Kansas City, Missouri – Hall of Fame quarterback Lenny Dawson, whose obvious bravado in helping the Kansas City Chiefs win their first Super Bowl title, earned him the nickname “Lenny the Cool,” on Wednesday. He was 87 years old.
Dawson’s family announced his death in a statement via KMBC, the Kansas City-based television station where he starred in his second career as a broadcaster. No reason has been given, although Dawson’s health has been declining for years. Elderly care income on August 12th.
“With wife Linda by his side, we are deeply saddened to inform you of the passing of our beloved Lynne Dawson,” the family statement read. “He was a wonderful husband, father, brother and friend. Lynn has always been grateful and overwhelmed him many times with the myriad bonds he made during his football and radio career.”
Dawson was the MVP in the Chiefs’ 23-7 Super Bowl win over the Minnesota Vikings in January 1970.
“Lynn Dawson is synonymous with the President of the Kansas City Chiefs,” owner Clark Hunt said in a statement on Wednesday. “Lynn embraced and came to embody Kansas City and the people who call it home. You’d be hard-pressed to find a player who had more influence in shaping the organization as we know it today than Lynn Dawson.”
Dawson embodied the Chiefs almost from the start, when the cool franchisee of Purdue lost start-up jobs in Pittsburgh and Cleveland and landed with the fledgling franchise, then located in Dallas. There, Dawson met Hank Stram, who was an associate with the Boilermakers, and together they altered the franchise.
The coach and quarterback won the AFL Championship together in 1962, their first year together, and became true stars the following year, when club founder Lamar Hunt relocated the team to Kansas City and reassigned it to chiefs.
They proceeded to win two more NFL titles, one in 1966 when they lost to the Green Bay Packers in their first Super Bowl, and another in 69, when Dawson came back from injury to help beat the Vikings at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans.
“Looking back at my career, I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to do it,” Dawson told the Associated Press in 2017, shortly after announcing his retirement from his second career as a Hall of Fame announcer. “I couldn’t have achieved so much without my peers and colleagues, and I’m grateful to all of them.”
Dawson has always remained a well-liked figure in Kansas City, although he reduced his public appearances several years ago when his health began to decline. But he’s always had time for fans, whether it’s a photograph or an autograph, often the latter on an iconic black and white image from that Super Bowl halftime: the weary quarterback, white uniform covered in mud, seated in a folding chair with a cigarette in his mouth and a bottle Fresca at his feet.
You captured time and space perfectly. And captivating the man who embodies poise and self-confidence completely.
Born on June 20, 1935, Dawson is the ninth of 11 children who filled the James and Annie Dawson home in the industrial town of Alliance, Ohio. He was a three-sport athlete at Alliance High School, set records in both football and basketball, and turned his success on the courts into a scholarship offer from Purdue.
He led the NCAA in passing proficiency as a sophomore while also playing defense and kicking, and helped lead the Notre Dame Revolution during the 1954 season. By the end of his college career, Dawson had thrown for over 3,000 yards, despite playing in an era he preferred soccer ground pound.
Dawson was selected by the Steelers in the first round of the 1957 draft, but ended up riding the seat behind Earl Moral as a rookie and then failed to beat Bobby Lynn as he got his start the following season. The Steelers eventually traded him for Brown, as Dawson was unable to beat Milt Bloom for the job and was released.
One of the great disappointments in Dawson’s career ended with a positive outcome.
With the newfound freedom to sign anywhere, Dawson jumped on to the AFL and junior Texans, partly seduced by the chance to play with one of his old coaches at Purdue. Capitalizing on his talent, Stram helped Dawson quickly become one of the prolific passers in the league as Texas went 11-3 and won his first of three championships.
The second came in 1966, when Dawson led the Chiefs to an 11-2-1 record and blast 31-7 from the Bills in an AFL title match. That gave the Chief a chance to take on the tough Packers—and coach Vince Lombardi—in the Super Bowl opening, where Dawson threw for 210 yards and went down in a 35-10 defeat.
It was the 1969 season that proved to be the most memorable of Dawson’s career. He sustained a serious knee injury against the Patriots in Week 2, forcing him to miss the next five matches. But he again went to the field. Dawson led the Chiefs to victories over defending champion Jets and arch rivals the Raiders to reach what would be the Super Bowl final before the AFL-NFL merger, throwing for 142 yards and scoring a 23-7 victory.
“It was overwhelming,” Dawson said afterwards. “It’s just, you know how that relief comes and you know it’s over, and we made it work? That’s the feeling I got when I walked off the field.”
Dawson played six more seasons in Kansas City, setting several franchise records that stood until a young man named Patrick Mahomes came along, before hanging up his helmet after the 1975 season.
“RIP to legend Lynne Dawson,” Mahomes wrote in a tweet. “The legacy and impact you made on Kansas City will last forever.”
Along the way, Dawson has used what began as a publicity stunt into a second career in broadcasting.
In 1966, then-general manager Jack Steadman wanted to rally support for the Kansas City franchise and persuaded Dawson to anchor a sports segment in the evening news. His natural allure and folk style made Dawson a natural. He turned his attention to television and radio on a full-time basis after his playing career ended.
Dawson has worked in local television for several decades, adding game analysis for NBC from 1977 to 1982 and hosting the iconic HBO “Inside the NFL” from 1977-2001. He also served for more than three decades on the Chiefs’ broadcasting team.
After being inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1987, Dawson was inducted as a broadcaster in 2012.
“It has been a true privilege and honor to have Lynn at the center of our broadcast team for the past 33 years,” Dan Israel, Executive Producer of the Chiefs Broadcasting Network, said after retiring a few years ago. “His contributions not only to the sport, but to our industry, are incredibly profound.”
Dawson was married to his high school sweetheart, Jackie, from 1954 until her death in 1978, and together they had two children. His second wife, Linda, stayed by his side when Dawson entered hospice care.
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