KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Whether or not it was within the huddle in the course of the early days of the NFL or behind the microphone because the league grew into the behemoth it’s at this time, Len Dawson carried himself with an unmistakable swagger and self-assurance that earned him the well-worn nickname “Lenny the Cool.”
He was a Corridor of Fame quarterback who led the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs to their first Tremendous Bowl championship and a Corridor of Fame broadcaster who introduced into the properties of tens of millions on the enduring HBO present “Contained in the NFL.”
“He was to this point superior in his time,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes as soon as stated. “Among the best to ever do it.”
Dawson’s household introduced his dying Wednesday on the age of 87. No trigger was given, although Dawson had had prostate most cancers and quadruple coronary heart bypass surgical procedure over time. He had been in hospice care since Aug. 12.
“With spouse Linda at his facet, it’s with a lot unhappiness that we inform you of the passing of our beloved Len Dawson,” his household stated in a press release issued by KMBC, the Kansas Metropolis-based TV station the place Dawson spent his second profession as a sports activities broadcaster. “He was a beautiful husband, father, brother and buddy. Len was all the time grateful and plenty of occasions overwhelmed by the numerous bonds he made throughout his and broadcast careers.”
Dawson was the MVP of the Chiefs’ 23-7 Tremendous Bowl victory over the Minnesota Vikings in January 1970, and he went on to set quite a few franchise information that solely now Mahomes is beginning to surpass. He was enshrined in Canton as a participant in 1987, then acquired the Pete Rozelle Radio-Tv Award from the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame in 2012.
“Len Dawson is synonymous with the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs,” proprietor Clark Hunt stated in a press release. “Len embraced and got here to embody Kansas Metropolis and the individuals that decision it dwelling. You’d be hard-pressed to discover a participant who had an even bigger affect in shaping the group as we all know it at this time 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 AFL 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 league championship in 1962, their first 12 months collectively, and have become bona fide stars the next 12 months when membership founder Lamar Hunt moved the staff to Kansas Metropolis and rechristened it the Chiefs.
They proceeded to win two extra AFL titles, one in 1966 once they misplaced to the Inexperienced Bay Packers within the first Tremendous Bowl, and the opposite in ’69, when Dawson returned from an damage to assist beat the Vikings at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans.
“Trying again on my profession, I’ve been blessed for what I had the chance to do,” Dawson stated instructed The Related Press in 2017. “I couldn’t have achieved a lot with out my teammates and colleagues, and I’m grateful for every of them.”
Dawson remained a beloved determine in Kansas Metropolis, although he in the reduction of on public appearances a number of years in the past, when his well being started to fail. But he all the time had time for followers, whether or not {a photograph} or signature, the latter typically on a well-liked picture from halftime of that first Tremendous Bowl: the exhausted quarterback, white uniform coated in stains, sitting on a folding chair with a cigarette in his mouth and a bottle of Fresca at his toes.
It completely captured a time and place. And it completely captured a person that embodied poise and confidence.
Dawson was born June 20, 1935, the ninth of 11 kids that stuffed the home of James and Annie Dawson within the manufacturing city of Alliance, Ohio. He was a three-sport athlete at Alliance Excessive Faculty, setting information in each and basketball, and turned his success on the gridiron right into a scholarship provide from Purdue.
He led the NCAA in passing effectivity as a sophomore whereas additionally enjoying protection and kicking, and led 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 .
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 did not beat out Bobby Layne for the 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 many nice disappointments of Dawson’s profession put him on a path towards unthinkable success.
With the newfound freedom to play wherever, Dawson jumped to the upstart AFL and the Texans, lured partially by the prospect to play for certainly one of his outdated coaches at Purdue. Stram managed to faucet into his expertise, serving to Dawson rapidly grow to be one of many league’s prolific passers, and the Texans went 11-3 their first season and gained the primary of three titles.
The second got here in 1966, when Dawson led the Chiefs to an 11-2-1 file and a 31-7 blowout of the Payments within the AFL title recreation. That earned the Chiefs the prospect to face the powerhouse Packers led by coach Vince Lombardi within the inaugural Tremendous 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 essentially the most memorable of his profession, although. Dawson severely damage his knee enjoying in opposition to the Patriots in Week 2, forcing him to overlook the subsequent 5 video games. However he went on a tear as soon as he returned, main the Chiefs to victories over the defending champion Jets and bitter rival Raiders to achieve what can be the ultimate Tremendous Bowl earlier than the AFL-NFL merger. He threw for 142 yards and a rating in a 23-7 overcome the Vikings.
“It was overwhelming,” Dawson stated afterward. “It’s simply, you understand how that reduction comes with you now that it’s over with, and we’ve been profitable? That’s the sensation that I had after I got here off the sector.”
Dawson performed six extra seasons in Kansas Metropolis, setting many franchise information that stood till Mahomes got here alongside. The 2 turned quick associates, and Dawson was overjoyed when Mahomes led the Chiefs to their second Tremendous Bowl title with a come-from-behind victory over the San Francisco 49ers in February 2020.
“RIP to the legend Len Dawson,” Mahomes wrote in a tweet Wednesday, accompanied by a photograph of them collectively. “The legacy and affect you made on Kansas Metropolis will stay on eternally.”
Throughout his enjoying profession, Dawson parlayed what started as a publicity stunt right into a second profession.
In 1966, then-Chiefs normal supervisor Jack Steadman needed to drum up help for the franchise in Kansas Metropolis. He persuaded Dawson to anchor a sports activities section on the nightly information, and his pure charisma and folksy type made him a pure. Dawson turned towards TV and radio on a full-time foundation after his enjoying days ended.
He labored in native TV for a number of many years and did recreation evaluation for NBC from 1977-82. However he is maybe finest identified for his groundbreaking work from 1977-2001 on HBO’s “Contained in the NFL,” which helped the league attain tens of millions of followers.
Dawson additionally served for greater than three many years on the Chiefs’ radio broadcast staff.
“I did all these postgames with him and I feel the world of him,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid stated in 2018, the 12 months after Dawson stepped away from the microphone. “He was so in tune after we had been doing these with the sport. He nonetheless has that really feel. He has been there, he has completed it — it doesn’t matter the age hole or the time away from being within the huddle. He simply will get it. I like that a part of it. He’s a Corridor of Famer all the best way round.”
Dawson was married to his highschool sweetheart, Jackie, from 1954 till her dying in 1978, and so they had two kids. His second spouse, Linda, remained by his facet as Dawson entered hospice care.
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