History of the Kansas City Chiefs

The following is a detailed history of the Kansas City Chiefs, a professional American football franchise that began play in 1960 as the Dallas Texans. The team was a charter member of the American Football League (AFL), and now is currently part of the National Football League (NFL).

The Texans won the AFL Championship in 1962, and the team relocated to Kansas City, Missouri the following year. In 1966, the Chiefs won their second AFL title and appeared in the inaugural AFL-NFL World Championship game. In 1969, the Chiefs won the final AFL title and went on to defeat the NFL's heavily-favored Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV. The Texans/Chiefs were the winningest franchise in AFL history, compiling an 87-48 record from 1960 to 1969. However, their victory on January 11, 1970 remains the franchise's only Super Bowl title to date.

AFL Origins

In 1959, Lamar Hunt, son of oil tycoon H.L. Hunt, began discussions with other businessmen in establishing an American football organization that would rival that of the National Football League. Since as early as 1958, Hunt had the interest of purchasing an NFL franchise and moving them to Dallas, Texas. His desire to secure a professional football franchise was further heightened after watching the historic 1958 NFL Championship Game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants. The team that Hunt was most interested in buying was the Chicago Cardinals. [http://www.kcchiefs.com/history/ Kansas City Chiefs History AFL Origins"] ]

The NFL convinced Hunt to contact Violet Bidwill Wolfner, and her husband Walter Bidwill eventually agreed to sell Hunt 20 percent of the Cardinals franchise. Hunt declined the opportunity. He then conceived the concept of forming a second league. “Why wouldn’t a second league work,” Hunt recalled. “There was an American and National League in baseball, why not football?” Hunt contacted several other individuals who had expressed interest in the Cardinals franchise—Bud Adams, Bob Howsam, Max Winter and Bill Boyer—and gauged their interest in forming a second league.

On August 14, the first meeting of the new league was held in Chicago, Illinois. Charter memberships were issued to six original cities—Dallas, New York, Houston, Denver, Los Angeles and Minneapolis. The league was officially christened the American Football League on August 22. Ralph Wilson was extended the league’s seventh franchise on October 28 and William Sullivan became the league’s eighth team's owner on November 22. Minneapolis withdrew its franchise from the AFL in November after receiving an offer for a team in the NFL, and Oakland, California instead joined the AFL as the Oakland Raiders.

Early years in Dallas

For the Texans' inaugural season, team owner Lamar Hunt pursued both legendary University of Oklahoma coach Bud Wilkinson and New York Giants defensive assistant Tom Landry to lead his Texans franchise. Wilkinson opted to stay at Oklahoma, while Landry was destined to coach the NFL’s franchise in Dallas. In Mid-December 1959 Hunt settled on a relatively unknown assistant coach from the University of Miami, Hank Stram. “One of the biggest reasons I hired Hank was that he really wanted the job,” Hunt explained. “It turned out to be a very lucky selection on my part.”

Reserved seats at the Cotton Bowl cost USD $4, general admission USD $2 and high school students paid USD $.90 that initial season. Don Rossi served as the team’s General Manager until November when he was succeeded by Jack Steadman.

The Texans conducted their inaugural training camp at the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, New Mexico. The club embarked on a whirlwind pre-season barnstorming tour that featured road games in Oakland, Tulsa, Boston, Abilene and Little Rock. An announced crowd of 51,000 at the Cotton Bowl witnessed a 24-3 victory against Houston on September 2 as the club concluded a perfect 6-0 preseason record.

In their early years, the Texans had a strong home-state identity with quarterback Cotton Davidson from Baylor, linebacker Sherrill Headrick from TCU and running back Abner Haynes from North Texas. Haynes led the league with 875 rushing yards and nine TDs, as well as combined net yards (2,100) and punt return average (15.4). The Texans also had a flashy, high-scoring club which finished the year at 8-6 as three close losses kept the squad from challenging for the division title. The Texans averaged 24,500 for their home games, the highest average in the league.

In 1961, the Texans and the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys both drafted linebacker E.J. Holub from Texas Tech, described by many scouts as “the best football player in America.” Holub decided to play for the Texans, joining three future franchise Hall of Famers—Jerry Mays, Fred Arbanas and Jim Tyrer—as part of the club’s draft class. The club moved its training camp to Lamar Hunt’s alma mater of Southern Methodist University and started the regular season at 3-1 before hitting a six-game losing skid, the longest such streak of Stram’s tenure with the franchise. The Texans rebounded to claim wins in three of its final four contests to finish 6-8, marking the club’s second straight finish behind the San Diego Chargers in the AFL Western Conference standings.

In 1962, head coach Hank Stram was named AFL Coach of the Year and running back Curtis McClinton was named the AFL Rookie of the Year. Haynes became the franchise’s first 1,000-yard rusher, concluding the season with 1,049 yards and an AFL-high 13 rushing touchdowns.

The Texans clinched their initial AFL Western Division Championship in November and finished with an 11-3 regular season record. The team won the 1962 AFL Championship when kicker Tommy Brooker connected on a 25-yard field goal during the second overtime of the title game, giving the Texans a 20-17 victory against the Houston Oilers. Spanning an elapsed time of 77:54, the game stands as the second-longest contest in pro football history. Until a Christmas Day playoff game in 1971 between the Chiefs and Dolphins, the game was the longest ever played.

The move to Kansas City

After three seasons in Dallas, Texas, it was apparent that Dallas couldn’t support two teams. Hunt investigated opportunities to move his team to several cities for the 1963 season, including Miami, Florida, Atlanta, Georgia, Seattle, Washington and New Orleans, Louisiana. Hunt wanted to find a city to which he could commute easily from Dallas, and when he was unable to secure Tulane Stadium because the university didn’t want its football program to compete with a pro team, he turned to Kansas City, Missouri, where Mayor H. Roe Bartle persuaded him to move to the Midwest.

The negotiations in Kansas City were conducted in secrecy. On several occasions Hunt and Jack Steadman were in Kansas City and met with businessmen, without the general public's knowledge. Bartle introduced Hunt as "Mr. Lamar" in all the meetings with other Kansas City businessmen. Steadman was introduced as "Jack X."Covitz, Randy; Pulliam, Kent. [http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/special_packages/lamar_hunt/16234939.htm Chiefs' founder Lamar Hunt dies] "Kansas City Star", 14 December 2006.]

The support the team received from the Kansas City community before the team announced the move was extraordinary. Hunt made the move dependent upon the ability of Mayor Bartle and the Kansas City community to guarantee him 35,000 in season ticket sales. Hunt had set this number, being that it was the Texans' average attendance at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. An ambitious campaign took shape to deliver on Bartle’s guarantee to Hunt of tripling the season-ticket base the Texans had enjoyed in Dallas. Kansas City’s mayor also promised to add 3,000 permanent seats to Municipal Stadium, as well as 11,000 temporary bleacher seats. Along with Bartle, a number of other prominent Kansas Citians stepped forward to aid in the efforts, putting together more than 1,000 workers to sell season tickets.

Bartle called to his office 20 business leaders and called upon them to form an association later known as "The Gold Coats", whose sole objective was to sell and take down payments on the 35,000 season tickets required. "The Gold Coats" had to sell season tickets to people without knowing the team name, where it was coming from, who the owner was, which football league they would play in, who the players or coaches were, when the team would play its first game in Kansas City, or where it would play. Hunt gave Bartle a four-month deadline to accomplish the sales. Bartle and "The Gold Coats" made good in only 8 weeks. Later, Hunt admitted he was really only hoping for 20,000, for which he still would have moved the franchise. On May 22, Hunt announced he was moving the franchise to Kansas City, Missouri. [http://www.kcchiefs.com/history/60s/ Kansas City Chiefs History 1960's"] ]

Hunt, with a roster replete with players who had played college football in Texas, wanted to maintain a lineage to the team’s roots and wanted to name the club the Kansas City Texans. "The Lakers stayed the Lakers when they moved from Minnesota to California," he reasoned. "But Jack Steadman convinced me that wasn’t too smart. It wouldn’t sell." The team was renamed the Kansas City Chiefs—one of the most popular suggestions Hunt received in a name-the-team contest. A name also considered at the time for the team was the Kansas City Mules.

The name, "Chiefs" is not only derived from a fan contest, but also from Mayor Bartle, who 35 years prior, founded the Native American-based honor society known as "The Tribe of Mic-O-Say" within the Boy Scouts of America organization, which earned him the nickname, "The Chief."

The Chiefs' moved into Municipal Stadium, located at 22nd and Brooklyn, which opened in 1923 and had 49,002 seats. The Chiefs shared the facilities with the Kansas City Athletics of Major League Baseball. The first appearance of the Chiefs in Municipal Stadium attracted just 5,721 fans for a 17-13 pre-season victory against Buffalo on August 9.

The Chiefs' inaugural season in Kansas City began with owner Lamar Hunt’s trade of starting quarterback Cotton Davidson to the Oakland Raiders, which landed the number one overall selection in the AFL Draft (which they used to select Buck Buchanan. Ironically, the Raiders would later select Gene Upshaw in 1967 for the express purpose of blocking Buchanan. The Chiefs also selected guard Ed Budde from Michigan State with their other first round pick, and Bobby Bell from Minnesota in the seventh round. Buchanan, Budde and Bell all became starters on their way to a combined 526 games with the team and all three of them played their entire careers with the Chiefs.

Tragedy struck the club when rookie running back Stone Johnson, who was a sprinter in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck in a pre-season game against Oakland on August 30 in Wichita, Kansas. He died 10 days later on September 8 and his jersey number 33 was subsequently retired. The Chiefs finished their first season in Kansas City with a 5-7-2 record and failed to reappear in the AFL Championship game for a consecutive year.

Building a champion, 1964-1969

In 1964, the Chiefs began the year with a 2-1 mark before dropping three consecutive games as several of the team’s best players, including E.J. Holub, Fred Arbanas and Johnny Robinson missed numerous games with injuries. Arbanas missed the final two games of the year after undergoing surgery to his left eye, in which he suffered almost total loss of vision. Running back Mack Lee Hill, who signed with the club as a rookie free agent and received a mere $300 signing bonus, entered the starting lineup and earned a spot in the AFL All-Star Game. The club rounded out the season with two consecutive wins to close the season at 7-7, finishing second in the AFL Western Conference behind the San Diego Chargers. An average of just 18,126 fans attended each home game at Municipal Stadium, prompting discussion at the AFL owners’ meeting about the Chiefs future in Kansas City.

For the 1965 season, the Chiefs were once again caught in the middle of the AFL and NFL's bidding wars for college talent. Kansas City made running back Gale Sayers from the University of Kansas their first-round draft pick, but Sayers eventually signed with the Bears for less money. Running back Mack Lee Hill suffered torn ligaments in his right knee in the second to last regular season game of the year at Buffalo on December 12. Following what was expected to be a routine surgery on December 14 at Menorah Hospital in Kansas City, Hill died from what was termed "a sudden and massive embolism." Hunt called Hill’s death "the worst shock possible." Beginning the following year, the club annually bestowed the Mack Lee Hill Award on its top rookie or first-year performer in Hill's honor. Just days after Hill’s unexpected death, the mourning Chiefs defeated the Denver Broncos on December 19 to finish the year with a 7-5-2 record.

In 1966, the Chiefs were beginning to lay the groundwork for a return to the AFL Championship game and eventual dominance in the later years of the AFL. Team owner Lamar Hunt was publicly negotiating with NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle about a possible merger of the two leagues. Defensive end Aaron Brown was highly coveted by many clubs, including the NFL’s Steelers, whom intended to select him. The Steelers couldn’t locate Brown on draft day since he was already aboard a flight with Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, who carried out the first mid-air signing in team history. The Chiefs signed Heisman Trophy-winning running back Mike Garrett in the 20th round of the 1969 AFL Draft. Garrett went on to earn AFL Rookie of the Year honors for the 1966 season.

The Chiefs started the season at 3-0. A crowd of 43,885 attended the Chiefs home opener against the defending AFL Champion Buffalo Bills on October 2, the largest ever to witness a sports event in Kansas City at the time. The Chiefs dropped a 29-14 decision to the Bills, but after the contest, Chiefs coach Hank Stram and Buffalo head coach Joe Collier negotiated a trade in the middle of the field. Kansas City received placekicker Mike Mercer for a fifth-round pick. Chiefs quarterback Len Dawson led the league in passing, while Otis Taylor became the first 1,000-yard receiver in franchise history, registering 1,297 yards. The Chiefs finished three games in front of Oakland to claim an AFL Western Conference title with an 11-2-1 record, setting the stage for the franchise’s second trip to the AFL Championship Game.

Using a dazzling I-formation offense and a smothering defense, the Chiefs claimed a dominating 31-7 victory in the AFL title game at Buffalo on New Year's Day, 1967. That victory propelled Kansas City to the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, later known as the Super Bowl. At the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Chiefs met Vince Lombardi’s powerful Green Bay Packers of the National Football League on January 15, 1967. The Chiefs played the Packers close for a half, trailing 14-10, but Green Bay took control in the final two quarters, winning the game by a score of 35-10.

For 1967, the club’s special teams got a boost with the addition of kicker Jan Stenerud, and kick returner Noland "Super Gnat" Smith. The Chiefs' first regular season game against an NFL team resulted in a commanding 66-24 Chiefs victory against the Chicago Bears at Municipal Stadium on August 23. Injuries again hit the club hard during the regular season as the Chiefs clawed their way to a 9-5 record.

Interest in the team skyrocketed following the team's appearance in the AFL-NFL Championship Game, forcing an increase in seating capacity at Municipal Stadium from 40,000 to 47,000. In June, Jackson County voters approved a $43 million bond issue for construction of a sports complex to be completed by 1972. Eastern Jackson County was chosen as the site of the Chiefs and Royals' new stadiums, and groundbreaking ceremonies took place in July with plans calling for a unique "rolling roof" design (which was later scrapped).

The 1968 Chiefs defense allowed a franchise-low 170 points (12.1 ppg). The nucleus of the defensive unit was in its prime, producing six AFL All-Stars, including all three of the squad’s linebackers. Offensively, quarterback Len Dawson led the AFL in passing for the fourth time. The Chiefs began the season with a 7-1 record and rattled off five straight victories to close the regular season at 12-2, sharing the AFL Western Conference title with the Oakland Raiders and setting up a one-game playoff between the two teams. Kansas City lost a 41-6 decision at Oakland on December 22 as the Raiders advanced to the AFL Championship Game against the New York Jets. The loss to Oakland is considered to be the beginning of the Chiefs' rivalry with the Raiders, one of the NFL's most bitter feuds.

The Chiefs used the momentum they built during the 1968 campaign by posting a perfect 6-0 record during pre-season play for 1969. The team began the regular season with four consecutive road games for the only time in team history. After a decisive 27-9 win at San Diego on September 14, the club posted a 31-0 shutout at Boston on September 21. During the game, quarterback Len Dawson sustained a knee injury against the Patriots which would sideline him for the following two months.

The once-optimistic picture for the Chiefs went from bad to worse the following week when back-up quarterback Jacky Lee went down with a broken ankle in a 24-19 loss at Cincinnati on September 28. That injury left the team’s most crucial position in the hands of second-year quarterback Mike Livingston, who took just five snaps as a rookie in 1968. However, Livingston engineered a five-game winning streak, while getting plenty of help from the club’s defense. The team’s home opener was played in a day-long deluge referred to as a "frog-strangler" by Chiefs radio broadcaster Bill Grigsby. The Chiefs and Houston Oilers combined for 14 fumbles in a 24-0 Kansas City victory on October 12. Len Dawson returned to the starting lineup in a 27-3 win against San Diego on November 9 and guided the club to three wins in the season’s next four games.

The Chiefs defeated the Denver Broncos 31-17 on Thanksgiving Day. Trailing 24-17 late in the game, Denver attempted an onside kick that was recovered by linebacker Bobby Bell, who promptly returned that kick for a 53-yard touchdown. Mike Livingston started the following week against Buffalo on December 7 for an again-injured Dawson, who returned for the regular season finale at Oakland on December 13. A 10-6 loss against the Raiders gave the Chiefs an 11-3 record, good for second in the AFC Western Conference behind Oakland (12-1-1).

In an AFL Divisional Playoff Game at New York, Kansas City rode its dominating defense which produced a crucial goal-line stand en route to a 13-6 win over the defending Super Bowl champions to set up a rematch with the Raiders in the final AFL Championship Game. Looking for retribution of the previous losses in the regular season and in the 1968 playoffs, the Chiefs became the league’s only three-time champions, defeating the Raiders by a 17-7 count at Oakland on January 4, 1970.

During the days preceding Kansas City’s clash with the heavily-favored Minnesota Vikings of the NFL, unsubstantiated media reports associating Len Dawson with a known gambler hounded the Chiefs quarterback. Dawson was later revealed to be mistaken for another man with the same last name. The night before Super Bowl IV, Ed Sabol of NFL Films approached Vikings coach Bud Grant about being wired for sound for the game. Grant declined, but Chiefs coach Hank Stram accepted. As both the Chiefs and the cameras rolled, Stram clamored for his team to run "65 toss power trap" and to "keep matriculating the ball down the field." Stram became the first-ever coach to be wired for NFL Films, and ironically, as a coach in the rival AFL.

The Chiefs used the game as a crusade for the American Football League and wore "AFL-10" patches honoring the league’s 10-year existence. The Chiefs used three field goals from Jan Stenerud and a rushing touchdown from Mike Garrett to take a 16-0 halftime lead. A dynamic 46-yard TD pass from Len Dawson to Otis Taylor in the third quarter sealed the victory as Dawson was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. Perhaps the grittiest performance of the day came from safety Johnny Robinson, who registered two interceptions and a fumble recovery despite playing with three broken ribs. At approximately 5:20 PM, the final seconds ticked off the clock at Tulane Stadium as the Chiefs were crowned World Champions by claiming a 23-7 victory in the final game between the AFL and NFL. A victory parade ensued upon the club’s triumphant return the following day in downtown Kansas City. Almost forty years later, Super Bowl IV remains as the last championship won by the Chiefs.

Alignment to the NFL

Fall from glory, 1970-1977

Following their championship win, the Chiefs traded running back Mike Garrett to San Diego in 1970 and replaced him in the lineup with Ed Podolak. Despite a 44-24 win against Baltimore on September 28 in just the second-ever telecast of ABC’s "Monday Night Football" package, the Chiefs owned a 3-3-1 record at the season’s midpoint. The Chiefs and the Raiders tied a game at 17-17 on November 1 following a controversial play from Oakland. The Chiefs were ahead 17-14 when Len Dawson apparently sealed the win, running for a first down which would have allowed Kansas City to run out the clock. While on the ground, Dawson was speared by Raiders defensive end Ben Davidson in an infamous incident that cost the Chiefs a victory and further inflamed the already heated Chiefs-Raiders rivalry. Wide receiver Otis Taylor retaliated and a bench-clearing brawl ensued. Offsetting penalties were called, nullifying Dawson’s first down. The Chiefs were forced to punt and Raiders kicker George Blanda booted a game-tying field with eight seconds remaining. That tie ultimately cost the Chiefs the opportunity to split the AFC West division title with Oakland as Kansas City finished the year with a 7-5-2 record, while the Raiders went 8-4-2.

† = Interim head coach
‡ = As of the end of the 2007 Kansas City Chiefs season

References

External links

* [http://www.kcchiefs.com/ Kansas City Chiefs] - Official site
* [http://www.kcchiefs.com/media/misc/year_by_year.pdf Year by Year Statistics] (pdf)
* [http://www.conigliofamily.com/TexansChiefs.htm Texans/Chiefs page on the American Football League Website]
* [http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nfl/kc/kcchiefs.html Sports E-Cyclopedia.com]