Barbershopman
TMF Master
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2006
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Chiefs legendary quarterback Len Dawson passed away August 24th about two weeks after entering hospice.
Thanks to Hank Stram's "moving pocket" offense, the incredibly accurate Dawson flourished, leading the AFL in passing four times in the league's 10 year history. He passed for 30 touchdowns in a 14 game season in 1964. It wasn't broken until Patrick Mahomes passed for 30 in 2018 in 10 games. That's pretty impressive as the game was seen as "ground and pound" running in those days. However, the AFL was innovative as a passing league.
He led the Chiefs to Super Bowl I losing to Lombardi's Packers, and again to victory in Super Bowl IV winning against Bud Grant and the Vikings. It would be 50 years until the Chiefs reached the Super Bowl again with a win in Super Bowl LIV.
In football's early days, players had to supplement their income with off-season jobs. Dawson was the sports director of a local TV station starting in 1966, and hosted Inside the NFL on HBO for almost a quarter century starting in 1977. In 2018, the broadcast booth at Arrowhead was named the Len Dawson broadcast booth in his honor.
When Joe Montana was traded to the Chiefs, he couldn't wear his iconic 16, it had been retired by the Chiefs in honor of Dawson. He instead donned 19 in his days here. He mentioned in one of his interviews that he originally chose 16 because of Dawson .
Sadly, I never got to see Len in action. He retired in 1975 after 19 seasons. and I attended my first Chiefs game in 1977 at age eight. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987. He always introduced himself as "the seventh son of a seventh son", a moniker that he thought brought him luck.
There is an iconic photo of Lenny at halftime of Super Bowl I sitting in the locker room. There a bottle of Fresca on the ground by his chair and he was smoking a cigarette. My how times have changed.
RIP Lenny the Cool, thanks for the memories!
Barbershopman
Thanks to Hank Stram's "moving pocket" offense, the incredibly accurate Dawson flourished, leading the AFL in passing four times in the league's 10 year history. He passed for 30 touchdowns in a 14 game season in 1964. It wasn't broken until Patrick Mahomes passed for 30 in 2018 in 10 games. That's pretty impressive as the game was seen as "ground and pound" running in those days. However, the AFL was innovative as a passing league.
He led the Chiefs to Super Bowl I losing to Lombardi's Packers, and again to victory in Super Bowl IV winning against Bud Grant and the Vikings. It would be 50 years until the Chiefs reached the Super Bowl again with a win in Super Bowl LIV.
In football's early days, players had to supplement their income with off-season jobs. Dawson was the sports director of a local TV station starting in 1966, and hosted Inside the NFL on HBO for almost a quarter century starting in 1977. In 2018, the broadcast booth at Arrowhead was named the Len Dawson broadcast booth in his honor.
When Joe Montana was traded to the Chiefs, he couldn't wear his iconic 16, it had been retired by the Chiefs in honor of Dawson. He instead donned 19 in his days here. He mentioned in one of his interviews that he originally chose 16 because of Dawson .
Sadly, I never got to see Len in action. He retired in 1975 after 19 seasons. and I attended my first Chiefs game in 1977 at age eight. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987. He always introduced himself as "the seventh son of a seventh son", a moniker that he thought brought him luck.
There is an iconic photo of Lenny at halftime of Super Bowl I sitting in the locker room. There a bottle of Fresca on the ground by his chair and he was smoking a cigarette. My how times have changed.
RIP Lenny the Cool, thanks for the memories!
Barbershopman
