Curtis McClinton brought a range of transferable skills to the Dallas Texans/KC Chiefs

Editor’s note: This is the first installment in what will be an occasional series on Chiefs personalities through the years.

Curtis McClinton packed a lot of talents into his 6-3, 227-pound frame.

A 1961 all-America selected by The Sporting News and Pro Scouts, he was a three-time all-Big Eight halfback on the football team and three-time Big Eight champion in the 100-yard hurdles at the University of Kansas, where he has his name on the football Ring of Honor. He was selected to Kansas’ all-time team in 1969.

At Kansas, he received his bachelor’s degree in business education with a minor in music. That’s quite a combination, but if you were among the 78,000 or so fans in attendance at Arrowhead Stadium on the occasions when McClinton sang the national anthem, you’ll know that music was a big part of those skills.

“I was very pleased and honored to be asked to sing the national anthem, and to be acknowledged that I could do something other than hit somebody or run with the football,” he said in his familiar, resonant, baritone voice.

“The thing about it is that it was a reflection on our whole team, that we had talents that we could convey and the ability to execute those talents away from the field, to the point we were acceptable without a football helmet on.”

McClinton, a native of Wichita, was thrilled to be selected in the 1962 American Football League Draft by the Dallas Texans. He didn’t care where he was drafted, as long as he had the chance to play pro football.

“Those were the players I idolized and wanted to be like,” he said. “I learned by observing their technique that I would use.”

After being named the 1962 AFL Rookie of the Year with Dallas, McClinton was part of the move that brought the Texans to Kansas City, where they were renamed the Chiefs. He spent the next seven years with the organization.

He scored the Chiefs’ lone touchdown in the first Super Bowl. In his last game before retiring, he and his teammates won Super Bowl IV.

“That’s a real good way to go out,” he joked.

Playing his entire career close to home was great, but the biggest reason was the culture of the team.

“I am proud to be part of the Kansas City Chiefs,” he said. “I wanted to stay a part of that team. It was the leadership, the coaches and the management of the team. The important thing with that was the players they drafted, who bought in and delved into the key aspects of building a winner.

“The focus on the Dallas Texans and the Kansas City Chiefs was to be a winning franchise, a world championship franchise.”

McClinton credits his football training for life skills he carried with him through a lengthy career in banking and economic development.

“I learned to adapt to transition,” he said. “I learned to adapt to different players, different quarterbacks. I learned to blend my thoughts, my energy and my focus to the goals of the owners and the coaches. That helped me in life, because I was able to keep my eye and ambition on being a winner to the point of a goal.”

In football, that translates to scoring more points than the opposition. In banking, it means the ability to conduct transactions for individuals that were important to them — like cashing a check, opening a savings account or being able to make a loan for their family.

After football, McClinton received his master’s degree from Central Michigan and an honorary doctorate from Miles College. Now retired, McClinton lives in the Dallas area with his wife, and his daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren.

He says, with a smile, that he enjoys walking and reading and “doing what I am told to do.” He also uses voice lessons as part of physical therapy to keep him mentally sharp.

He enjoys watching the Chiefs, too. He sees similarities between current head coach Andy Reid and his coach, Hank Stram.

“Coach Stram was an excellent coach,” McClinton said. “He was cognitive. He studied opponents to the point that he knew their weaknesses that we could attack. He was able to transfer that to his players.

“I think there is a similarity. The important thing is observation of a player and then being able to take what you see and strengthen their strengths or eliminate their weaknesses.”

David Smale is a freelance writer and author of 22 books on sports history. One of his recent books, The Keys to the Kingdom, is on the entire history of the Chiefs franchise. It is available at www.davidsmalebooks.com.