Why do the Kansas City Chiefs have a wolf mascot? Who is he? The history of KC Wolf
For more than 30 years, Chiefs home games have been attended by one of Kansas City’s most iconic figures, a mascot inspired by a rabid fanbase.
KC Wolf has been a mainstay with the Chiefs and around the community. He’s spotted everywhere, from school rallies to football games to supermarkets to parades, even walking women down the aisle and portraying the best man at weddings. He won’t do funerals however, even if his presence is requested.
He’s synonymous with the Chiefs, but he wasn’t the team’s first mascot. So what led to the creation of the KC Wolf? How did he come to represent the team?
Here’s the history of KC Wolf.
The Wolfpack
When looking for a replacement for their longtime live mascot, Warpaint, the Chiefs turned to a group of dedicated fans from the team’s former home for inspiration.
Shortly after taking over as the Chiefs’ president and general manager in 1989, Carl Peterson promised to re-engage Kansas City fans. The franchise created a 7-foot wolf as part of that project — a nod to the Wolfpack, a group of rowdy fans who had occupied a section at the old Municipal Stadium.
The prominent 85-inch hips and size-23 shoes of the mascot were designed by Harrison/Erickson Inc., the same company responsible for the Philly Phanatic, the mascot for MLB’s Philadelphia Phillies.
The man inside KC Wolf
Dan Meers, who hails from St. Charles near St. Louis, first became a mascot during college at the University of Missouri, when he played Truman the Tiger from 1986 to 1990, winning the National Collegiate Mascot Championship in 1989. Meers also worked part-time as Fredbird, the mascot for the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team.
So when the Chiefs were ready to make KC Wolf a staple of their home games, they called up Meers — before he’d even earned his college degree.
The same man is still under the suit three decades later. He was the first mascot inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2006 and was also inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.
Due to high demand, there are multiple KC Wolf suits, so it’s not just Meers running around at hundreds of events every year.
“I originally thought I’d do it for a couple of years, then get a real job like everybody else,” Meers said to Business Insider in 2024. “Thirty-four years later, I’m sitting in a Vegas hotel room getting ready to do my fourth Super Bowl.”
A live horse
Before KC Wolf, the Chiefs’ mascot was a live horse that would run around the field pregame. Named Warpaint, a man in a Native American-style headdress originally rode the pinto horse across the field after touchdowns at Municipal Stadium and later Arrowhead Stadium.
Warpaint was retired in 1989 with the introduction of KC Wolf, but was brought back in 2009 as a one-time deal part to celebrate the Chiefs’ 50th anniversary. The horse didn’t replace KC Wolf during its second run.
The fans demanded more, and cheerleader Susie DeRouchey would ride Warpaint around the stadium until the team decided to retire Warpaint in 2021. Up until the horse’s retirement, Warpaint would also make appearances at schools and parades around the Kansas City metro.
The official reason wasn’t announced, but it was speculated the Chiefs wanted to distance themselves from traditions involving Native American imagery.
“We feel like it’s time to retire Warpaint,” Donovan said at the Chiefs training camp at Missouri Western State University in 2021. “A lot of reasons for that, but we feel like it’s the right thing to do. Warpaint won’t be running at Arrowhead anymore.”
While fans loved Warpaint, there’s at least one person who wasn’t a fan: former Chiefs safety Eric Berry. He had a fear of horses ever since he was a child, when a Shetland pony nipped him on the shoulder as he was walking away from it at a petting zoo, and the pony kept following him.
NFL Films had him mic’d up for a game in 2012, and caught him discussing the horse. He’s since overcome those fears.
“I don’t (bleep) with that horse,” Berry said. “I don’t mess with horses, bro. Might come over here and start a tantrum.”
This story was originally published January 12, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
