History of the ‘Arrowhead Chop’ at Chiefs games can be traced to a local college band
The Chiefs were warming up for a game against the San Diego Chargers on a crisp November morning in 1990 when the players heard something new at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Northwest Missouri State band was in the stands that day, and its director, Al Sergel, was a Florida State graduate. When the band began playing “War Chant,” which Florida State started using in 1984, the Sun-Sentinel noted.
Marty Schottenheimer, who was the Chiefs coach at the time, took note of the sounds emanating at Arrowhead.
“It’s a direct descendant of Florida State,” Chiefs promotions director Phil Thomas told the Associated Press at the time. “The band started doing the tomahawk chop and the players and Marty Schottenheimer loved it. He came back to us and said, ‘Why don’t we have these guys every game?’
“It’s really become a signature item. It seems with the team’s rise and with this being interjected into the whole situation, it sure just grew together.”
The Chiefs were averaging under 56,000 fans in the 1990 season, but the team made the playoffs that season for the second time since 1971. But they would be in the postseason field in seven of the next eight seasons under Schottenheimer and soon the stadium was full and the “Arrowhead Chop” was a staple at games.
The future of the “Arrowhead Chop” is cloudy as the team announced Thursday it would not allow entry to fans who wear headdresses or paint their faces in a manner that depicts references to American Indian cultures and traditions. The Chiefs also will do a “thorough review process” of the “Arrowhead Chop.”
In the past, the Chiefs have said they would do away with the “Arrowhead Chop.” After its smash debut, Price Chopper jumped on board with a “Chiefs and Chopper” campaign in 1991.
But the following year, the Chiefs said they would no longer promote the Chop at games after complaints from American Indians.
“We are just more or less discontinuing the promotion of it,” Bob Moore, who was the Chiefs director of public relations at the time, told The Star in 1992.
That meant the Price Chopper commercial wouldn’t be shown on the video board and cheerleaders wouldn’t partake.
There was one caveat. Moore said at the time fans wouldn’t be discouraged from doing the Chop.
The ban lasted all of six weeks. In October, the Chiefs took out a full-page ad in The Star to say the Chop was returning immediately.
“I’m glad it’s back,” Chiefs defensive end Bill Maas told The Star at the time. “We’re going to need everybody out there on Sunday. Without a doubt, it gives us an advantage. When the fans are doing it, the stadium livens up.”
Even with its return, American Indian groups and editorial writers continued to ask for the Chiefs to do away with the “Arrowhead Chop,” and by the late 1990s its use had been reduced.
Sheldon Mickey, the former manager of media production for the Chiefs, told The Star in 1999 the music accompanying the Chop wasn’t being played as often and sometimes not at all.
“Our fans have moved on,” Mickey said at the time. “They’ve found other ways they like to get loud.”
A resurgence came in 2010 after renovations at Arrowhead Stadium were completed. The Chiefs brought back the pregame drum ceremony following a challenge from team president Mark Donovan to reconnect with old traditions, the Star’s Sam Mellinger noted in 2014.
“As it turned out, they found the actual drum used at Municipal Stadium,” Mellinger wrote at the time. “They’ve had celebrities like George Brett and Tom Watson bang the drum to get fans going on game day.”
It does the trick, as fans at Arrowhead get loud as they do the Chop during the ceremony.
Since then, the Chop has been intertwined with the Chiefs, even away from Arrowhead. Coach Andy Reid did it at the Super Bowl parade and quarterback Patrick Mahomes chopped last year while riding a mechanical bull.
While the “Arrowhead Chop” is at its loudest during those pregame drum ceremonies, the Chiefs are pondering a change to the game-day ritual.
“We are exploring all options for a modified engagement moment from the Drum Deck that maintains a unifying effect between our fans and our players but better represents the spiritual significance of the drum in American Indian cultures,” the team said Thursday in a statement.
“This includes discussions around how to shift the focus of the drum to something that symbolizes the heartbeat of the stadium.”
This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 12:16 PM.
