By DAVE SKRETTA
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Whether 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 in the present day, Len Dawson carried himself with an unmistakable swagger and self-assurance that earned him the well-worn nickname “Lenny the Cool.”
He was a Hall of Fame quarterback who led the Kansas City Chiefs to their first Super Bowl championship and a Hall of Fame broadcaster who introduced soccer into the properties of hundreds of thousands on the long-lasting HBO present “Inside the NFL.”
“He was so far advanced in his time,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes as soon as stated. “One of 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 through the years. He had been in hospice care since 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,” his household stated in an announcement issued by KMBC, the Kansas City-based TV station the place Dawson spent his second profession as a sports activities broadcaster. “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, 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-Television Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2012.
“Len Dawson is synonymous with the Kansas City Chiefs,” proprietor Clark Hunt stated in an announcement. “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 virtually 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 positioned 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 received 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 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 harm 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. “I could not have accomplished so much without my teammates and colleagues, and I’m grateful for each of them.”
Dawson remained a beloved determine in Kansas City, despite the fact that he in the reduction of on public appearances a number of years in the past, when his well being started to fail. Yet he at all times had time for followers, whether or not {a photograph} or signature, the latter typically on a well-liked picture from halftime of that first Super Bowl: the exhausted quarterback, white uniform lined 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 crammed the home of James and Annie Dawson within the manufacturing city of Alliance, Ohio. He was a three-sport athlete at Alliance High School, setting information 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 taking part in protection and kicking, and led an upset of Notre Dame throughout that 1954 season. By the tip of his faculty profession, Dawson had thrown for greater than 3,000 yards, regardless of taking part in 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 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 the nice disappointments of Dawson’s profession put him on a path towards unthinkable success.
With the newfound freedom to play anyplace, Dawson jumped to the upstart AFL and the Texans, lured partly by the prospect to play for one in every of his previous coaches at Purdue. Stram managed to faucet into his expertise, serving to Dawson shortly turn into one of many league’s prolific passers, and the Texans went 11-3 their first season and received the primary of three titles.
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 recreation. That earned the Chiefs the prospect to face the powerhouse Packers led by 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 his profession, although. Dawson critically damage his knee taking part in towards the Patriots in Week 2, forcing him to overlook the subsequent 5 video games. But 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 Super 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 just, you know how that relief comes with you now that 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 information that stood till Mahomes got here alongside. The two turned quick buddies, and Dawson was overjoyed when Mahomes led the Chiefs to their second Super 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 impact you made on Kansas City will live on forever.”
During his taking part in profession, Dawson parlayed what started as a publicity stunt right into a second profession.
In 1966, then-Chiefs common supervisor Jack Steadman needed to drum up assist for the franchise in Kansas City. He persuaded Dawson to anchor a sports activities phase 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 taking part in days ended.
He labored in native TV for a number of many years and did recreation evaluation for NBC from 1977-82. But he’s maybe greatest recognized for his groundbreaking work from 1977-2001 on HBO’s “Inside the NFL,” which helped the league attain hundreds of thousands of followers.
Dawson additionally served for greater than three many years on the Chiefs’ radio broadcast staff.
“I did all those postgames with him and I think 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 when we were doing those with the game. He still has that feel. He has been there, he has done it — it doesn’t matter the age gap or the time away from being in the huddle. He just gets it. I love that part of it. He is a Hall of Famer all the way around.”
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 aspect as Dawson entered hospice care.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com