KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Len Dawson, the legendary Kansas City Chiefs quarterback who led the team to its first Super Bowl win, died at around 3:00 a.m. Wednesday morning.
He was 87.
Dawson, who was born in 1935 in Ohio, played college football at Purdue University.
He was drafted fifth overall in the 1957 draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it wasn’t until the then-Dallas Texans signed him in 1962 that his Hall of Fame career started to take shape.
Dawson followed the team as it moved north to Kansas City, where he would play the rest of his career.
During his 14 years with the Texans/Chiefs, Dawson started 157 games, going 93-56-8. He threw for more than 28,000 yards during the span, connecting on 57.2% of his passes and throwing for 237 touchdowns.
Dawson led the team to its first Super Bowl win, defeating the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV.
While Dawson retired from the NFL in 1976, he remained active in sports, serving as the Sports Director for KMBC-TV in Kansas City. He stayed in that role until his retirement in 2009.
Dawson was also the long-time radio partner to Chiefs play-by-play announcer Mitch Holthus on the team’s radio network.
