Farewell, Len Dawson. You showed Kansas City what a sports superstar should be
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The legacy of Len Dawson
Kansas City sports icon Len Dawson, who led the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl triumph, has died at the age of 87.
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They called him “Lenny the Cool,” and he was that, but he was more: funny, friendly, familiar, graceful.
We join with all Kansas Citians, and sports fans around the nation, in mourning the death of Len Dawson, the longtime quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs and sports announcer on television and radio.
His family announced his passing Wednesday. He was 87.
Fans of a certain age will recall Dawson’s heroics on the field in the late 1960s and early 1970s: leading the Chiefs to the first Super Bowl, which the team lost, and the fourth, which they won. In his prime, he was the best player on the field.
Fans will remember the number 16 on the back of his jersey. They’ll see him scrambling from danger to loft passes that landed softly in the arms of waiting receivers. They’ll see his confidence, his skill, his will to win.
Dawson’s Hall of Fame career will be a part of our collective sports memories as long as football is played in Kansas City. He was, in fact, Kansas City’s first true sports superstar — a local legend approaching the status of two others who recently died: Bill Russell and Vin Scully.
Others will recall his long career in media: his anchor work at KMBC, his work for HBO on “Inside the NFL,” and his colorful efforts as a commentator on the Chiefs’ radio broadcasts. His understanding of the game was superb.
But there was more. Dawson was a football legend, yet he always seemed approachable and friendly — a superstar without pretension or ego. He’d crack a joke about his playing days, his eyes would twinkle and he’d grin. He took his work seriously, but never himself.
He was, in that, a model Kansas Citian. “One of Kansas City’s greatest,” Mayor Quinton Lucas tweeted Wednesday, and he’s right.
Kansas City should consider a way to further honor Dawson in the weeks ahead. For now, his miraculous play is viewable online, and the tributes are pouring in. That’s how we can remember him today.
Our sympathies are with his friends and family.
This story was originally published August 24, 2022 at 9:26 AM.
