Lean years make Chiefs’ success all the more sweet

By Alonzo Weston

The first time the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl was in 1970.

I was a sophomore in high school and that was more than 50 years ago. We defeated the heavily-favored Minnesota Vikings then with a 23-7 victory in Super Bowl IV.

We now have three more Lombardi trophies since then after a nail-biting 25-22 win Sunday over the San Francisco 49ers.

Kids today have no idea about the drought we long time fans have suffered.

The Marty Schottenheimer-era and the Dick Vermeil-era whetted our appetite but we didn’t get the Super Bowl meal.

We had stars then: Derrick Thomas, Tony Gonzalez, Neil Smith and Kevin Ross were superstars.

The heroes from the 1969 Super Bowl team were still around and in our memories.

A few years ago I was in the Arrowhead press box with our St. Joseph News-Press sportswriter Scott Docterman and I turned around and saw Willie Lanier, linebacker for the 1969 Chiefs. He smiled from the look of awe on my face.

That’s how it is around here. The Chiefs are an extended family from those first years to now.

I talked to 1970 Super Bowl winning quarterback Len Dawson in the Chiefs locker room and found him to be one of the humblest kindest men I knew.

Younger people grow up now knowing us as football champions. They have no idea how painful the 50-year-old drought was.

On Valentine’s Day we held our victory parade in Kansas City. Public school closed like it was some national holiday. The parade route was festooned in a sea of red fans and believers.

Super Bowl parades seem like everyday occurrences now. If you win enough you become the villains and everyone wants to beat you. Remember how we hated the Patriots? Now we’re them.

But I’m gonna enjoy this team and this run; We have the best quarterback, tight end and coach in the game. I won’t forget the lean years. Fun yes, but no cigar.

From a 15-year-old high school kid until my 60s, I held on to hope for our Chiefs. I remember going to a Chiefs game at the old municipal stadium on Brooklyn in the 1960s with my mother.

We took a bus to K.C. to watch them play the Dallas Cowboys. I was a Cowboys fan then because I liked wide receiver and Olympic champion Bob Hayes.

But the Chiefs were our team from the Midwest. Humble country folk taking on the big city metropolitans, people snubbed their noses at us for being hicks but we can snub back now.

We’re solid folks around here and we’re world champions, enjoy.