Recognized as one of the greatest sportsmen in American
history, Hunt served as the guiding force behind the formation
of both the American Football League and the Kansas City
Chiefs franchise.
Hunt served as a positive influence on the game for 47 years
dating back to his conception of the American Football League
in ‘59. He was the first AFL figure to be enshrined into the
Pro Football Hall of Fame in ‘72, a remarkable feat
considering he became involved in the game just 13 years
earlier.
Hunt served as the catalyst who brought together the
whimsically-named “Foolish Club” comprised of the eight
original AFL owners. His “impossible dream” became a reality
when his fledgling league took foot on the field for the ‘60
season. On June 8, 1966,
the AFL-NFL merger was announced by NFL Commissioner Pete
Rozelle and on January 15, 1967, Hunt’s Kansas City Chiefs were participating
in the inaugural Super Bowl.
“Before there was a player, coach or a general manager in the
league there was Lamar Hunt,” late Patriots owner William
Sullivan remarked at Hunt’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
“Hunt was the cornerstone, the integrity of the league.
Without him, there would have been no AFL.”
Despite his many accomplishments, Hunt’s humility was one of
his most unwavering and most endearing traits. While he
modestly declined to take credit for his efforts, he truly
played an important role in the design, ongoing development
and direction of the modern-day National Football League.
Whether it was serving as the driving force behind the
formation of the AFL, serving as a key player in the AFL-NFL
merger talks in the ‘60s, or overseeing many crucial issues
concerning pro football and the Chiefs franchise during the
past four decades, few individuals helped change the face of
America’s favorite game for the better than this quiet Texan.
In addition to being a principal negotiator in the merger of
the AFL and NFL in the late ‘60s, he was a contributor to the
design of the NFL playoff format. He is also credited with
accidentally putting the name “Super Bowl” on the NFL’s
championship game — the name coming from his children’s toy
“Super Ball.”
For many years, he was a persistent advocate of the two-point
conversion option for pro football — an old college and AFL
rule that was finally adopted by the NFL in ‘94. Hunt had also
lobbied for many years that an additional Thanksgiving game be
added to the NFL schedule and in 2006, those efforts were
rewarded when the Chiefs hosted the first-ever Thanksgiving
contest at Arrowhead Stadium.
Perhaps Hunt’s biggest influence on the league over the years
was his quiet, yet persuasive voice of reason. Hunt’s name is
rightfully mentioned alongside other legendary family surnames
in pro football history such as Halas, Mara and Rooney for his
commitment to putting the betterment of the league ahead of
any potential individual gain.
As the founder of the AFL, he helped pave the way for much of
the modern growth of pro football. Possibly the greatest
tribute to his contributions to the sport was the naming by
the league of the Lamar Hunt Trophy, which is presented
annually to the champion of the American Football Conference.
The early days of the AFL were problem-filled and often
tenuous, but Hunt saw his Dallas Texans franchise achieve
on-field success. In ‘62, the Texans won the AFL Championship
with a double-overtime victory over the Houston Oilers, the
first of three titles won by the Texans/Chiefs during the
league’s 10-year existence.
After three years in Dallas,
Hunt moved his team to Kansas City in ‘63, where the organization was
renamed the Chiefs. Hunt truly helped put
Kansas City on the “big-league” map, thanks to a star-studded
football team that was the winningest in the 10-year history
of the American Football League.
Hunt’s team repeated as AFL champions in both ‘66 and ‘69. By
winning the ‘66 AFL title, the Chiefs earned the right to play
in the first Super Bowl against the NFL Champion Green Bay
Packers. Three years later, the Chiefs claimed Kansas City’s
first major sports championship by defeating the Minnesota
Vikings in Super Bowl IV.
In the late ‘60s, Hunt was closely involved in the original
development plans for Arrowhead Stadium, a facility which
provided the Chiefs and their fans with one of the most
decided homefield advantages in all of sports. While other
venues of a similar vintage have long since been termed
obsolete or have been demolished, Arrowhead continues to serve
as a point of pride for the Chiefs and the Kansas City
community.
Thanks in large part to the vision and lobbying efforts of
Hunt, Jackson County Missouri voters approved a 3/8 cent sales
tax in April of 2006. That measure is expected to raise $425
million for the Truman Sports Complex, of which $325 million
has been earmarked to renovate Arrowhead in order to bring the
facility up to today’s state-of-the-art standards. Those
improvements should only further solidify Arrowhead’s status
as one of America’s foremost sporting venues.
Hunt’s longtime dream of hosting a Super Bowl in Kansas City
appeared to become a reality when NFL Commissioner Paul
Tagliabue announced on November 16, 2005 that NFL owners had passed a proposal to bring
the NFL’s championship game to
Kansas City in February of 2015.
Unfortunately, a provision in April’s election that would have
resurrected the “rolling roof” concept for Arrowhead Stadium
did not pass. The “rolling roof” was part of Hunt’s initial
vision for Arrowhead Stadium in the ‘60s. In its 21st century
incarnation, the “rolling roof” would have provided a
climate-controlled facility suitable for hosting the Super
Bowl, the Final Four and other prestigious events.
While Hunt did not realize his goal of seeing an NFL title
game played in Kansas City, he worked diligently to bring
other prominent sporting contests to Arrowhead over the years.
The “Home of the Chiefs” served as host of the Dr Pepper Big
12 Conference Championship Game in 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2006.
In addition to numerous other collegiate football contests,
the Chiefs hosted several international soccer matches at
Arrowhead thanks to Hunt’s influence.
Hunt’s decision to hire Chiefs President, General Manager and
CEO Carl Peterson in December ‘88 set the stage for a football
renaissance in Kansas City. During the decade of the ‘90s,
Hunt and Peterson, earned the distinction of becoming just the
fourth Owner/General Manager combination to preside over a
franchise for all 10 years of a 100-win decade as Kansas City
compiled a stellar 102-58 (.638) regular season record from
‘90-99.
Under Hunt’s stewardship, the Chiefs developed
an intensely-loyal fan following, not just in Mid-America, but
across the country and around the globe. Hunt took great satisfication in the fact that the Chiefs boasted
season-ticket holders from 48 of the 50 states (all but Maine
and Vermont), the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and
Canada. He was also appreciative of the fact that Kansas City
was selected to represent the NFL in four American Bowl
contests — Berlin, Germany (’90), Tokyo, Japan (’94, ‘98) and
Monterrey, Mexico (’96).
While the Chiefs always remained Hunt’s most prized sporting
entity, his passion for athletics encompassed more than just
the game of football. Appropriately nicknamed “Games” during
his childhood, Hunt’s love of sports was his true lifeblood,
an enthusiasm which led to his involvement in six different
professional sports leagues and seven sports franchises.
In addition to his formative role in the creation of the
American Football League, Hunt was involved in the development
of both the North American Soccer League and a tennis
promotion company, World Championship Tennis.
Hunt’s involvement in those ventures resulted years later in
his induction into the respective Halls of Fame of both United
States Soccer (located in Oneonta, New York) in ‘82 and
International Tennis (located in Newport, Rhode Island) in
‘93. He was also inducted into the state Sports Halls of Fame
of both Missouri (’95) and Texas (’84). In total, Hunt was
selected to eight “Halls of Fame,” including the Texas
Business Hall of Fame (’97) and the Kansas City Business Hall
of Fame (2004).
In ‘81, Hunt was inducted into the NFL Alumni Association’s
prestigious Order of the Leather Helmet and in February of
‘93, he received the Francis J. “Reds” Bagnell Award from the
Maxwell Football Club of Philadelphia for continuing positive
contributions to the game.
Truly a sportsman for all seasons,
Soccer America Magazine
named Hunt one of its “25 Most Influential People” in ‘99
after the 91-year-old U.S. Open Cup was renamed the “Lamar
Hunt U.S. Open Cup.” That same year he also received the U.S.
Soccer Federation Hall of Fame Medal of Honor, joining former
U.S. Soccer President Alan Rothenberg as the only other
individual to earn that prestigious distinction. In 2005, the
U.S. Soccer Foundation honored Hunt with its Lifetime
Achievement Award.
The Hunt Family served as the Investor/Operators of the Kansas
City Wizards franchise of Major League Soccer from ‘95-06 and
reveled as the Wizards claimed the 2000 MLS Cup. The Hunt
Family still oversees the operations of two MLS franchises,
F.C. Dallas and the Columbus Crew.
The Hunt Sports Group has been at the forefront of stadium
development in the United States, beginning with America’s
first soccer-specific stadium, 22,555-seat Crew Stadium which
opened in ‘99. In 2005, Pizza
Hut Park was completed in Frisco, Texas, giving the Dallas
area one of the world’s most unique and futuristic soccer
facilities.
Hunt was also one of the founding investors in the six-time
World Champion Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball
Association. In total, Hunt was the owner of 13 distinctive
championship rings from five different professional sports
associations (AFL/NFL, MLS, NBA, NASL and the U.S. Soccer
“Open Cup”). His football championship litany included a Super
Bowl IV ring from the ‘69 Chiefs, as well as AFL title rings
from the ‘62 Texans and ‘66 Chiefs.
A highly-successful businessman outside of sports, one of
Hunt’s most notable innovations was SubTropolis, the world’s
largest underground business complex, located just North of
Arrowhead Stadium. This naturally climate-controlled,
subterranean industrial park serves home to over 50 local,
national and international businesses.
Hunt also envisioned and developed Worlds of Fun, a 165-acre
family entertainment complex which opened in ‘73, as well as
the 60-acre family water recreation park, Oceans of Fun which
was completed in ‘82. While both of those entities were sold
in ‘95, Hunt Midwest Enterprises, Inc. continues to oversee a
diverse range of business interests, including limestone
mining and real estate development.
Hunt was born on August 2, 1932
in El Dorado, Arkansas and graduated from SMU with a B.S. in
Geology in ‘56. While at SMU, he was a three-year reserve end
on the Varsity Football Team. Hunt was an avid supporter of
his alma mater and was an annual fixture at the Cotton Bowl.
He and his wife Norma were also involved in numerous
philanthropic and civic efforts in Dallas, across the state of
Texas and in the Kansas City community.
