Joe Delaney - I-435 & BBQ Contest Projects **6/29 I-435 Project Accomplished!**

[AJKCFAN]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

Just went out there myself. Looking good!

Originally Posted by AJKCFAN

344 days ago, first contact was made with the Missouri Department of Transportation with this idea to have a highway dedication to honor Joe Delaney. There were times when it was understandably tedious and exasperating but this was going to be pursued as long as the obstacles were to be overcome.

The early support came from local Jackson County Missouri State Representative Yolanda Young and her team who supported this project immediately. This required the support of the Delaney family themselves and between his widow Carolyn and daughters (particularly Joanna and Crystal) they gave us their unwavering support and backed it up by providing MODOT with their consent for the project, as well as Joe's death certificate which was also required. They put their faith in me and these efforts and it will never be forgotten.

From there, 2 things remained - cost of project (which one of our own reached into their pocket and doled out more than $3,000 to cover for the ENTIRE cost of the signs). The appropriate word to you is grateful. Grateful for your support and grateful to make this endeavor an easier task to complete. May you appreciate the fruits of your investment for these next 20 years!

Lastly but far from least, to obtain 100 signatures from local Kansas Citians in the midst of a worldwide pandemic was daunting from the get-go but there was Clay - recruiting signatures with his social media clout and going about it with the mindset that he was not going to be denied. I don't know how to ever properly thank him, but this does not result in signs if not for his herculean efforts. Yes, there was considerable help from the Kansas City Star with their ipetitions to also make this happen, but there is no completion of this project if not for Clay being the rock star that he is and absolutely taking care of this - and us obtaining the necessary relevant signatures in just over 1 weeks time.

Those signatures include quite a few Chiefs Planeteers so feel a source of pride every time you pass I-435 between Exits 66 and Exit 63C and you see them signs for the next two decades.

I obviously want to renew these signs when the term expires in 2041, but if I am not around to see that happen - then it is my sincere hope my Kansas Citian friends made throughout this experience will pick up the mantle and keep these signs up.

I'm so humbled and moved that tens of thousands of Chiefs fans will be driving to and from Arrowhead via I-435 and it means the world to see Joe Delaney finally attain long-lasting recognition in Kansas City

37 Forever definitely played a small (yet significant) part in Kansas City Chiefs history

The Joe Delaney Memorial Highway on I-435 will play a small (yet also significant) part in Kansas City history

Cheers Everybody - WE Did It!!!

Previous updates:

Spoiler!

Originally Posted by AJKCFAN

It is my humble and distinct honor to inform you that we have received official notification from MODOT and have been advised that the I-435 Joe Delaney Memorial Highway signs have been completed and they have been transferred to a MODOT facility location in Lee’s Summit.

We were told that the installation of these signs can go up as soon as this upcoming Thursday June 17.

However, with the Anniversary date of the Delaney Tragedy (June 29, 1983) occurring a little bit later in the month, I have requested and received permission from MODOT that installation be delayed until Tuesday June 29 so that it can fittingly coincide with commemorating the 38th Anniversary of this somber occasion.

There might even be a ceremony to mark the occasion but we are trying to see if the Delaney family can attend the event. At this point in time, it is unlikely that there will be a ceremony on such short notice. There does not need to really be one. Just if you happen to be in the area, drive by I-435 between Exit 66 (Missouri State Road 350) to Exit 63C (Raytown Road) in either direction come June 29 and you will see the signs installed.

Take pictures if you can!

Otherwise, if you cannot take the drive - I’m sure it will that day be part of the evening news, newspaper, etc.

It’s going up ladies and gentlemen!

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

We did it!

CELEBRATE! @MoDOT has OFFICIALLY APPROVED the Memorial Highway honoring @Chiefs RB Joe Delaney.

The location of the memorial: I-435 from State Hwy 350 to Raytown Rd in Jackson County.

One sign will appear at each end of the route. They will be fabricated in 6-9 weeks. pic.twitter.com/X5Rrxl4j3z
— Joe Delaney Memorial Highway Project (@ClayWendler) May 4, 2021

Hi Everyone – Moderators if you would not mind, can I ask of you to place this post as a sticky, please?

Hope this post finds you all healthy and safe (and warm) during these most trying times.

For some of you, my relationship has gone back more than two decades and I am most appreciative of that. Being able to work alongside you for 37 Forever way back when will always be thought of as a worthy endeavor that did achieve a lot of success thanks to all of our efforts.

It is with this same purpose that I come to you today, my fellow Chiefs fans - in need of your help and hopeful assistance.

Over the past 7 months, from here in New York - I have been working on a pair of projects that will achieve lasting recognition for the late Joe Delaney in the Kansas City area. NOTE - There actually was a third project of mine that has already occurred when I had the ear of Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas’ office and he thereafter proclaimed this past October 30 (Joe Delaney’s birth date) to be known in Kansas City as Joe Delaney Day, which was a wonderful thing but its effect was only a temporary measure.

Therefore, I have been trying to make things happen to attain something more far reaching and permanent.

With that in mind, I am here to reveal these ideas and ask for your support and what you might be able to do to bring this to reality.

I’ll start with the one closest to happening:

1. The Joe Delaney Memorial Highway
The Joe Delaney Memorial Highway will be dedicated on I-435 between Exit 66 (Missouri State Road 350) and Exit 63C (Raytown Road). Originally, it was intended to have the dedication cover a 3.7 mile stretch which would include the Arrowhead exits themselves, but further research led to the discovery that there was already a dedication to Lamar Hunt, so this became the next option, as it is the nearest area available to dedicate and for those traveling on I-435 on your way to Arrowhead, you’d be able to see this sign once this is completed.

Brief background. There were 5 requirements which must be met in this process, as per the Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT, for short). 3 of the 5 have already occurred behind the scenes, leaving us with these 2 remaining requirements, which are the following:

One is to pay for the cost of the signs but that is already being taken care of by one of our very own Chiefs Planet members who plans to cover for the entire cost (which is four figures). This Chief Planet member will remain anonymous. To that end, I have established an account at a local Kansas City bank specifically geared for funds towards this endeavor (as well as looking into a separate account for the other project that is being worked on) which will establish a local presence.

The final requirement is what I need your collective help in and likely the biggest reason why this is being posted.

As per the Missouri Department of Transportation, this project needs 100 original signatures from residents of the following Missouri six counties:

Jackson County
Johnson County
Ray County
Clay County
Cass County
Lafayette County

Each individual who supports Mr. Delaney’s route designation can then forward an email stating his/her support which shall include the individual’s name, address, and county along with his/her typed signature. These emails may be sent directly to me at AJKCFAN@yahoo.com. The supporting signatures would then be complied and attached to the application that will ultimately be submitted to MODOT.

All I am doing with these signatures is compiling them and once I hit the magic number of 100, it gets sent to the Missouri Department of Transportation, with the funds and this project will be completed.

I will definitely NOT be using your signatures or address or name for any other purpose besides meeting this requirement. It goes without saying that your privacy would be fully respected.

My presumption is that MODOT would confirm the addresses as being authentic (so a Chiefs fan from out of the area cannot send their information to be added to the count – otherwise, I’d be gathering signatures form here in New York – it needs to be from these locations.

Once completed, The Joe Delaney Memorial Highway signs will last on I-435 in this designated area for a twenty (20) year period beginning on the date of dedication.

That’s the first project. It is the more realistic project of the two.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally Posted by AJKCFAN

Changing gears. Here is the latest in terms of the BBQ Contest. Attacking this hard these past several weeks. Really not to exaggerate, some 150 companies were reached out. Basically, there is some level of interest that need to be explored further and if work wasn't killing me, there would be a quicker follow-up so now that I-435 is out of the way, my efforts will be focused solely on this. Recently, there was a pretty significant company who has showed interest and they wanted to Zoom conference with me sometime this week. Observant of today's significance, intentionally I chose to have the conference today on the Anniversary. It did happen today and the takeaway from the meeting is that there appears to be a potential sponsor of the contest as they were very impressed with this idea and also helpful is that they have considerable experience working with The Kansas City Barbeque Society so that works in our favor. Likely, a second Zoom Conference call is scheduled to occur next Thursday morning (July 8) and if all can somehow go well with this, we might just be able to pull this off.....

(oh yes, there is a secret code embedded in here with the above paragraph, so good luck finding it.....)

(No code for rest of message)
If it doesn't come to pass, I'll keep trying. There is some interest that I need to follow up with nine other companies, but this one I spoke with today can make this Joe Delaney BBQ Contest at Worlds of Fun a reality.

If it cannot be possible, I would still like to have a BBQ Contest but we are probably looking to scale it down further and seek to have it at a local BBQ restaurant, but I want to exhaust this option and this potential sponsor (and other interested parties) first before we need to cross this bridge.

To be continued

The other project is an even more exciting idea and although that too is realistic, there will need to be more “heavy lifting”.

If there are two things Kansas City is currently most well known for, what would it be?

I would say (and you would likely say also) it would be the Chiefs and BBQ.

Yes, the best tailgating in the NFL by far can be found at Arrowhead and there’s some incredible BBQ every home game there but how often has Arrowhead Stadium been a venue for an actual competitive BBQ Contest?

Not that often, which is somewhat shocking given Arrowhead’s reputation.

So I am attempting to “marry the two”.

What if there was a competitive BBQ contest to be held at Arrowhead Stadium, during Chiefs football season – all in the memory of Joe Delaney, who is easily among the most distinguished and revered Kansas City Chiefs players in its illustrious history?

2. The Joe Delaney Master Series Barbeque Contest

Here, during this past Chiefs football season, I have had not one, not two, not three, not four, but five Zoom Call conferences with the Chiefs organization and in conjunction with The Kansas City Barbeque Society, which is a not for profit BBQ contest organization which sponsors a tremendous amount of BBQ contests throughout the year not just in Kansas City, but throughout America.

Very late in the season, we received a proposal from the Chiefs to have the debut of this event to be held at Arrowhead (with options to continue the contest at Arrowhead for both the 2022 and 2023 seasons), with the target being in late October of this year (hopefully to coincide with Joe Delaney’s birth date) and them being flexible with the date to allow for it to coincide with a Chiefs home game as well (particularly if the Chiefs were playing a home game in Arrowhead on a Sunday Night or a Monday Night that weekend).

The issue with it right now is the cost of the contest to hold the debut of this event in Arrowhead Stadium is a staggering amount. In essence, sponsors are vital to have this contest occur – whether it is at Arrowhead or at a smaller venue to kick things off for this year. I do at least commend the Chiefs for being willing to hear out this idea and staying in contact with me over the football season and still maintaining close ties with me to this day.

Guess I will throw this out there:

Does anyone here have any connections or tie-ins with any potential sponsors because that is what would yield the best results to this event occurring.

It would be really awesome to have this dream event occur. I mean, a BBQ Contest to be held in Arrowhead Stadium during the football season, in a weekend where we can finish the festivities off with enjoying watching Mahomes and the Chiefs kicking somebody’s ass on national TV – and this contest being held to memorialize a heroic great late Chief like Joe Delaney, it doesn’t get any better than that.

That’s why I am coming to you today. I am going to need some help.

Football analogy. We have driven the ball down the field two times and we are in the Red Zone for both projects. Joe Delaney Memorial Highway is definitely in First & Goal status – we just need 100 signatures and we got this TD. Joe Delaney BBQ Contest, it feels like it is 2nd and makeable distance from inside the Red Zone. Maybe we will need to settle for a field goal with that and debut the contest at a smaller venue or maybe there is still reason to hope this can still find its way into the end zone too and we make the contest occur at Arrowhead this fall on a Saturday.

I’ll be happy to either discuss on this thread or privately any direct questions you may have.

Thank you very much in advance....

Adam (AJKCFAN)

[Hammock Parties]

Over 80 now.

We're approaching the final countdown.

[AJKCFAN]

Grassroots valid signatures - 43 (none since 10:23PM KC time last night)

ipetitions valid signatures - 42 (out of 56, now 57 signatures - trying to ID to see if that one also is good to go)

So we have a combined 85 signatures, as Vahe's Tweet with the ipetition gave us a jolt of energy. It has subsided there as well (just 1 signature over the workday).

We are definitely getting very close, but we are not there yet.

If you're in those eligible counties and have not yet done so but want in, please help bring this to the finish line

We are 15 valid signatures away, so spread the word!

[Hammock Parties]

96/100

[AJKCFAN]

For the old timers out there and also for the 37 Forever alumni

37 Forever Exec Board Member Mark Dye is amongst the signatories

And - it looks like signature 100 will be reserved for one Phil Kloster

Start chilling the bubbly.... it’s about to happen!

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by AJKCFAN

it looks like signature 100 will be reserved for one Phil Kloster

[Dartgod]

Awesome work guys. Sorry I was not able to respond to your requests Adam, but I've been working insane hours on a project and will be for the next couple of months. I've barely spent time here the last couple of weeks but did get my signature in and my wife's as well. Heh, she even shared Clay's post on FB. If she only knew his history here.

Originally Posted by AJKCFAN

For the old timers out there and also for the 37 Forever alumni

37 Forever Exec Board Member Mark Dye is amongst the signatories

And - it looks like signature 100 will be reserved for one Phil Kloster

Start chilling the bubbly.... it’s about to happen!

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

[Misplaced_Chiefs_Fan]

Originally Posted by AJKCFAN

For the old timers out there and also for the 37 Forever alumni

37 Forever Exec Board Member Mark Dye is amongst the signatories

And - it looks like signature 100 will be reserved for one Phil Kloster

Start chilling the bubbly.... it’s about to happen!

Even though I was only tangentially involved with 37Forever, (did some editing for Phil on a couple of things), I have great memories of being there the day they put Joe into the Ring of Honor. Wish I lived closer, but I'm not sure Howard County, MD counts for your stats.

[AJKCFAN]

Originally Posted by Misplaced_Chiefs_Fan

Even though I was only tangentially involved with 37Forever, (did some editing for Phil on a couple of things), I have great memories of being there the day they put Joe into the Ring of Honor. Wish I lived closer, but I'm not sure Howard County, MD counts for your stats.

It won’t officially count but you’re welcome to lend your signature of support. There have been many signatures from Kansas, but also signatures from other Missouri counties which were not eligible, but I found a stray signature from Nebraska, Texas, New Jersey, New York (not me) so jump on in.

Still assembling the ipetition locations and cross checking it with the grassroots signatures to make sure we have made it. Ipetition got A LOT of signatures in the last hour plus but I don’t have immediate access to it.

Simple email to me at AJKCFAN@yahoo.com with full name, full street address, email address and county of residence and it goes into the submission to the MODOT.

And BTW, my best friend lives near by you - next time in the area - let’s reconnect....

[AJKCFAN]

Originally Posted by Dartgod

Awesome work guys. Sorry I was not able to respond to your requests Adam, but I've been working insane hours on a project and will be for the next couple of months. I've barely spent time here the last couple of weeks but did get my signature in and my wife's as well. Heh, she even shared Clay's post on FB. If she only knew his history here.

Thanks as always Bob! Some signatures have great history and it was really special to see you and other Planeteers join in the effort to have us reach this point. Definitely saw yours. Have to review to see if the wifey is there too. Was it emailed to me or placed on ipetitions?

[AJKCFAN]

The cross referencing between Clay’s social media platforms and the ipetitions created by Vahe Gregorian and the KC Star has been completed

(NOTE: The last ipetition received was through 68 signatures. There’s 93 now so 25 remain outstanding)

55 valid grassroots signatures from eligible residents via Clay’s platforms
+
47 more valid ipetition signatures through the KC Star (and counting)
——————————————————————————-
102!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by AJKCFAN

The cross referencing between Clay’s social media platforms and the ipetitions created by Vahe Gregorian and the KC Star has been completed

(NOTE: The last ipetition received was through 68 signatures. There’s 93 now so 25 remain outstanding)

55 valid grassroots signatures from eligible residents via Clay’s platforms
+
47 more valid ipetition signatures through the KC Star (and counting)
——————————————————————————-
102!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

[AJKCFAN]

The Delaney family is very much aware and supports what is being done.

Turns out unintentionally that the day we passed 100 signatures happens to be the same day as the birthday of one of Joe’s daughters.

We just gave her one really memorable birthday present....

Light one up!

[AJKCFAN]

There are more signatures to count but here is the tally to get us to 100

Jackson 63
Clay 23
Cass 10
Lafayette 4
Johnson 2 (yes these two were from Johnson County, MO)
Ray 0 (??????)


Of note:

Johnson County KS had 8
Platte County which we tried to include had 5
Wyandotte County KS had 1

Bet anything if those 3 counties could have been included we would be above 150....

[gblowfish]

Nice job guys. It would be cool if this could be implemented before the new season starts.

[Hammock Parties]

Channel 41 is all over this