Legendary Chiefs quarterback Len Dawson dies at 87

• Legendary Chiefs quarterback Len Dawson dies at 87.
• Dawson’s family announced his death.
• «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 statement read.

Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson, whose unmistakable swagger in helping the Kansas City Chiefs win their first Super Bowl earned him the nickname «Lenny the Cool», died on Wednesday. He was 87 years old, according to The Associated Press.

Dawson’s family announced his death in a statement on KMBC, the Kansas City-based television station where he starred in his second career as an anchor. No cause was given, although Dawson had had health problems for years.

Len Dawson dies at 87

«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 statement read. “He was a wonderful husband, father, brother and friend. Len was always grateful and oftentimes overwhelmed by the countless bonds he made during his football and television career.”

The MVP of the Chiefs’ victory over the Vikings in January 1970, Dawson, entered hospice care on August 12. «Len Dawson is synonymous with the Kansas City Chiefs,» owner Clark Hunt said in a statement Wednesday, Aug. 24.

Len Dawson, a legendary football player

“Len embraced and came to embody Kansas City and the people who call it home. You would be hard pressed to find a player who had a greater impact on shaping the organization as we know it today than Len Dawson.»

Dawson personified the Chiefs almost from the beginning, when the affable Purdue standout lost starting jobs in Pittsburgh and Cleveland and landed in the fledgling franchise, then located in Dallas. There, Dawson met Hank Stram, who had been an assistant coach for the Boilermakers, and together they changed the franchise forever.

A champion

The coach and quarterback won the AFL championship together in 1962, their first year together, and became bona fide stars the following year when club founder Lamar Hunt moved the team to Kansas City and renamed it Chiefs.

They went on to win two more AFL titles, one in 1966 when they lost to the Packers in the first Super Bowl, and the other in 1969 when Dawson came back from injury to help beat the Vikings at Tulane Stadium in New York. Orleans.

Len Dawson was also a Hall of Fame anchor

“Looking back on my career, I have been blessed by what I had the opportunity to do,” Dawson told The Associated Press in 2017, shortly after announcing his retirement from his second career as a Hall of Fame broadcaster. «I could not have accomplished so much without my teammates and colleagues, and I am grateful for each one of them.»

Dawson has always been a beloved figure in Kansas City, even though he cut back on his public appearances several years ago when his health began to fail. But he always had time for fans, whether it was a photograph or a signature, the latter often in an iconic black-and-white halftime photo from that first Super Bowl: the exhausted quarterback, white uniform covered in mud, sitting in a folding chair with a cigarette in his mouth and a bottle of Fresca at his feet.