“It was overwhelming,” Dawson said after the victory over Minnesota. He hurt his knee against the Patriots in Week 2, forcing him to miss the next five games, but returned to lead the Chiefs over the defending champion Jets and rival Raiders to reach what would be the final Super Bowl before the AFL-NFL merger. It was the 1969 season that proved to be the most memorable of Dawson’s career, though. That earned the Chiefs the chance to face the powerhouse Packers of coach Vince Lombardi in the inaugural Super Bowl, where Dawson threw for 210 yards and a touchdown in a 35-10 defeat. The second came in 1966, when Dawson led the Chiefs to an 11-2-1 record and a 31-7 blowout of the Bills in the AFL title game. It was Stram who managed to tap into his talent, helping Dawson become one of the league’s prolific passers, as the Texans went 11-3 in 1962 and won the first of three titles together. With the sudden freedom to play anywhere, Dawson jumped to the upstart AFL and the Texans, lured in part by the chance to play for one of his old Purdue coaches. When the Steelers traded him to the Browns, Dawson was unable to beat out Milt Plum for the job and was summarily released. He was chosen by the Steelers in the first round of the 1957 draft, but wound up riding the bench behind Earl Morrall as a rookie and then failed to beat out Bobby Layne for the starting job the following season. And by the end of his college career, he’d thrown for more than 3,000 yards in an era defined by ground-and-pound football. He was a three-sport athlete at Alliance High School, setting records in both football and basketball, but turned his focus to the gridiron with a scholarship to Purdue.ĭawson led the NCAA in passing efficiency as a sophomore while also playing defense and kicking. Sophisticated yet blue-collar to his core, Dawson was born June 20, 1935, the ninth of 11 children of James and Annie Dawson in the manufacturing town of Alliance, Ohio. “I said to him once, ‘Leonard, make sure that you never let them see you sweat.’ And he said, ‘Coach, quarterbacks don’t sweat. “He was always under control,” Stram recalled years later. And it perfectly captured “Lenny the Cool.” The latter often was scrawled upon a seminal photo from halftime of the first Super Bowl: the exhausted quarterback, white uniform covered in grass stains, sitting on a folding chair with a cigarette in his mouth and a bottle of Fresca at his feet. He would go out of his way to make time for fans, whether it be a photograph or signature. “I could not have accomplished so much without my teammates and colleagues, and I’m grateful for each of them.”ĭawson remained a beloved figure in Kansas City, even as his health declined and he cut back on public appearances. “I’ve been blessed for what I had the opportunity to do,” Dawson said told The Associated Press in 2017. Other memorials will be arranged according to the wishes of his family. The Chiefs intend to honor Dawson during their preseason finale against Green Bay on Thursday night, Hunt said, though the details were still to be decided. No cause was given, though Dawson had had prostate cancer and quadruple heart bypass surgery over the years. “His impact on the Kansas City Chiefs and everyone who has worked for the organization cannot be overstated.”ĭawson’s family announced his death Wednesday at the age of 87. “Len was my first sports hero and he remained someone I admired and respected his entire life,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said. He was a Hall of Fame quarterback who led the Kansas City Chiefs to their first Super Bowl championship, then a Hall of Fame broadcaster who brought football into the homes of millions on the iconic HBO show “Inside the NFL.”
Whether it was in the huddle during the early days of the AFL or behind the microphone as the NFL grew into the behemoth it is today, Len Dawson carried himself with an unmistakable swagger and self-assurance that earned him the well-worn nickname “Lenny the Cool.”