Honoring History
It began as Decoration Day, a moment to honor the military men who gave their life in defense of our country.
It’s grown into Memorial Day, a time to honor all of those who came before us, the people who helped create the life we enjoy today.
First we honor those who represented the United States of America around the world. Then, we salute those family members and friends who paved the way.
And then we remember those who entertained us over the years, who gave us something to cheer and celebrate.
Here’s a red and gold salute on this Memorial Day to those men who were big parts of the history of the Kansas City Chiefs.
How could we start with anyone but the founder, Lamar Hunt (1932-2006.) His naivete some 50 years ago, combined with his desire to own a professional football team, helped create a new landscape in the world of American sports.
Then, his decision to do what was best for his football team and its survival brought his franchise to Kansas City where they became the Chiefs. People have forgotten how hard that decision was for Lamar. Here he had a championship team, playing in his hometown. The rival Dallas Cowboys were still struggling after three years, putting up a 9-28-3 record. Another year in Big D and it could have been the Texans chasing the Cowboys out of the Cotton Bowl.
But Hunt knew it would be better for the future of the AFL and better for his franchise to find somewhere else to play. He considered New Orleans and Atlanta, but it was ultimately Kansas City that got the team.
Over the years, his decisions or indecisions were not always what Chiefs fans wanted to see. But there’s no doubt Lamar always ran the team in a manner he was most comfortable with. If you didn’t agree with him, that was OK; everyone was entitled to an opinion. He was an original and any time they leave the scene they are missed.
One of the men that Lamar cast his lot with early on was Hank Stram (1923-2005). For 15 seasons, Stram was the head football man for the Texans-Chiefs and he led them to their only championships (1962-66-69). He too was an original, a man with brains, talent and ego far bigger than his diminutive physical dimensions. Hank was a football innovator and one of the most competitive people to ever walk the earth. His spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is well deserved and when you watch the game of football today, there are bits of Stram that are visible every Sunday.
Remarkably in 49 years of existence, only one other head coach has passed, and that happened just recently with Frank Gansz (1938-2009.) In the history of the game, few men were able to coach the kicking game as well as Gansz and few were as beloved by players and fellow coaches as this Naval Academy graduate.
There are other coaches and scouts who have passed. Guys like former defensive coordinator Bud Carson, personnel directors like Tommy O’Boyle, Whitey Dovell and Mark Hatley and scouts like Lloyd Wells and Don Klosterman. Just in the last year, two of the early radio voices of the franchise passed, Charlie Jones and Merle Harmon.
This summer the Pro Football Hall of Fame will finally honor LB Derrick Thomas with induction, more than nine years after his death. There’s no question that in the modern era of Chiefs football, D.T. was the franchise’s most dynamic and important player. That his bust will now be in Canton is a football homecoming long overdue.
Just two years after he earned his induction to the Hall of Fame, DT Buck Buchanan passed away. Few had a greater effect on the Chiefs than Buck did during his 13 seasons on the field. C Mike Webster spent just two years with the team, but he helped change the culture of losing when he wore the red and gold in 1989-90. Sadly, Webbie was gone in 2002, five years after his induction.
Just this year, the franchise lost one of its team Hall of Famers in LB Sherrill Headrick. He joins others like RB Mack Lee Hill, DE Jerry Mays, OT Jim Tyrer, P Jerrel Wilson and RB Joe Delaney who left us too early.
Of course there are many others who wore the red and gold who have passed like Aaron Brown, Mel Branch and a bunch of the original Dallas Texans like Johnny Bookman, Max Boydston, Ray Collins, Carroll Zaruba and others.
To all of them, we the football fans of Dallas, Kansas City and around the country give thanks for their efforts, determination and performances which have entertained us for what is now a half-century.
HOORAHH!
They don’t build ‘em like they used to… truly, they broke the mold long ago.
Yes, the players yesteryear were, are & e’er will remain THE greatest Chiefs…always. Rosters come and go…coaches, management and every now & then ownership too but memories shall linger: what the heart knows let no man nor fan put asunder.
“They built this city” yesterday’s Chiefs, built the legacy…paved a path to Canton with red and gold n’ too, many the names a Chief while making Arrowhead a helmet as a stadium, unforgettable.
Hunt, Stram, Dawson, Bell, Buchanan, Stenerud, Lanier, E. Thomas & all the rest- several more should be, others always will be in the truest sense fandom football heroes…Hall of Famers - Chiefs. Ne’er forget them, ne’er shall.
I have the great pleasure of socializing with a lot of the 65-70 Chiefs. By socializing, I mean drinking a few beers with them after workouts and before evening mess call while they were at training camp at William Jewel. The thing that I remember most was their spirit of winning. It did not matter if they were playing a football game, being the first to buy a beer, being the best at shuffleboard, or whatever, they had to win. They thrived on competition. They were great and I thank them for the pleasure they gave on and off the field.
That’s because Hank Stram was a hard a** coach who demanded excellence, and the best from his players. No “It’s OK, when we didn’t move the ball, no “get over it” when we’d lose, and lose the homefield advantage that Arrowhead is supposed to be. No that’s that “Arena League stuff” in derision, when scoring 30 is brought up, while he was willfully destroying our NFL top Offense. What a joke Herm was, and it’s going to take alot of work to build up what he destroyed relatively quickly.
Haley has alot of those same Stram qualities, demanding excellence, no excuses, only results. Haley will restore a winning attitude and desire to be the best and dominate, that was lost over the last 3 years.
JimGem
A man with a memory aft mine own. I too remember talking to those same guys back in the 60s after practice, when a friend of mine would interview them for his radio station at a restaurant (twas a Pizza Hut as I recall, Liberty area.)
All
Since Hank Stram left the only Head Coach who has epitomized those same qualities was Herm Edwards.
Course, Kaycee hasn’t really had any teams worth mentioning since “The Banty Rooster” didst patrol the sidelines…we would have had a nascent Hunt Jr. not gotten antsy and pulled the rug out from under Herm, but that is a reflection the formers inexperience as a decision maker.
Alas, now we are back to square one, twisting in the wind knee-jerks and their reactions - we are left with but ’searchme’ & ‘checkpoint’… Pioli and Haley…God help us all.
Herm dosn’t have sense enough to pour piss out of a boot. Never mind Coaching a football team, Pop Warner included!
After Hank, it was Levy then Marty. Since, it is as Rin stated, floudering in the surf with “Jr”/Peterson, trying to figure it out.
I like Haley’s approach, let’s see if he can win in a couple years.
Of course I have the intellectual capacity of a fruit fly so pay me no mind. No one ever does.
I am so tired of the Herm comments, he drove the Chiefs to the ground. He took a proud franchise and made it what it is today. He had a 9-7 team and tore it apart, who gets rid of vets and just gives the spots to rookies. You do what Pioli is doing have some vets and some rookies. you just don’t give rookies spots you make them earn them. I’m not saying Herm is not a nice guy but that doesn’t mean he can coach.He did get us some records just not good ones.(10 sack season)
Herm Edwards took the Chiefs to the playoffs in his very first season here aft weepy Dick afore him failed at said, regularly.
Who else save Herman Edwards Jr. managed a year one playoff berth?
* Cunningham didn’t.
* Schottenheimer didn’t.
* Gansz didn’t.
* Mackovic didn’t.
* Levy didn’t.
* Wiggin didn’t.
* Even Hank Stram didn’t.
* And by cracky, Dick Vermeil didn’t either…he missed the playoffs in his last season in Kaycee - yet Herm took that same team into the playoffs the very next year - again, Herm’s first here.
Then - with Clark Hunt’s blessings (so much for that, more to follow) - Herm began a full scale rebuild in 2008. Hunt said he was (paraphrasing) “behind Herm 100% regards ‘what’ & too ‘how’ he was proceeding.”
Out with the relics, in with the fuzzy cheeked faction. Bite the bullet - be prepared to deal with the fallout nee the worst & all that jazz.
Yes yes, by all means, let’s go - let’s go!
Latter stages 2008, Q’s in search of A’s, still the party line followed (paraphrased) -
Reporter: “Herm, do you think you’ll be back?”
Herm: “I expect to be back.”
- AND -
Reporter: “Clark, will Herm be back?”
Hunt: “I hope Herm comes back.”
Appears as if “what it was” (to borrow from Andy Griffith), was not so much “football” as dialect a tap dance nee a shell game: non denominational “speaking in tongues” - as in forked -a “failure to communicate” Cool Hand Luke style yet another apropos descript…up the down staircase.
So, whenever & wherever Herm is denigrated willst Rin be here, there, anywhere & everywhere setting the record straight.
M-I-C… see you real soon! K-E-Y… Why? Because I like you! M-O-U-S-EEEEEEE!
Rin Tin Tin says:
“I too remember talking to those same guys back in the 60s”
Eureka! It’s not that you can’t afford your medication, the problem is that you’re an old, delusional, fart that can’t FIND his medication.
You should call Herm…maybe he can be of assistance.
The picture has become quite clear now.
Herm Edwards record as Chief Coach:
15-33
Herm Edwards record as Chief Coach as more of his influence was felt, and the team was more his own:
2-23. That’s TWO and TWENTY THREE. No misprint there. TWO and TWENTY THREE. Not only the worst Head Coach in Chief history, one of the absolute worst in NFL history. ANYONE who supports this, wanted him to return, thinks he did anything less than an embarrassing job, deserves any derision that comes their way. Like Todd Haley said, anyone could get 53 guys off the street and win 2 games. It’s an embarrassing display of “coaching”.
Good for Clark Hunt to shift gears and sign off on firing that embarrassment. That showed commendable flexibility, and learning from a competant football man in Pioli, by young Clark, something Chief fans are greatful for.
Get back on the couch!
You’re not licensed, evidence being delusional and are suffering from a textbook case of transference.
Nurse, get the restraints & prepare the patient for a manual lobotomy- STAT!!!
Herm Edwards - ‘the’ ONLY Head Coach in franchise (Chiefs & Texans) history to take his team to the playoffs or post season in year one.
Herm Edwards… and bringing up the rear, ‘the rest’.
Yup.
Herm Edwards -’the’ ONLY Head Coach in franchise (Chiefs & Texans) history to take his team to a 2 - 14 record in ANY year.
Herm Edwards… dull eyes & dull mind!
Correction anonymous -
Rin Tin Tin AND Herm Edwards… dull eyes & dull minds!
-BREAKING NEWS-
Rin Tin Tin’s identity has been confirmed.
He’s Carl Peterson.
Go figure.
I haven’t seen what Haley has produced yet, I would hold back your comments on how many games he will win this year, since it’s still possible to outdue Herm. Plus when there are reports that the chiefs offense is more iffy than the defense is… Not a very good outlook considering the Defense wasn’t that good last year, but at least Herm drafted a starting secondary…
I knew I smelled conehead1978. To many comments by imposters recently.
E’ery W in 2009 into the Herm column/his men, e’ery defeat nee L same the result mismanagement ’search’ & ‘check’…and the truth shall set you free!
heh heh heh
Herm wait! please! wait! can I get a ride?
Anonymous,
Anonymous, personally i dont have the time nor the care to imposter anyone on this site. I dont know about you since your always anonymous.
personally, Haley and pioli haven’t shown me anything yet, they haven’t changed the team a whole lot, same players that were here last year, Herm’s secondary as starters and backups so far, Vrabel who hasn’t shown up, got rid of Cassels help (TG), pissed off the only Probowler on the O-line, brought in a guy from Cinci who is behind the starter here last year, brought in another 36 year old LB’er, a 36 year old WR and hasn’t shown how he is going to turn Bradley into Boldin and Bowe into Fitzgerald and it’s preposterous to say that because LJ is motivated now that he is going to run great, because he owed his production to the best O-line in the NFL at the time.
and when Cassel shows you that he wasn’t worth the second rounder they gave up it won’t be a surprise to me, but I will hope thigpen is still with the team.
arrowhead1978
SALUTE!!!
Yes, but…
I am ALWAYS anonymous. Never a fake or phony.
anonymous welcomes and thrives in an environment of differing opinions. But he will also defend his sense of what is intelligent discourse, or blatant stupidity.
It is a shame that, “some” have the ability to contribute to the Authors blog in a meaningful way but, would rather waste them selves trying to impress the deaf with what HE sees as Maestroic, or dazzle the blind with brilliant colors that lack smell, texture and depth, stand out as a “Rin”nasance man amongst a TRIBE that neither welcomes nor appreciates the intrusion of that century to this. Then is offended by critics and the mocks that rain upon his one man band act and brand.
“Alas, ti’s” sadist of all to witness what we have.
A “SALUTE” for a counterfeit.
anonymous is truly disguted.
EM Cioran: essayist, ironist, mysticist… sage, and Rin’s hero, forefather of thots…a football fan of the first order, too.
Cioran’s desired goal, achieved only upon death His: “to disappear, become a stranger.” In that, more dogged was He than Rin - though - in order to realize said, disappeared only as far south as Montparnasse Cemetary.
Afore he found eternal nothingness, He sounded as any/every Chiefs fan having seen that which boded not so well for 2009; a typical refrain:
* “We should have been excused from lugging a body: the burden of the self was enough.”
Translation: Via more Cioran, salve the Chiefs fan, any: “What to do, where to go? Do nothing and go nowhere, easy enough.” Chief victory as 2nd nature…want not, hope not, believe not.
________________________________________
* “To live in expectation, to count on the future or on a simulacrum of the future: we are so accustomed to it that we have conceived the idea of immortality only out of a need to wait out eternity.”
Translation: The Chiefs and success - let alone Superbowl - go together like a brown pair shoes at a black tux formal.
________________________________________
* “The flesh spreads, further and further, like a horrible gangrene upon the surface of the globe. It cannot impose limits upon itself, it continues to be rife despite its rebuffs, it takes its defeats for conquests, it has never learned anything.”
Translation: a sucker is born every minute…and Kaycee fandom is on daylight savings time.
Got your tickets, yet?
Couldst not pay Rin enough moolah force me watch ’search’ & ‘check’ take it in the … “L” column, 2009.
How bout in 10, when they start to win?
“You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to ‘me’?” - DeNiro
:-/
Well, I will watch in hopes that they do something, but personally, I am not a big fan of anyone who leaves the patriots. They don’t prove much worth once they leave the system. (who has left and shown promise?) Now if it’s true that Pioli had control of building the system, it’s possibly a good thing, but I doubt that the Patriots let the man responsible leave town without a word, other than encouragement to leave.