, and it was not an easy stretch of his life. His father Jack died in 2001, and his twin sister Jana died in 2002 losses that arrived in the middle of the collapse of his first marriage. Elway has spoken publicly about that sequence of grief.
Who Was John Elway’s First Wife?
Janet Buchan was a swimmer at Stanford University when she met Elway, who was there becoming one of the most sought-after quarterback prospects in college football history.
They married in 1984, the year after Denver acquired him, and stayed married for nineteen years. Across that span, as Elway went from young quarterback to two-time Super Bowl champion, the couple were among the most recognisable figures in Denver public life. Janet largely avoided the spotlight, focusing on raising their four children.
Janet’s own athletic record was real, not incidental. She was later recognised by Pacific Northwest Swimming and by Tacoma-Pierce County sports honours.
Their separation and divorce
Reports in June 2002 indicated that Janet had moved out of the family home. The couple briefly reconciled. In January 2003 they separated for good, and the divorce was finalised that year.
This article is not going to speculate about why. Neither party has given a detailed public account, and the reasons a nineteen-year marriage ends are not the public’s business. What is documented is the timeline and the context: the deaths of Elway’s father and twin sister in the two years immediately preceding it.
Elway has described that period as losing his dad, then losing his twin sister a year and a half later, then watching his marriage come apart. Three losses, stacked. Whatever else was happening privately, that is the backdrop, and it is the only part anyone outside the family can honestly speak to.
What Happened to John Elway’s First Wife?
Janet built a life away from the attention.
The most widely reported development came in 2011, when news outlets reported she had become engaged to Kevin Kretzmar, who worked in financial services. Some later write-ups describe a marriage that subsequently ended, but that account is less well sourced than the engagement itself so this article says only what is solidly reported.
Since then she has kept a deliberately low profile, focused on her family. She remains connected to her children and grandchildren, and she has not sought media coverage in the years since.
That is genuinely the whole verifiable answer. Pages offering more detail about her current circumstances are guessing.
John Elway’s Four Children
Elway has four children, all with Janet: Jessica, Jordan, Jack and Juliana. All four are now adults, and they appeared together with their father in his 2025 documentary, Elway.
Jessica is the eldest of the four and has largely stayed out of public view.
Jordan is his second daughter, and like her older sister has not pursued a public career.
Jack is Elway’s only son. He followed his father into college football, playing at Arizona State, but chose not to pursue a professional career. He later founded an online clothing company.
Juliana is the youngest. She married in 2019, works as a teacher, and runs a permanent jewellery business. She is a mother, making Elway a grandfather several times over.
The family keeps its collective profile fairly low. Elway is the public figure; his children are not, and beyond the broad outlines above there is little reason to go further. His grandchildren are young, and this article leaves them out entirely.
How Old Is John Elway?
John Albert Elway Jr. was born on 28 June 1960 in Port Angeles, Washington, which makes him 66.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | John Albert Elway Jr. |
| Born | 28 June 1960 |
| Age | 66 |
| Current wife | Paige Green Elway |
| Married | 30 August 2009 |
| First wife | Janet Buchan (1984–2003) |
| Children | Four — Jessica, Jordan, Jack, Juliana |
Paige’s exact age has not been reliably documented in credible reporting, and this article will not estimate it.
John Elway’s Life After Football
Elway’s playing career is one of the most decorated in NFL history: sixteen seasons with Denver, and back-to-back Super Bowl titles in the 1997 and 1998 seasons before he retired on top. He entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004.
He then did something few great players manage he succeeded in the front office. Elway returned to the Broncos as an executive in 2011, and the team he built won another Super Bowl following the 2015 season, giving him a third championship ring in a different role entirely. He shifted to a consultant position before his contract expired in March 2023.
That second act matters to the family story. Elway’s front-office years ran through the whole of his second marriage, meaning Paige has known him almost exclusively as an executive rather than as a quarterback. She met him seven years after he retired from playing.
He has also been open about a health condition. Elway has publicly discussed living with Dupuytren’s contracture, a disorder that causes the fingers to curl toward the palm a difficult diagnosis for a man whose right hand made him famous.
If you are newer to the sport, our guide to how many players are on a football team covers the fundamentals.
A difficult recent chapter
The biggest Elway story in recent years was not about football.
On 26 April 2025, Elway was driving a golf cart at The Madison Club in La Quinta, California, when his longtime agent and business partner Jeff Sperbeck fell from the back of it and struck his head. Sperbeck, who had represented Elway since 1990 and helped run his business interests, died from his injuries at 62.
Elway called himself devastated and heartbroken by the loss of a close friend. In July 2025, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office concluded its investigation and announced that no charges would be filed, finding no evidence of criminal activity and ruling the death a tragic accident.
John Elway Family Timeline
- 1984 — Marries Janet Buchan, whom he met at Stanford.
- 1997–1998 — Wins back-to-back Super Bowls with Denver, then retires.
- 2001 — His father, Jack Elway, dies.
- 2002 — His twin sister, Jana, dies. Janet moves out that June.
- 2003 — The marriage ends; divorce finalised.
- 2004 — Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- 2006 — Meets Paige Green at Marcus Allen’s celebrity golf tournament.
- 2008 — Proposes to Paige in Italy.
- 2009 — Marries Paige Green in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
- 2015 — Broncos win the Super Bowl with Elway as an executive.
- 2025 — Jeff Sperbeck dies; Elway is later cleared of any wrongdoing.
- Today — Still married to Paige.
FAQs About Is John Elway Married
Is John Elway married?
Yes. He has been married to Paige Green Elway since 30 August 2009. It is his second marriage, following his 1984–2003 marriage to Janet Buchan.
Who is John Elway’s wife?
Paige Green Elway, a former Oakland Raiders cheerleader. The two met at a celebrity golf tournament hosted by Marcus Allen and married in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. She is active in philanthropic work with her husband.
How many times has John Elway been married?
Twice. First to Janet Buchan from 1984 to 2003, and since 2009 to Paige Green. There was a gap of about six years between the two marriages.
What happened to John Elway’s first wife?
Janet and John separated in 2002 and divorced in 2003. She was reported to have become engaged to Kevin Kretzmar in 2011 and has since kept a deliberately private life focused on her family.
Conclusion
So, is John Elway married? Yes. Paige Green Elway has been his wife since 2009, and by 2026 that marriage has lasted about seventeen years approaching the length of his entire NFL career.
Before her there was Janet, nineteen years, four children and a divorce that came in the middle of losing his father and his twin sister. Elway has had a public life measured in Super Bowls and statues. The private one has been longer, quieter, and considerably more complicated than the highlight reel suggests.
