Len Dawson, the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrined quarterback and broadcaster, and leader of the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl champions in 1969, has died at the age of 87. Dawson’s long-time employer, KMBC-TV in Kansas City, announced Dawson’s death on Wednesday morning, just days after failing health had forced him into hospice care.
Dawson’s family, in a prepared statement to KMBC, said, “With wife Linda at his side, it is with much sadness that we inform you of the passing of our beloved Len Dawson. 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. He loved Kansas City and no matter where his travels took him, he could not wait to return home.”
A product of Alliance, Ohio and Purdue University, Dawson had an uneventful start to his pro career, with stints in Cleveland and Pittsburgh in the late 1950s seeing little playing time. The establishment of the American Football League in 1960 brought fresh opportunity for Dawson, as he signed with the Dallas Texans in 1962, and became the back-bone of the franchise upon the move to Kansas City in 1963, where the team was re-christened as the Chiefs.
Working under head coach Hank Stram, who was an assistant at Purdue during Dawson’s collegiate years, the man called “the most accurate passer in pro football” by Stram himself quickly showed the skill and savvy that earned him the nickname, “Lenny the Cool”. He led the Chiefs to Super Bowl I where Kansas City lost to the Green Bay Packers at the end of the 1966 season. Three years later, the Chiefs returned with another AFL title in tow, and upset the heavily-favored Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV, cementing Dawson’s legacy as Kansas City’s “first major sports celebrity”.
In addition to becoming sports director at KMBC, where he began work in 1966 while still starting quarterback for the Chiefs, Dawson earned national recognition as host of HBO’s “Inside the NFL”. He spent 33 years as color analyst on the Chiefs Radio Network, retiring in 2017.
Photo credit – Wikimedia Commons / Knob Noster, MO
