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Late Chiefs owner inducted into Hall of Famous Missourians
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By The Associated Press
The late business tycoon and Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt joined the ranks of famous Missourians on Wednesday.
It's the ninth hall of fame to honor the man who coined the name “Super Bowl” and helped merge the rival American Football League and the National Football League into one professional football league. Hunt founded the Dallas Texans in 1960 and moved the franchise to Kansas City in 1963.
He died in 2006. Clark Hunt helped unveil his father's bust at a ceremony in the House chamber.
Lamar Hunt's bust, which proclaims him “the founding father of professional sports in the United States,” will be permanently displayed in the Capitol.
Clark Hunt, chairman of the Chiefs, said the sculpture looked just like his father.
“It's fantastic. It's a tremendous likeness of him,” Clark Hunt said.
Lamar Hunt is one of several dozen people who have been inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians. Among the others are Walt Disney, President Harry Truman and St. Louis Cardinals radio announcer Jack Buck. Inductees are selected by House speakers.
Speaker Rod Jetton said he once was admonished for being too talkative while watching a game from the owner's box.
Jetton said Hunt turned to him and said, “I paid a lot of money for all of these plays, and I want to watch every one of them.”
The bust's sculptor, Sabra Tull Meyer, said Hunt's graciousness was clear the first time she met him after attending her first professional football game.
Hunt also helped develop the North American Soccer League and the tennis promotion company World Championship Tennis. His family operated the Kansas City Wizards professional soccer team from 1995-2006 and is still involved with the Columbus Crew and F.C. Dallas.
Hunt also was a founding investor for the Chicago Bulls professional basketball team.
In all, he owned 13 championship rings in three different sports.
Besides professional athletics, the El Dorado, Ark., native also operated several businesses. He founded an underground business complex just north of Arrowhead Stadium and developed two Kansas City amusement parks - Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun.
Carl Peterson, the Chiefs' president, general manager and chief executive officer since 1988, said Hunt was his best boss and that he misses him every day.
Peterson said Hunt was genuinely humble, personally serving chocolate chip cookies to guests in his suites during games and walking around the parking lots beforehand.
Peterson said people regularly say to him, “'Do you know who sat right next to me between my husband and I, three across in coach, Mr. Lamar Hunt.' And that's how Lamar was. He didn't fly first-class. He wanted to be with everyone, he wanted to know what people thought.”
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On the Net:
Hall of Famous Missourians: http://www.house.mo.gov/famous/
It's the ninth hall of fame to honor the man who coined the name “Super Bowl” and helped merge the rival American Football League and the National Football League into one professional football league. Hunt founded the Dallas Texans in 1960 and moved the franchise to Kansas City in 1963.
He died in 2006. Clark Hunt helped unveil his father's bust at a ceremony in the House chamber.
Lamar Hunt's bust, which proclaims him “the founding father of professional sports in the United States,” will be permanently displayed in the Capitol.
Clark Hunt, chairman of the Chiefs, said the sculpture looked just like his father.
“It's fantastic. It's a tremendous likeness of him,” Clark Hunt said.
Lamar Hunt is one of several dozen people who have been inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians. Among the others are Walt Disney, President Harry Truman and St. Louis Cardinals radio announcer Jack Buck. Inductees are selected by House speakers.
Speaker Rod Jetton said he once was admonished for being too talkative while watching a game from the owner's box.
Jetton said Hunt turned to him and said, “I paid a lot of money for all of these plays, and I want to watch every one of them.”
The bust's sculptor, Sabra Tull Meyer, said Hunt's graciousness was clear the first time she met him after attending her first professional football game.
Hunt also helped develop the North American Soccer League and the tennis promotion company World Championship Tennis. His family operated the Kansas City Wizards professional soccer team from 1995-2006 and is still involved with the Columbus Crew and F.C. Dallas.
Hunt also was a founding investor for the Chicago Bulls professional basketball team.
In all, he owned 13 championship rings in three different sports.
Besides professional athletics, the El Dorado, Ark., native also operated several businesses. He founded an underground business complex just north of Arrowhead Stadium and developed two Kansas City amusement parks - Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun.
Carl Peterson, the Chiefs' president, general manager and chief executive officer since 1988, said Hunt was his best boss and that he misses him every day.
Peterson said Hunt was genuinely humble, personally serving chocolate chip cookies to guests in his suites during games and walking around the parking lots beforehand.
Peterson said people regularly say to him, “'Do you know who sat right next to me between my husband and I, three across in coach, Mr. Lamar Hunt.' And that's how Lamar was. He didn't fly first-class. He wanted to be with everyone, he wanted to know what people thought.”
--
On the Net:
Hall of Famous Missourians: http://www.house.mo.gov/famous/
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