Len Dawson has passed - RIP
 

https://kmbc.com/article/len-dawson-...at-87/40943140
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">&quot;He loved Kansas City and no matter where his travels took him, he could not wait to return home.&quot;<br><br>Rest well, Len. ❤️<br><br>Len Dawson has died at the age of 87: <a href="https://t.co/rRdEugmMD9">https://t.co/rRdEugmMD9</a> <a href="https://t.co/cJfMwKtpon">pic.twitter.com/cJfMwKtpon</a></p>&mdash; KMBC (@kmbc) <a href="https://twitter.com/kmbc/status/1562388530000982016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

https://www.chiefs.com/news/chiefs-m...4l3P21ZulRpgwc

Chiefs Mourn the Passing of Franchise Legend Len Dawson
Aug 24, 2022 at 07:47 AM

The Kansas City Chiefs are saddened to share the passing of Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback, Chiefs legend and Kansas City icon, Len Dawson.

"My family and I are heartbroken. Len Dawson is synonymous with the Kansas City Chiefs. Len embraced and came to embody Kansas City and the people that call it home. You would be hard-pressed to find a player who had a bigger impact in shaping the organization as we know it today than Len Dawson did," Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said. "I admired Len my entire life – first as a Hall of Fame player on the field, and later as he transitioned into a successful broadcasting career. Throughout his remarkable career, Len made it a priority to give back to the community that he loved. The franchise has lost a true legend. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Linda and his family."

Dawson was the heart and soul of the Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs franchise during his illustrious14-year Chiefs career, helping make the franchise one of professional football's premier teams while becoming one of the game's elite passers.

Under the leadership of PFHOF Head Coach Hank Stram, who brought Dawson to the Texans/Chiefs franchise in 1962, Dawson's Chiefs were perennial contenders and won American Football League Championships in 1962, 1966 and 1969. He earned the Most Valuable Player award for Super Bowl IV when he directed Kansas City to a 23-7 win over the heavily favored Minnesota Vikings. Dawson won the AFL passing title four times and still holds the franchise's career records for pass attempts (3,696), completions (2,115), passing yards (28,507) and touchdowns (237).

He was named to six AFL All-Star teams and one Pro Bowl squad, and also earned AFL Player of the Year honors for the 1962 season. Dawson started 158 regular season games for Kansas City, the most of any quarterback in franchise history. He led the AFL in passing four different seasons (1962, 1964, 1966 and 1968), pacing the AFL in completion percentage eight times, including a string of six-straight seasons from 1964-69.

Dawson was recognized as the 1973 NFL Man of the Year, one of five Chiefs players to ever earn the honor. He retired from professional football on May 1, 1976. He was enshrined into the Chiefs Hall of Fame in 1979 and was immortalized at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, in 1987. He was also enshrined in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Purdue Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996.

Dawson enjoyed an equally legendary broadcasting career that began during his playing days. In 1966 he served as a sports anchor with KMBC Radio and as sports director for KMBC-TV while serving as the club's signal caller. Following his retirement from professional football after the 1975 season, Dawson joined NBC and served as a color analyst on NFL games until 1982. He then joined the Chiefs Radio Network as a color commentator in 1984, serving on the team's radio crew for 35 years. While working NFL games for NBC, Dawson embarked on what would become a 24-year run that spanned four decades (1977-2001) as the host of HBO's popular "Inside the NFL," cable television's longest-running series and the first NFL-related program to air on cable.

For his contributions to broadcasting, Dawson was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the recipient of the Hall's Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award in 2012. He became just the third individual in professional football history to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as both a player and a broadcaster, joining Dan Dierdorf and Frank Gifford.

In 2014, Dawson was honored with the Lamar Hunt Award for Professional Football at the 44th Annual NFL 101 Awards, recognizing his contributions both on and off the field that helped shape the National Football League into the preeminent professional sports league in America. In 2017, the club renamed the television broadcast booth inside GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium the Len Dawson Broadcast Booth in honor of Dawson's accomplishments both on the field and as a broadcaster.

Dawson began his professional career as a first-round draft pick of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers in 1957. He went on to land with Cleveland in 1960 but was cut by the Browns prior to the 1962 season, at which point he was signed by the Dallas Texans as a free agent on July 2, 1962. In total he spent 19 years as a quarterback in the NFL/AFL.

The Alliance, Ohio, native attended Purdue University where he was a three-year starter at quarterback for the Boilermakers (1954-56) and ended his career as the university's leader in career passing yards and touchdown passes.

Godspeed Lenny the Cool

Sorry to hear it.

Prayers

Awwww. That sucks.
Man was a stud. Happy landings Len

Damn that's too bad

Damn. Part of the fabric of this city. A huge part of my life the only thing Chiefs fans had to hold onto was what he and his teammates accomplished, even if we never got to see him play.

Prayers. Love you, Len.

Thoughts and prayers
sec

All day this. :thumb:

Love you, Lenny.

Awful news...Godspeed Lenny! Chief Nation will always have your blindside.

Prayers Lenny, thank you for being one of my favorite All Time Chiefs.

You're The Man, Lenny. Always will be.

god speed Lenny you will never be forgotten and you will be missed.

Damn it. Rest well lenny.

So glad i got to meet him and touch the super bowl ring.

Win one for Lenny!

First boyhood hero. Take care, Lenny.

Probably still has better burst than Frank Clark.

Probably my first sports hero. Godspeed 16.

Dammit ! We can dedicate this season for Lenny.

National treasure. :( Prayers to him & his family.

The Lenny Dawson lounge!!! Get on it.

Have him bang the drum tomorrow

Respect.

:(

Heroes never die.

Damn. Prayers for him and his family.

Love you Lenny. God Bless You.

Prayers for a peaceful and quick ending to this situation.

Well, I guess we'll just have to win the whole damned thing for Lenny the Cool, then.

Only the best

After all the years doing the radio broadcasting for the team, I’m glad he was there to see us finally win it all again.

Stay cool, Lenny. Give Hank a big high five when God calls the final 65 Toss Power Trap.

Prayers

God speed Lenny the cool

Lenny is the man. Sorry to see him go.

Lenny the Cool enters Hospice and appreciation thread
 

Lenny the cool to Otis Taylor hooked me then. Sorry to hear of his health state. You were the man back in the day. You’ll be remembered.

————————————————-

Legendary quarterback Len Dawson, who led the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl triumph and was with the organization for six decades as a player and broadcaster, has entered hospice care in Kansas City, a friend of the family confirmed to The Star. Dawson, 87, became the starting quarterback in 1962, the franchise’s final year in Dallas, and he was the Chiefs’ primary quarterback until his retirement in 1975.

With the Chiefs he was reunited with Hank Stram, who had been his assistant coach at Purdue. Along the way, the Chiefs won three AFL championships, played in Super Bowl I and captured Super Bowl IV. Dawson was named the MVP in the victory over the Minnesota Vikings. He’s the franchise leader in touchdown passes and passing yards.

Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/sports/nf...#storylink=cpy

He's been going there a lot today.

Mods want to merge this one or just delete it since it is obvious someone did not even look before posting.

Lenny and Marty were very much the reason many of us found our love for this team. Mr Hunt was icing on that cake. Makes me very sad to think its Lenny's time. Had multiple opportunities to talk to him over the years and will always remember such a gentleman and fine person.

Heaven gains a great new member

Prayers for the Dawson family.

The "Len Dawson Lounge" what's the hold up?

My boyhood hero.

That 37 yard toss to Otis in the final AFL game. In Oakland. From his own end zone. Under incredible pressure from the Raiders DL. On 3rd down. The biggest pass play in Chiefs history prior to WASP.

It led to the game leading TD.


Dammit this makes me sad.

It took a special man to lead a special team. When I was a kid playing pickup games on any piece of grass field or even on neighborhood streets I was Otis Taylor receiving passes from Lenny the cool.

Then one by one the greatest team I felt was ever assembled retired or moved on. Lenny didn't leave he became the voice of the KC Chiefs. He never wavered in his belief in the team and promoted players of past and present and was a supporter of the city. When your voice became silent I knew it had to be bad.

I pray for an easy passage to your eternal rest. When it is your time it will be like a family member has passed. I will never forget as long as I am breathing the memories you made.

Lenny The Cool the legend and Hall or Fame man, you will be missed.

This. My bad.

Keeping the Dawson family in my prayers.

Sad to read about this, hopefully he’s not in too much discomfort. I was reading about his early life and learned that he was a seventh son from a seventh son, that can’t happen too often. Also read that he was All State in both football and basketball.

I remember he came a couple times to our grade school and would eat a school lunch at the front table in the cafeteria. Always in a good mood whenever I saw him in public.

I love how he credits being the seventh son of a seventh son as a reason for his success in life.

NFL Network should have a tribute slate of games and shows ready when he does pass.

I will save the 1962 AFL Championship Game on the DVR if they show that. I heard a lot about that game, but have not watched.

I enjoyed listening to him when he was commentator for Chiefs football games on the radio. "You have to protect the quarterback" he would always say.

The original Chiefs legend.

Very sad. Growing up in KC, he was football royalty. The only other player in KC history at the time that could hold a candle to him was George Brett. I’m glad he got to see KC win another ring. He was good to this organization for many, many years.

My wife is getting her master’s degree in nursing and she chose Purdue University. When i heard, I said, “Awesome! You’ll be a BoilerMaker just like Lenny Dawson!” She got a look on her face and started to say something (undoubtedly “who?”) and I just said, “The 2nd best KC QB ever. Lenny the cool. Just nod and say, ‘cool’.” She did. And so now she and Lenny the Cool have something in common, although I don’t think she puts as much weight on it as I do.

This should be sticky’d

Sad to hear :(

All my best to Mr. Chief.

My childhood hero.
Heartbreaking news for me. [emoji22]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My childhood hero.

Heartbreaking news. [emoji22]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It breaks my heart to hear about Len Dawson going into hospice. We spent a lot of time together traveling with and covering the Chiefs. He&#39;s one of the nicest guys ever. No pretensions and was never without that smile. <br>He was always, &quot;Lenny the cool!!&quot; <a href="https://t.co/Ji17ZAwzwq">pic.twitter.com/Ji17ZAwzwq</a></p>&mdash; frank boal (@realfrankboal) <a href="https://twitter.com/realfrankboal/status/1558235686519595009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Absolutely this! I hope and pray for him but, I have to say, I am so very glad he got to see Mahomes, Kelce and Hill get that Super Bowl win 50 years later! That is really, really special! God bless Lenny the Cool!

Agreed. This is very sad news indeed. Prayers for a quick, painless and peaceful passing.

Lenny the cool was the definition of a cool player back in the day. Sitting on a metal folding chair, Fresca and a smoke at halftime. That’s as cool as it gets back then. It’s an iconic image.

She take any engineering or physics there as part of her science curriculum?

https://engineering.purdue.edu/ECE/A...westerman.html

One of the 3-5 smartest people I've known in my life . . . He was the son of our HS chemistry teacher.

it sucks, The longer I live, the more death I see.

I've listened to most Chief games on the radio for decades. I really wish I could have listened to Lenny during Pat's SB winning year.

I’m with you. Used to rig up an online audio feed from radio through my home stereo and pause the satellite feed to sync the audio with TV and listen to Lenny and Mitch. It was awesome.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DTmi0h5XkAEQCRq.jpg:large



:grovel:

This reminds me of , and wondering how the real Steve Deburg is doing now. I became a fan with him and the Nigerian nightmare.

Sad news, indeed.

Each year, more and more of the AFL legends depart this mortal coil to suit up on the heavenly gridiron. The depth chart up there is deep.

God bless Dawson and his family.

He had a good long, cool life.

Got to be on top of the world and see them do it again in his lifetime and was a living legend in the area.

:(

Very sad news. A life well lived.

God speed. I'm glad he was able to see the trophy brought home one more time

Always a class act. Unfortunately, we don't always get to choose when we are pulled from the game. So many good memories of listening to games with my Dad and the Chiefs in the 60s and early 70s.

Prayers to the Chiefs GOAT

A KC legend that not only brought a SB to KC, but respect to the organization and the AFL during it’s early years. Then retired and made KC his permanent home and became a staple in the community. Prayers for a true KC legend.

Godspeed to a Chiefs Legend and hero... What a life!

Absolutely on the Chiefs Mount Rushmore.

One of the genuine good guys.

Prayers sent to Len and his family..

And exactly why he is a permanent part of my man cave! :thumb:

Let's get that Lombardi for him!