Royals’ Denny Matthews reveals he used to be a practice receiver for late Len Dawson
Royals radio broadcaster Denny Matthews made a rare appearance in the television booth Wednesday night, but it wasn’t for baseball reasons. He wanted to pay tribute to former Chiefs quarterback Len Dawson, whose death at age 87 had been announced earlier in the day by his family.
The two had a special connection that went beyond both being Hall of Fame broadcasters.
Matthews came to Kansas City in 1969 for the inaugural season of Royals baseball, and he’s been calling the team’s games ever since. Dawson held two jobs at that time: sports anchor for KMBC (Ch. 9) and starting quarterback of the Chiefs.
Part of Dawson’s television duties included covering the Royals, so that’s how he and Matthews got to know one another.
“He’d come out and we’d sit in the dugout and talk,” Matthews recalled, “and one time he said. ‘I’m going to training camp’ — they were up at Liberty for training camp at that time —and he said, ‘none of my receivers are in town, and you played college football, you were a wide receiver. How would you feel about coming out a couple of times when the Royals are in town, maybe an hour, we’ll work out? And I’ll ask you to run some pass patterns and I can start to get in shape for the NFL season.’”
Matthews, who was a standout wide receiver at Illinois Wesleyan in the 1960s, agreed. He joined Dawson at Swope Park, where the Chiefs practiced before Arrowhead Stadium had been built.
“He threw such a nice, catchable ball,” Matthews recalled. “And we got to the point where we were doing some spotting, where I’d run 10 or 12 (yards), I’d break out and the ball would be in the air before I looked back. It’d be about halfway, and I’d just reach up and it was just like touching a little feather. It was a nice touch.”
Matthews said he got to meet other Chiefs, including Hall of Famer Willie Lanier and receiver Jimmy Hines.
“I was a little bit intimidated by him (at first),” Matthews said of Dawson, “but he could make you feel so much at ease and actually he was just a wonderful guy to be around. I’ll never forget it.”
Matthews also spoke about Dawson the broadcaster, mentioning his work with KMBC and then as a game analyst for NBC and the Chiefs, and as host of HBO’s “Inside the NFL.”
“He was really good at that. He was a great analyst,” Matthews said. “He did a lot of radio for the Chiefs later in his career and he was right on it. Just so much fun to be around.
“He would give the listener and the viewer some great insight into the upcoming game. He wouldn’t give away any secrets, obviously.”
Matthews worked out with Dawson for three years, and the Chiefs made two playoff appearances, won a division title and the Super Bowl IV championship in that time.
That led to a wry observation from Matthews.
“That was so much fun, very instructive,” he said with a smile. “You stop and think about it, I sparked him to three pretty good seasons.”
