Former Broncos star quarterback Charley Johnson is resting comfortably at his home in Las Cruces, N.M., after suffering a head injury in June and being hospitalized for more than a month.

Johnson, who played for the Broncos from 1972-75 and is in their Ring of Fame, said in a phone interview with The Denver Gazette he suffered a fall in his kitchen June 23 and it took a long time for help to arrive.

“I was getting ready in the morning about 9 o’clock and I was going to meet some people and feeling really good and I just passed out and hit the floor and banged my head,’’ said Johnson, 84, who lives alone. “I laid there in blood for about 3 or 4 hours until finally somebody called the cops and they came and got me to the hospital.”

Johnson, who said he “got dehydrated and just blacked out,’’ said he regained consciousness after the fall but couldn’t get to his land line or to his cell phone to call for help.

“I could barely raise my head to look around,’’ he said. “My phone was ringing but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything. I just kind of laid there and wallowed in the blood. Finally, somebody was walking by and heard me yelling for help and they called 911 and got the ambulance to come get me.”

Johnson said he was in the hospital for about three or four days with a concussion and a “big cut” on his head and then was at a rehabilitation facility for about a month. He returned home last week and has a nurse who will remain with him there for at least a few more weeks.

“I was really out of it for a couple of weeks,’’ Johnson said. “But I’m doing really well now.”

Johnson starred at New Mexico State in Las Cruces before playing in the NFL from 1961-75 with the St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Oilers and Broncos. During his playing career, he received a PhD. in chemical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis. Johnson returned to New Mexico State in 2000 to run the chemical engineering department and later be a professor before retiring in 2012.

One of Johnson’s friends in Las Cruces is former NFL kicker Roy Gerela, who played at New Mexico State after Johnson did and was his teammate on the Oilers in 1970. Gerela, who won three Super Bowl rings with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s, was concerned when he heard about Johnson’s fall.

“I thought he was going to have some ill effects from it because of his age, the condition of his body and the blood that came from the head wounds,’’ said Gerela, who hasn’t seen Johnson since his fall but has received updates on his condition. “But he’s OK now, so that’s good.”

Johnson said doctors continue to check him out but that he is expected to make a full recovery and the nurse likely won’t be needed at his home after this month.

“I’d like to get freed up and go out and drive, so I can have a regular life,’’ he said.

Johnson helped lead the Broncos to their first winning season with a 7-5-2 record in 1973 and was inducted into their Ring of Fame in 1986. He had talked last spring about wanting to come to Denver for a Broncos game this fall for the first time in more than a decade.

“I really doubt that now,’’ Johnson said.

Johnson, though, does plan to follow the Broncos on television. They open the regular season Sept. 10 against the Las Vegas Raiders at Empower Field at Mile High.