At long last, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt holds on to trophy named in honor of his father
Somewhere or another, Clark Hunt has a photo to prove he was at Super Bowl IV. But the Chiefs’ owner was 4 years old at the time, so forgive him for not having any specific memory of the Chiefs’ 23-7 stifling of the Vikings 50 years ago.
It was a fledgling event that has since emerged as a great American spectacle.
Perhaps more appropriately given what was to come, the first game Hunt remembers was the one that sent the franchise into tilt mode: the Chiefs’ grim 27-24 double-overtime loss to Miami in an AFC Divisional Round playoff game that stood as the last game at Municipal Stadium … and the last measly postseason game for 15 years of the half-century of futility between Super Bowls for the franchise.
“I’m looking forward to blotting that (Dolphins memory) out with what we’re going to do in Miami in a couple of weeks,” Hunt said after the Chiefs beat the Titans 35-24 in the AFC Championship Game Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium to earn a trip to Miami to play San Francisco.
That was one of several light moments with Hunt at a post-game news conference, during which he also let on that it had been such a long time between Super Bowls that even his mother, Norma, had suggested it was about time for a return engagement.
“‘Clark, it sure would be nice if we could play in this game while I’m still able to go,’” he remembered her saying when she was being celebrated for having attended the first 50.
So they are, making for a moment to savor even as we might ponder how differently we’ll see this season depending on how the Chiefs fare on Feb. 2 in Miami.
It’s also a moment to appreciate the poignant touch of Clark Hunt finally getting to have and to hold the trophy named for his father, Lamar, in 1984 — a trophy steeped in his father’s contributions to the game but one he never was able to claim himself before his death in 2006.
Asked about what it meant to him, Hunt deftly deflected the question. He spoke of how happy he was to see his mother get to kiss the trophy and how special the day was their family. And he referred to what Norma Hunt had said on the stage during the celebration: that “Dad always felt like the team really belonged to the fans, so what we are most excited about today is winning this trophy for our fans.”
Just the same …
“To see Clark holding that trophy,” general manager Brett Veach said, “I think that tugged at all of our hearts.”
For the sentimental among us, beyond the two generations of fans who had never seen this, the breakthrough for Hunt wasn’t the only thing that might have tugged at the heart.
At the very same time, you had to feel for a man with whom his legacy as an owner has become enmeshed, coach Andy Reid — who effectively rescued the franchise when Hunt turned to him after the horrific 2012 season through the embers of the Scott Pioli era.
Reid is the seventh-winningest coach in NFL history. Moreover, he’s a man just about universally respected and mostly just beloved … whose resume has had a postseason void: In his first 20 seasons as a head coach with the Eagles and Chiefs, Reid was 12-14 in playoff games, with just one Super Bowl appearance — a loss to the New England Patriots in 2005.
After Sunday’s game and celebration, the normally understated Reid was animated, and a few of us thought we saw his eyes moisten when he spoke of his wife, Tammy.
“Things changed for us,” Hunt said, when they were “lucky enough to lure” the Reids here.
Started to change all the more when the Chiefs drafted Patrick Mahomes, the phenom Reid was born to coach.
“I think he’s all about his players. I think he’s all about (his) team. But most important, he allows us to be ourselves, right?” safety Tyrann Mathieu said. “He’s not restricting us from our personalities. And I think that has a lot to do with us fighting through adversity, us believing in ourselves, us committing to each other.”
And with pushing them the extra yard, or extra four inches, as Reid likes to say, beyond the anguish of the 37-31 overtime loss to New England in the AFC Championship Game last year.
The game that will forever be remembered for Dee Ford lining up offsides and negating a likely game-sealing interception by Charvarius Ward, and for the subsequent lost coin flip that led to Tom Brady shredding the Chiefs’ defense in overtime — a bitter but clarifying end.
It led to Steve Spagnuolo replacing Bob Sutton as defensive coordinator and to a massive personnel shuffle on defense that included bringing in Mathieu and Frank Clark.
And it led to a quest of sorts.
“I was proud of that driving us through training camp and into the season,” Reid said. “You have great expectations like this football team had, to be able to sit here today and be here today is a challenge. There’s a lot of things that go into that.
“That locker room has to be right, and that coaching staff has to be right. Guys have to be able to check their egos at the door. The ups and downs and all those things and not getting down on each other.”
So they’d navigate Mahomes’ dislocated kneecap at Denver, and losing four of six games in the middle of the season, and falling behind by 24 points against Houston a week ago and 10 to Tennessee on Sunday.
And they’d make their way back to a Super Bowl all the sweeter for the wait and ups and downs in between.
“I think my message (to fans) would be that the journey is a big part of it,” Hunt said. “It would not be what it is without the hardship, without all the hard work that went into getting us here. Fifty years is too long, but we are going to Miami. We have a chance to win another Super Bowl.”
And 50 years later, one he’d remember at last.