While we hold out for heroes, a fan’s fascinating ideas for honoring Joe Delaney in KC
Adam Jassey has lived his entire life in New York, but he was raised to be a Chiefs and Royals fan because his father went to medical school here at the Kansas City College of Osteopathic Medicine (now Kansas City University) from 1966-1970.
His parents, he wrote in a recent e-mail, “wanted to bring KC back home to New York.”
That explains why even from there Jassey, a 46-year-old attorney, named a son Brett (after George Brett) and knows that the date he attended his first Chiefs game at Arrowhead Stadium (Sept. 17, 1995) was the day Patrick Mahomes was born.
It also helps explain why the deep loss he felt as a 9-year-old in 1983 over what he calls the “Delaney Tragedy” has stayed seared in his memory.
What he then primarily processed as “the loss of my favorite player on the Chiefs, the very first superstar I ever saw in my life” naturally transformed into a different perspective as he matured.
The ongoing focus became on what Jassey calls “the most selfless example of bravery” he had ever heard of: Delaney dying back home in Louisiana trying to save three drowning children despite the fact he couldn’t swim.
He thinks often of the simple fact that Joe Delaney, who is well-understood to have died as he lived, “clearly made the world a better place during his life.”
So virtually since he found himself feeling “astonishment and disappointment” as he looked around Kansas City seeking something that memorializes Delaney when he visited for his first game at Arrowhead 25 years ago, Jassey has sought to find ways to pay tribute to Delaney.
As he put it in the recent e-mail, “With the advent of the internet, I wanted to join an online community of Chiefs fans and the one I joined was the old Kansas City Star Bulletin Board. During one quiet offseason night in 1999, I started a new thread called ‘What About Joe Delaney?’ and expressed what he did (for those who did not know) and why hasn’t anything been done to commemorate him in Kansas City?
“Back in 1999, Delaney was not in the Chiefs Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor and #37 was never officially retired, so in a sense, it was as if he never played for the Chiefs and that did not sit right by me.
“As I learned, that did not sit right by a good number of Chiefs fans nationwide either and the clamor from that thread emboldened me and others to start a grassroots effort called The 37 Forever Foundation.”
The non-profit organization partnered with the American Red Cross to provide free swim lessons to inner-city children and sought to preserve Delaney’s legacy.
Moreover, along with others dedicated to the cause such as Phil Kloster, the group reached out to Delaney’s widow, Carolyn, and also dedicated itself to Delaney’s induction into the Ring of Honor and Chiefs Hall of Fame that came to fruition in 2004.
For several reasons, alas, the 37 Forever Foundation dissolved over time, though his family in the last few years has introduced the Delaney 37 Foundation.
While Jassey never has stopped wanting to see more done in the name of Delaney, his passion was rekindled by recent news in The Star about No. 37 being properly honored 37 years later with a memorial at the site of his death last month.
The idea was introduced by Marvin Dearman, the police diver who tried to save Delaney and others that day. And it was made possible by a remarkable spirit of cooperation, numerous donations of $37 and the generosity of Tripp Johnson of North Kansas City’s Johnson Granite Supply. The company donated the memorial, design and installation, making it possible for Dearman to turn over more than $5,000 (and counting) to the Delaney 37 Foundation since he incurred no expenses.
Yet back here in Kansas City, there still remains no singular commemoration of Delaney, whose example is worth uniquely celebrating in some ways or another.
Honestly, I suppose I’ve written about the topic of Joe Delaney too often in the last few months.
But while we are holding out for heroes, it’s also nice to be able to advocate about one who stands for so much and yet still seems under-appreciated here.
Still, since there’s a fine line between over-saturation and striking while the iron’s hot, I figured I’d compromise by providing a forum for Jassey to share some incredibly detailed and thought-provoking ideas.
What follows is an edited version of his thoughts sparked by what he calls “the altruism displayed by local Kansas City merchant Johnson Granite Supply Inc.”
“What Kansas City Could Do:
*“Kansas City International Airport is going through extensive renovation and will complete a new single terminal that is supposed to be completed by 2023 (which will be the 40th Anniversary of the Delaney Tragedy). There are many airports in this great nation of ours that have been named after civilians. Why not rename the airport after Joe Delaney? Or, if that is being too ambitious, then name this newly renovated terminal after Joe Delaney. For it to occur in 2023, 40 years removed from the death AND in a year that Kansas City will be hosting the NFL Draft as well, this makes a lot of sense in so many ways.
*“The success of the Negro Baseball League Museum makes one wonder if there was a museum of sorts adjacent to it that could be centered on the life of Joe Delaney and had artifacts and the like from his life. It could be heavily accented by his time with the Chiefs, have the Chiefs publicly support it (like how the Royals and MLB have strongly supported the NLBM) and advertise it on their website, programs, billboards, etc. That would allow a lot more people to know and understand who #37 was.
“Another possibility is to have a 3.7 mile radius on the I-70/I-435 portions in both directions within Arrowhead Stadium be dedicated by the Missouri Department of Transportation as The Joe Delaney Memorial Expressway. That would cover on I-70 between Exits 5A & 5B (on I-70 West) to a marker between Exits 12 & 14 (on I-70 East). For I-435, that would cover between Exits 59 & 60 (on I-435 North) to a marker between Exits 66A & 67 (on I-435 South).
*“There should be discussions exploring the idea of naming a park in the Kansas City metropolitan area after Joe Delaney. You can easily have one such park on the Missouri side and another park on the Kansas side.
*“Last and certainly not least, there should be a brand new Annual BBQ Tournament named in Joe Delaney’s memory. Find a quiet weekend on the Kansas City Barbeque Competition calendar whereby all interested Kansas City area barbeque establishments compete in a friendly competition for fame and honor, all for a good cause. Ideally, the creative and supremely talented KC BBQ pitmasters can use the occasion to unleash a brand new Delaney-inspired signature dish, whereas success off the event could lead to this new food creation being renowned as a staple on the KC BBQ circuit, like how the Z Man is at Joe’s Kansas City by way of example. There can be charitable contributions from the contest, such as donations to local food banks that can help make the event bring the Kansas City community together.
“To give this particular BBQ event a Delaney theme, this contest can be held annually to coincide with the date of the tragedy (June 29, or basically the weekend before the Fourth of July Weekend). Or if it is preferred to be held during the Chiefs season, then on his birthdate (October 30, or basically Halloween Weekend).”
In addition, Jassey proposed further gestures by the Chiefs.
“On the 37th Anniversary of the Delaney Tragedy, it’s really time for #37 to be officially retired by the Chiefs. For those who do not know … the number still remains frozen as an unofficially retired number. This position by the Chiefs has long been mysterious. Mack Lee Hill and Stone Johnson had their numbers retired after on-field deaths (Stone Johnson never played an actual regular-season game for the Chiefs) and like with Delaney, Mack Lee Hill played two seasons for the Chiefs. … No Chiefs player has worn #37 since the death. Furthermore, no Chiefs player has worn #37, even in training camp since the death. The number is unofficially retired but why can it not finally be made official? … As the Chiefs celebrate the Super Bowl 37 years after the tragedy, what better time than now than to retire #37? “
*“The Chiefs could simply add a great personal touch to his memory and make the 37-yard-line at Arrowhead Stadium Chiefs colors instead of standard white. It would give attention to fans in the stands (whenever fans can return), people watching on TV would see this unique distinction and you can have a cutaway to the assigned sideline reporter at some point in the game to explain the significance of the Chiefs coloring the 37-yard-line markers. Add ‘JD’ in Chiefs colors on each of the 4 sides of the 37 yard line to complete the effect.”
*“Another option the Chiefs can do is add an additional mailing address for those who send fan mail to the Chiefs to 37 Joe Delaney Drive, Kansas City, Missouri 64120 (while keeping One Arrowhead Drive for all business related mailings).
*“The Chiefs could do a statue. The Chiefs SHOULD do a statue! Only Lamar Hunt has a statue outside Arrowhead Stadium and justifiably so for all that he did for Kansas City and the community. However, there is currently no Chiefs player whose statue exists to greet people. … How meaningful would it be to have the first Chiefs player statue at Arrowhead Stadium be Joe Delaney? Len Dawson, Bobby Bell, Willie Lanier, Buck Buchanan, Derrick Thomas, Tony Gonzalez, Priest Holmes and Will Shields all had longer careers and many more football memories than Delaney’s career, without question (You can already start engraving the statue for Patrick Mahomes…).
“However, Delaney was the rare sports hero in life whose enormous sacrifice and ultimate price paid in vain hopes to try to save those three young boys that fateful afternoon is what sets him apart from everyone else.
“When one thinks of notable sports athletes who died heroically, the names Pat Tillman, Roberto Clemente and Joe Delaney immediately come to mind. The Arizona Cardinals have a statue of Tillman outside of their home at the University of Phoenix Stadium and the Pittsburgh Pirates have a statue of Clemente outside of their home at PNC Park. Both died as heroes and have been properly honored. What Joe Delaney did on June 29, 1983 was the most selfless act of bravery in Kansas City Chiefs history and it should be properly acknowledged as well.”
In conclusion, he wrote, “Joe Delaney was an American hero who clearly made the world a better place during his life. Honoring his memory in Kansas City is very well deserved and long overdue.”
This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 1:51 PM.