Len Dawson, who led the Kansas City Chiefs to victory in Super Bowl IV and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as both a player and broadcaster, has died at the age of 87, according to his family.
“With wife Linda at his side, it is with much sadness that we inform you of the passing of our beloved Len Dawson,” the family said in a statement to KMBC in Kansas City, where Lawson previously worked as a sports broadcaster. “He was a wonderful husband, father, brother and friend. Len was always grateful and many times overwhelmed by the countless bonds he made during his football and broadcast careers.
“He loved Kansas City and no matter where his travels took him, he could not wait to return home.”
Dawson, who had entered hospice care in Kansas City on Aug. 12, worked for the Chiefs for nearly a half-century: 14 years as a quarterback and 33 as a broadcast analyst.
He spent the first five years of his 19-season professional career as a sparingly used backup for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns, but his career took off after he signed in 1962 to play for the AFL’s Dallas Texans (soon to be the Kansas City Chiefs) to play under Hank Stram, who had been an assistant at Purdue during Dawson’s stellar collegiate career.
The man Stram once called “the most accurate passer in pro football” immediately showed he was worthy of being a team’s No. 1 quarterback, leading the AFL in completion percentage (61.0) and earning 1962 Player of the Year honors while carrying the Texans to the league title.
After moving to Kansas City, the team’s success continued under Dawson, who was a seven-time All-Star/Pro Bowler and twice was a first-team All-Pro.
In 1966, he took the Chiefs to another AFL title, which for the first time meant a trip to what would come to be known as the Super Bowl. Dawson played well (16-of-27, 211 yards), but the Chiefs were overmatched by Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers in a 35-10 loss.
The Chiefs were back three seasons later to face the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV. Despite Joe Namath and the New York Jets upsetting the Baltimore Colts the previous year, the NFL was still seen as superior and the Vikings came in as a double-digit favorite.
But the Kansas City defense dominated and Dawson played a typically strong game (12-of-17, 142 yards), including a 46-yard touchdown pass to Otis Taylor in the third quarter that sealed the 23-7 victory.
Dawson was selected as the second-team quarterback, behind Namath, on the AFL’s all-time team in 1970.
He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1987 and as a broadcaster in 2012, following a TV and radio career that began as a sports anchor on Kansas City TV in 1966 while he was still playing for the Chiefs, oftentimes going to KMBC after practice to broadcast that night’s sports report. Dawson went on to become an analyst for games on NBC as well as a longtime host of HBO’s “Inside the NFL.”
After a series of health issues that included prostate cancer and quadruple heart bypass surgery, Dawson retired from broadcasting in 2017 following 33 years as the Chiefs’ radio color analyst.