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Arrowhead Red Sea Guinness World Record...
Not sure if y'all are familiar with the story behind the Guinness World Record we Chiefs fans established during the Oakland Raider game on 10/13/13...so will share some cherished memories with y'all. Chiefs buddies, Ty, Tim, Charlie, myself, Mark, and another person are who founded a Chiefs fan unity movement on Facebook in early July 2013. It grew much faster than we could imagine, over 10,000 fans joining us in a matter of a few weeks.
Our purpose for the movement was to restore fan unity and fan traditions on game day at Arrowhead, some of which had been lost over the years, including the reputation we had in the 90's for being the loudest stadium in the NFL. We used going for the Guinness World Record as motivation to unite fans and help restore the 12th player home field advantage at Arrowhead.
For four months we daily dedicated much of our time & focus to the fan unity movement and the Guinness World Record game. We attended meetings with the Chiefs at Arrowhead working together with them to plan the GWR, including strategical planning to do what we could to have the best strategical advantage for achieving our goal of setting a GWR. We also met with the Guinness Official from England, Phillip, and professional decibel sound tech, Zach, at Arrowhead the day before the GWR game took place. They explained to us in detail what would occur on their end. We also had many interviews with local & national media to help publicize the GWR game in advance, and spread the word throughout Chiefs Kingdom worldwide. We needed Arrowhead as full as possible with fans to help set a GWR, so the publicity was necessary. I personally am not a media person, so chose to by pass the interviews, the guys handled that part, while I worked writing press releases & statements, scheduling meetings with the Chiefs, and more.
Although at times stressful and exhausting investing many dedicated hours with being a founder of the Chiefs fan unity movement & GWR game...it was an incredible memorable experience, and one I'll always cherish and be grateful for. Co-founders and myself achieved our goals beyond expectations. Chiefs Kingdom worldwide became involved, even if not able to attend the game on 10/13/13, they were there in spirit and heart supporting us all who were there. Many volunteered helping in ways possible from a distance. Together, Chiefs Kingdom united in all it's glory making history, and we became a part of Chiefs franchise history in a way never done before on Oct. 13th, 2013.
There are no words that can express the emotions that ran through me when I saw the jumbo tron at Arrowhead announce that we had accomplished our goal, of which many critics said we'd never reach 137 decibels. They were wrong. I began shaking, tears falling, heart pounding, and it was just an incredibly emotionally overwhelming few moments when staring at that jumbo tron announcing we fans...Arrowhead was now the loudest stadium in the world. All our months of daily hard work and effort, many sleepless nights, emotional & physical exhaustion, loss of voice, broken blood vessels in hands, had been rewarded seeing that jumbo tron announce to the world we had done what critics said was the impossible. The greatest reward however, was the scoreboard...we beat the Raiders at home, and broke their streak of beating us in our own house. Coach Reid & the players then publicly with admiration and gratitude acknowledged the game win as belonging to the fans because of our crowd noise. That was also a humbling reward.
A week or so after the GWR game, the City of Kansas City, Missouri honored us founders as representatives on behalf of all Chiefs Kingdom. The Mayor and City Council honored us in a special council meeting with an honorary resolution for our efforts setting a GWR and becoming a part of Kansas City, Missouri's history, too. They presented us each with a certified honorary resolution signed by the Mayor and official witnesses.
Also about a week following Chiefs Kingdom setting a Guinness World Record, we founders were invited on to the field at Arrowhead when we played the Texans. The Chiefs have been a part of my life since my dad became a fan in 1963 when they moved to Kansas City. I was only 7 yrs. old then, so I've really never known life without the Chiefs being a part of it. In the 51 years the Chiefs have been a part of my life, I had never been invited to be on the field at Arrowhead on game day...until that day.
We weren't told in advance that there would be a surprise visit by Clark Hunt to honor us personally while on the field. I have met & spoke with Clark a few times over the years as a fan, but never in a way that he was honoring me as a fan, along with co-founding friends as well. Clark presented each of us with a custom framed GWR certificate.
Chiefs Kingdom accomplished many historical victories in 2013, as well as did our franchise and team. We will be back in 2014 with an undying passion to win.
Below are some photo's capturing the cherished lifetime memories of Chiefs season 2013, the GWR game. I've also included a photo of the honors given now hanging in my home. :)
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