2020 AFC Champions Chiefs & 50 years of memories

January 24, 2020

2020 AFC Kansas City Chiefs Championship Brings Back a Flood of Childhood Memories

Watching the recent AFC Championship, especially Mitch Holthus’ animated description of Frank Clark’s sack of the Titans’ quarterback, Ryan Tannehill, on the last play, brought a flood of tears and memories that jolted me back in time—to over 50 years ago when life and the NFL were much simpler and more innocent. 

You see, the AFL (American Football League) and the NFL had just merged in June 1966 when I was a mere 8 years old. I vividly remember Super Bowl I, which pitted the AFL representative—the Kansas City Chiefs, owned by Lamar Hunt—against the powerful Green Bay Packers, coached by the legendary Vince Lombardi.  

Our family lived in rural Abilene, Kansas, and there was no cable TV. We could pick up only one station with an antenna on the roof of the house and a rotor motor that we used to adjust the antenna attached to the TV in our basement.  This was the days of black and white TV—and images were often fuzzy.  Fortune once in a while smiled upon us, and we could get ABC to bleed through and watch images of Monday Night Football—but that was a very lucky and rare Monday night.

Our family was invited to watch Super Bowl I at our neighbors’ house. Can’t say I remember too much about the details of that game, other than that the Packers steamrolled the Chiefs 35-10.  My love and commitment to the Kansas City Chiefs was born, despite the lopsided defeat.

The next year that the Kansas City Chiefs had a playoff opportunity was 1969, when the Chiefs qualified for the second Wildcard slot. The First Round was against the reigning Super Bowl III Champs and Joe “Willie” Namath; Kansas City was victorious 13-6.  The AFL championship game pitted the Chiefs against the hated Oakland Raiders, who were a heavy favorite to win the game.  The Oakland Raiders were so confident of winning that all players had pre-packed their suitcases for the trip to New Orleans and Super Bowl IV. But the Kansas City Chiefs had other ideas, and they upset the Raiders 17-7!  This win gave the Chiefs the privilege of playing one of the best teams in the history of the NFL: The Minnesota Vikings coached by Bud Grant. That year, the Purple People Eaters were favored by 13 points.

I did not get to watch Super Bowl IV on TV that day because I was serving as an altar boy. I had to wait until after Mass for a score update, and, indeed, the Chiefs were going to win Super Bowl IV, 23-7, with heroics from Lenny Dawson QB, Otis Taylor WR and a shutdown Kansas City defense.

Super Bowls in the early days did not have the dramatic buildup with the 24/7 news/sports cycle of today, and the players were paid a pittance compared to 2020 salaries.  In fact, players had to supplement their NFL salaries with an off-season job to make ends meet at home.  Professional teams often “barnstormed local communities” in the off-season to gin up local support and show fans appreciation.  

Some time after the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl IV, many of the team members came to Abilene High School in my hometown to play our local Jaycees basketball team.  After the exhibition game, the players allowed fans to line up for autographs and even handed out pictures and personally signed them. One of my lasting childhood memories is when I approached Hall of Famer Defensive Tackle Buck Buchanan who was 6’ 7’― a mountain of a man!  I remember reaching up towards Mr. Buchanan and asking him if he would sign my program from that evening. It was a long reach! Buck Buchanan was a very gracious and kind person. I will never forget that!

Another vivid memory is when my brother Ben (currently 8th District Court Judge in Abilene, Kansas) and I wrote to our favorite football teams requesting signed 8 x 10 glossy photos of our favorite players. He loved the Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears, and I loved the Chiefs. Most of the teams responded. We both still have our personally signed photo from Dick Butkus. Unfortunately, my Joe Namath photo “disappeared,” and many of my old Kansas City Chiefs photos were lost in the many moves we made over the years.  But I still have one photo from Super Bowl IV, a team picture of Kansas City Chiefs champions.  My wife, Elaine, had it framed for me.  Our son, Bruce, who was quickly initiated into Arrowhead craziness and the Kansas City Chiefs as a very young boy, is today a more rabid, loyal Chiefs fan than I. He is now also the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs Team Picture from Super Bowl IV! 

Thank you, Mitch Holthus, for your passion that bleeds through very clearly over the radio waves on game day. And thank you, Clark Hunt (and your deceased father, Lamar), for being so loyal to The Kansas City Chiefs’ organization to bring us a winner! Thank you, Coach Reid, your coaching staff, and all the great players for allowing Chiefs Kingdom to enjoy Super Bowl LIV!