KCChiefs.com : Dawson's audible

[Coach]

Anyone familiar with the length of Len Dawson's playing career should have suspected his broadcasting days still have a way to go. He survived as a professional quarterback until age 40, and that is far more remarkable than working in front of a

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[tornadospotter]

That was a nice article. Lenny, love ya but I hope you can pass that title to a new Chief QB soon.

[AussieChiefsFan]

Anyone familiar with the length of Len Dawson's playing career should have suspected his broadcasting days still have a way to go. He survived as a professional quarterback until age 40, and that is far more remarkable than working in front of a

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Dawson's audible

Mar 19, 2009, 8:41:21 AM by Jonathan Rand - FAQ


Anyone familiar with the length of Len Dawson’s playing career should have suspected his broadcasting days still have a way to go.
He survived as a professional quarterback until age 40, and that is far more remarkable than working in front of a camera or behind a microphone at age 73.
The mere hint that Dawson might use this past Monday night’s newscast to announce his retirement from KMBC-TV stirred a bee’s nest of speculation. He did not, as it turns out, call the play that many expected. He’s merely reducing his workload.
How does he continue to command a city’s attention and affection 34 years after his playing days ended? That’s largely because of what Dawson and his teammates accomplished, and what the Chiefs haven’t accomplished since.
Each Super Bowl that rolls by without the Chiefs involved keeps enriching the lore of how Dawson led them to the inaugural Super Bowl, against the Packers, after the 1966 season, and to their lone Super Bowl victory, over the Vikings, three years later.
In an out-of-sight, out-of-mind culture, a 43-year career in local and national broadcasting has kept Dawson highly visible. A personality who comes into our living rooms for decades becomes a friend. Even viewers too young to recall his playing days feel a kinship with Dawson.
His public persona, as a gracious man with a common touch, is genuine. Dawson arrived with the Dallas Texans in 1963, and in this relatively small metropolitan area, nobody could maintain a façade for so long.
Unpretentious pro athletes actually were not the exception during Dawson’s era. Their salaries during the 1950s and 1960s sometimes did not dwarf those of their fans. And they often lived next door to those fans, instead of behind the locked gates of an exclusive community.
Even stars held off-season jobs to make ends meet or because they realized, as did Dawson, that their salaries would not carry them past their playing days. Anybody who saw the old New York Giants and Baltimore Colts interviewed for ESPN’s two-hour special last fall on the 1958 NFL championship game could get a feel for the days when this was a league without rock stars.
Because Kansas City is not exactly glutted with championship banners and is still small enough to get proprietary about its sports icons, those who’ve brought home major championships and established local roots leave an indelible footprint. George Brett, Tom Watson and Dawson, all Hall of Famers, are foremost among them.
Joe Montana, arguably the best pro quarterback of all time, was a Chief in 1993 and ‘94 but his local legacy pales in comparison to Dawson’s. Though Montana is the last quarterback to lead the Chiefs to an AFC championship game, he didn’t win it. Besides, Kansas Citians knew they were just borrowing the ex-49er until he’d return home to the West Coast.
Dawson had no trouble deciding to retire after the 1975 season. The team that had reached the top of the mountain was decaying while he took a constant beating behind a makeshift line. It would’ve been hard to imagine that 34 years later, the Chiefs would still be seeking their next championship, or that Dawson would still be around for each game as a radio analyst.
His fine work on Sundays reminds you why quarterbacks are popular broadcast analysts. They have strong name recognition and a keen perspective for what’s happening on both sides of the ball.
It’s hard to see any good reason for Dawson to give up broadcasting just yet. “Last Chiefs quarterback to win a Super Bowl,” on the other hand, is a title he’d gladly relinquish.