Chiefs Mourn the Passing of Franchise Legend Len Dawson
Aug 24, 2022 at 07:47 AM
The Kansas City Chiefs are saddened to share the passing of Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback, Chiefs legend and Kansas City icon, Len Dawson.
"My family and I are heartbroken. Len Dawson is synonymous with the Kansas City Chiefs. 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," Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said. "I admired Len my entire life – first as a Hall of Fame player on the field, and later as he transitioned into a successful broadcasting career. Throughout his remarkable career, Len made it a priority to give back to the community that he loved. The franchise has lost a true legend. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Linda and his family."
Dawson was the heart and soul of the Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs franchise during his illustrious14-year Chiefs career, helping make the franchise one of professional football's premier teams while becoming one of the game's elite passers.
Under the leadership of PFHOF Head Coach Hank Stram, who brought Dawson to the Texans/Chiefs franchise in 1962, Dawson's Chiefs were perennial contenders and won American Football League Championships in 1962, 1966 and 1969. He earned the Most Valuable Player award for Super Bowl IV when he directed Kansas City to a 23-7 win over the heavily favored Minnesota Vikings. Dawson won the AFL passing title four times and still holds the franchise's career records for pass attempts (3,696), completions (2,115), passing yards (28,507) and touchdowns (237).
He was named to six AFL All-Star teams and one Pro Bowl squad, and also earned AFL Player of the Year honors for the 1962 season. Dawson started 158 regular season games for Kansas City, the most of any quarterback in franchise history. He led the AFL in passing four different seasons (1962, 1964, 1966 and 1968), pacing the AFL in completion percentage eight times, including a string of six-straight seasons from 1964-69.
Dawson was recognized as the 1973 NFL Man of the Year, one of five Chiefs players to ever earn the honor. He retired from professional football on May 1, 1976. He was enshrined into the Chiefs Hall of Fame in 1979 and was immortalized at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, in 1987. He was also enshrined in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Purdue Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996.
Dawson enjoyed an equally legendary broadcasting career that began during his playing days. In 1966 he served as a sports anchor with KMBC Radio and as sports director for KMBC-TV while serving as the club's signal caller. Following his retirement from professional football after the 1975 season, Dawson joined NBC and served as a color analyst on NFL games until 1982. He then joined the Chiefs Radio Network as a color commentator in 1984, serving on the team's radio crew for 35 years. While working NFL games for NBC, Dawson embarked on what would become a 24-year run that spanned four decades (1977-2001) as the host of HBO's popular "Inside the NFL," cable television's longest-running series and the first NFL-related program to air on cable.
For his contributions to broadcasting, Dawson was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the recipient of the Hall's Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award in 2012. He became just the third individual in professional football history to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as both a player and a broadcaster, joining Dan Dierdorf and Frank Gifford.
In 2014, Dawson was honored with the Lamar Hunt Award for Professional Football at the 44th Annual NFL 101 Awards, recognizing his contributions both on and off the field that helped shape the National Football League into the preeminent professional sports league in America. In 2017, the club renamed the television broadcast booth inside GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium the Len Dawson Broadcast Booth in honor of Dawson's accomplishments both on the field and as a broadcaster.
Dawson began his professional career as a first-round draft pick of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers in 1957. He went on to land with Cleveland in 1960 but was cut by the Browns prior to the 1962 season, at which point he was signed by the Dallas Texans as a free agent on July 2, 1962. In total he spent 19 years as a quarterback in the NFL/AFL.
The Alliance, Ohio, native attended Purdue University where he was a three-year starter at quarterback for the Boilermakers (1954-56) and ended his career as the university's leader in career passing yards and touchdown passes. [Reply]
Originally Posted by TimeForWasp:
I hope he stays coherant and can witness the superbowl win this year.
That would be breaching the max amount of time a person would typically be in Hospice Care. Average Person usually lasts about 2.5 months in Hospice. But, I’m with you Brother. Here’s hoping.
Originally Posted by ChiTown:
That would be breaching the max amount of time a person would typically be in Hospice Care. Average Person usually lasts about 2.5 months in Hospice. But, I’m with you Brother. Here’s hoping.
Godspeed, Lenny the Cool.
People recover as well. I work in Medicare, wife is a DON…
Its not rare that someone gets off hospice after receiving proper care [Reply]
It depends on what the underlying health problems are. According to Wikipedia he had cancer back in the early 90s. Could be that's back, or maybe he's just 87 and his body is failing. Those who know don't seem to be talking.
My MIL was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer in 2017. She responded to the treatment at first, but eventually it took such a terrible toll on her that she said no more. They stopped the treatment and put her in hospice. Her lungs immediately began to fill with fluid, and she was dead the next day. That's what I think of when somebody says "hospice."
Originally Posted by TripleThreat:
People recover as well. I work in Medicare, wife is a DON…
It's not rare that someone gets off hospice after receiving proper care
I truly wasn't aware of that. Thanks for the info. I've had to put both my Mom and Dad in Hospice. My Mom lasted 2 days, and my Dad a week. I always assumed (incorrectly) that was the last stop. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ChiTown:
I truly wasn't aware of that. Thanks for the info. I've had to put both my Mom and Dad in Hospice. My Mom lasted 2 days, and my Dad a week. I always assumed (incorrectly) that was the last stop.
He is correct. A lot of people don't fully understand hospice. Its basically to keep people comfortable.
Nurses make regular checks on them and provide pain medication. Only stipulation is they can't provide drugs to improve an illness. If they improve on their own they "graduate" out.
Depending on the issue they will provide hospital beds, oxygen, wheelchairs, etc.
While being on hospice is obviously not a positive thing it doesn't always mean they'll only last a week or two [Reply]
In his honor, I had a smoke and Fresca yesterday. GOAT. Always enjoyed him and Nick B on Inside the NFL. Great player, great Ambassador of the game. Rest well sir. You've earned it. [Reply]
Originally Posted by HayWire:
He is correct. A lot of people don't fully understand hospice. Its basically to keep people comfortable.
Nurses make regular checks on them and provide pain medication. Only stipulation is they can't provide drugs to improve an illness. If they improve on their own they "graduate" out.
Depending on the issue they will provide hospital beds, oxygen, wheelchairs, etc.
While being on hospice is obviously not a positive thing it doesn't always mean they'll only last a week or two
All true, but as someone else in the thread said, the fact that the family made it public seems like it's an end of life scenario. That said, you never know. [Reply]
Originally Posted by kysirsoze:
All true, but as someone else in the thread said, the fact that the family made it public seems like it's an end of life scenario. That said, you never know.
Very true...just trying to keep the glass half full [Reply]
