Hall of Fame Chiefs quarterback Len Dawson dies at 87

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson, whose unmistakable swagger in serving to the Kansas City Chiefs to their first Super Bowl title earned him the nickname “Lenny the Cool,” died Wednesday. He was 87.

Dawson’s household introduced his demise in a press release via KMBC, the Kansas City-based tv station the place he starred in his second profession as a broadcaster. No trigger was given, although Dawson had been in declining well being for years. He entered hospice care on Aug. 12.

“With wife Linda at his side, it is with much sadness that we inform you of the passing of our beloved Len Dawson,” the household’s assertion learn. “He was a wonderful husband, father, brother and friend. Len was always grateful and many times overwhelmed by the countless bonds he made during his football and broadcast careers.”

Dawson was the MVP of the Chiefs’ 23-7 Super Bowl victory over the Minnesota Vikings in January 1970.

“Len Dawson is synonymous with the Kansas City Chiefs,” proprietor Clark Hunt stated in a press release on Wednesday. “Len embraced and came to embody Kansas City and the people that call it home. You would be hard-pressed to find a player who had a bigger impact in shaping the organization as we know it today than Len Dawson did.”

Dawson personified the Chiefs nearly from the beginning, when the suave standout from Purdue misplaced out on beginning jobs in Pittsburgh and Cleveland and landed with the nascent franchise, then situated in Dallas. There, Dawson reunited with Hank Stram, who had been an assistant with the Boilermakers, and collectively they modified the franchise.

The coach and quarterback gained the AFL championship collectively in 1962, their first yr collectively, and have become bona fide stars the next yr, when membership founder Lamar Hunt moved the staff to Kansas City and rechristened it the Chiefs.

They proceeded to win two extra AFL titles, one in 1966 once they misplaced to the Green Bay Packers within the first Super Bowl, and the opposite in ’69, when Dawson returned from an damage to assist beat the Vikings at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans.

“Looking back on my career, I’ve been blessed for what I had the opportunity to do,” Dawson stated instructed The Associated Press in 2017, shortly after he introduced his retirement from his second profession as a Hall of Fame broadcaster. “I could not have accomplished so much without my teammates and colleagues, and I’m grateful for each of them.”

Dawson at all times remained a beloved determine in Kansas City, although he reduce on public appearances a number of years in the past when his well being started to fail. But he at all times had time for followers, whether or not {a photograph} or signature, the latter typically on an iconic black-and-white picture from halftime of that first Super Bowl: The exhausted quarterback, white uniform caked with mud, sitting on a folding chair with a cigarette in his mouth and a bottle of Fresca at his ft.

It completely captured a time and place. And it completely captured a person that embodied poise and self-assurance.

Dawson was born June 20, 1935, the ninth of 11 youngsters that crammed the home of James and Annie Dawson within the blue-collar manufacturing city of Alliance, Ohio. He was a three-sport athlete at Alliance High School, setting data in each soccer and basketball, and turned his success on the gridiron right into a scholarship supply from Purdue.

He led the NCAA in passing effectivity as a sophomore whereas additionally enjoying protection and kicking, and helped lead an upset of Notre Dame throughout that 1954 season. By the top of his school profession, Dawson had thrown for greater than 3,000 yards, regardless of enjoying in an period that favored ground-and-pound soccer.

Dawson was chosen by the Steelers within the first spherical of the 1957 draft, however he wound up driving the bench behind Earl Morrall as a rookie after which didn’t beat out Bobby Layne for he beginning job the next season. The Steelers in the end traded him to the Browns, the place Dawson was unable to beat out Milt Plum for the job and was launched.

One of the good disappointments of Dawson’s profession wound up with a constructive final result.

With newfound freedom to signal wherever, Dawson jumped to the upstart AFL and the Texans, lured partly by the prospect to play for certainly one of his previous coaches at Purdue. Stram tapped into his expertise, serving to Dawson to shortly change into one of many league’s prolific passers because the Texans went 11-3 and gained the primary of three championships.

The second got here in 1966, when Dawson led the Chiefs to an 11-2-1 document and a 31-7 blowout of the Bills within the AFL title sport. That earned the Chiefs the prospect to face the powerhouse Packers — and coach Vince Lombardi — within the inaugural Super Bowl, the place Dawson threw for 210 yards and a landing in a 35-10 defeat.

It was the 1969 season that proved to be probably the most memorable of Dawson’s profession, although. He sustained a critical knee damage towards the Patriots in Week 2, forcing him to overlook the subsequent 5 video games. But he went on a tear as soon as again on the sphere. Dawson led the Chiefs to victories over the defending champion Jets and bitter rival Raiders to succeed in what can be the ultimate Super Bowl earlier than the AFL-NFL merger, the place he threw for 142 yards and a rating in a 23-7 triumph.

“It was overwhelming,” Dawson stated afterward. “It’s just, you know how that relief comes with you know it’s over with, and we’ve been successful? That’s the feeling that I had when I came off the field.”

Dawson performed six extra seasons in Kansas City, setting many franchise data that stood till a teen named Patrick Mahomes got here alongside, earlier than hanging up his helmet after the 1975 season.

“RIP to the legend Len Dawson,” Mahomes wrote in a tweet. “The legacy and impact you made on Kansas City will live on forever.”

Along the way in which, Dawson parlayed what started as a publicity stunt right into a second profession in broadcasting.

In 1966, then-Chiefs normal supervisor Jack Steadman needed to drum up assist for the franchise in Kansas City and satisfied Dawson to anchor a sports activities phase on the nightly information. His pure charisma and folksy type made Dawson a pure. He turned his consideration to TV and radio on a full-time foundation after his enjoying profession ended.

Dawson labored in native TV for a number of many years, including sport evaluation for NBC from 1977-82 and internet hosting HBO’s iconic “Inside the NFL” from 1977-2001. He additionally served greater than three many years on the Chiefs’ radio broadcast staff.

After going into the Hall of Fame as a participant in 1987, Dawson was inducted as a broadcaster in 2012.

“It’s been a true privilege and honour to have Len at the centre of our broadcast team for the last 33 years,” stated Dan Israel, the chief producer of the Chiefs’ radio community, upon his retirement a couple of years in the past. “His contributions to not only this sport, but our industry, are incredibly profound.”

Dawson was married to his highschool sweetheart, Jackie, from 1954 till her demise in 1978, and collectively that they had two youngsters. His second spouse, Linda, remained by his aspect as Dawson entered hospice care.