‘Joe Delaney Memorial Highway’: New local tribute honors late Kansas City Chiefs hero
Befitting the shattering act of heroism that ended his life 38 years ago on Tuesday, Joe Delaney of the Chiefs has been honored, commemorated and appreciated many times over:
- With a Presidential Citizens Medal bestowed by then-U.S. vice president George H.W. Bush in Delaney’s home state of Louisiana weeks after he died in 1983 trying to save drowning children — despite the fact he couldn’t swim
- Inside Arrowhead Stadium, where he was inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor in 2004; at his grave with its Biblically inspired message (“Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for another”)
- In personal tributes such as children being named for him and a daughter of his writing tales of “Joe The Great”
- And, last year, a memorial at the site of his death inspired by the police diver who tried to save him, Marvin Dearman, and donated by Tripp Johnson of Johnson Granite Supply in Kansas City.
And plenty more.
For decades, though, you could drive all over the Kansas City region and never see any specific reference to Delaney, who rushed for 1,121 yards in 1981 to be named AFC rookie of the year and had all the earmarks of future stardom.
But that changed on Tuesday, when the Missouri Department of Transportation installed signage for the Joe Delaney Memorial Highway along Interstate 435 near the Truman Sports Complex.
The development was driven by Adam Jassey, a native New Yorker who became a lifelong 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.
That’s why the attorney has a son named Brett (after George) and knows off the top of his head that he attended his first Chiefs game at Arrowhead Stadium (Sept. 17, 1995) the day Patrick Mahomes was born. It’s also why he came to feel a deep personal connection to what he calls the “Delaney Tragedy” when the budding star suddenly died when Jassey was 9 years old.
Over time, he became consumed with finding ways to pay homage to and keep alive the spirit of a man he told me last year “clearly made the world a better place during his life.”
Years ago, he invested that energy in The 37 Forever Foundation, so-named for the number Delaney wore (and that has not been worn since by a Chief, though is not officially retired).
While the group had a voice in Delaney being named to the Chiefs Ring of Honor, it gradually broke up for a variety of reasons.
But Jassey was re-energized by seeing news in The Star last year about plans to build and dedicate a memorial at the site of Delaney’s death on the 37th anniversary of the death of No. 37.
Ignited by what he called “the altruism” of the donation and installation of that memorial, he offered up a number of ideas of ways to call attention to Delaney and his legacy in Kansas City.
And about ever since, he’s set about making them happen, including the proclamation of Joe Delaney Day in Kansas City last October, ongoing efforts to create an annual BBQ contest in his name and, now, the realization of the highway that required hours and hours of work with multiple entities and required donations and a signature drive.
It’s a subtle memorial, to be sure. And we’re all for more and deeper and broader ways to make sure people never forget his story and hope this paves the way to yet more thoughts about ways to do that.
But the signs also are a tangible reminder now that will be seen by tens of thousands of people, if not millions, in the years to come before the dedication is subject to a renewal process in 20 years.
And anyone who either recognizes the name or becomes curious about it will be prompted to think about a man whose life was lived not in vain but as an inspiring example of love, an example that should be visible and enshrined around here as much as anywhere.
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 7:14 PM.