Kansas City Chiefs History and Information
The team is owned by Lamar Hunt, who founded the team along with their original league, the American Football League, in 1960. The Dallas Texans, as they were known then, defeated the Houston Oilers in a dramatic 1962 AFL championship which went into double overtime. The Dallas Texans moved to Kansas City in 1963. The name, "Chiefs" was selected by a fan contest, and is derived from the then-Mayor of Kansas City, H. Roe Bartle. Bartle was the founder of the Native American-based honor society known as The Tribe of Mic-O-Say within the Boy Scouts of America organization, which earned him the nickname, "The Chief," and was instumental in persuading Lamar Hunt to move his team to Mid-America. It is said that Hunt actually considered keeping the team name as it was, and playing as the "Kansas City Texans".[1]
The Texans/Chiefs franchise was the flagship team of the American Football League, with the most playoff appearances as an AFL team, six (tied with Oakland), the most American Football League Championships (3), and the most Super Bowl appearances, playing in the first Super Bowl, and in the last to be played between League champions. The Texans won the classic 1962 double-overtime AFL championship game against the Houston Oilers, 20 - 17, at the time the longest, and still one of the best professional football championship games ever played. The Chiefs dropped the first Super Bowl to the Packers, then pulverized the Vikings 23 - 7 in the final "true" AFL-NFL World Championsip game after the AFL's last season in 1969. They had just one coach throughout their AFL history, Hall-of-Famer Hank Stram.
The Kansas City Chiefs' (under Dallas Texans name) first stadium was at 22nd and Brooklyn, called "Municipal Stadium". Municipal Stadium opened in 1923 and had 49,002 seats. In 1971, Municipal Stadium was abandoned in favor of the new Arrowhead Stadium. Municipal Stadium was demolished in 1976; it is now a community garden. The Chiefs' first game at Arrowhead Stadium was against the St. Louis Cardinals (Chiefs 24, St. Louis Cardinals 14).
As the Chiefs, under coach Hank Stram, the team played in the first Super Bowl, losing 35-10 to Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers. They earned revenge three years later, upsetting the Minnesota Vikings 23-7. The team won 43 games between 1966 and 1969. The Chiefs had only two winning seasons between 1974 and 1986. They did not get to the playoffs for 15 straight years.
In business since 2000