Lamar Hunt 1932 - 2006

pettyfog · Dec 12, 2006

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KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) - American soccer and gridiron football pioneer Lamar Hunt was fighting for his life in a Dallas hospital Tuesday, and friends and family of the 74-year-old owner of MLS and NFL clubs were hoping for "miracles."

Hunt has battled cancer for several years and was hospitalized Nov. 22 with a partially collapsed lung. ..
Lamar Hunt recently sold the Kansas City Wizards but remains the owner of the Columbus Crew and FC Dallas.
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omsdogg · Dec 13, 2006

RE: Lamar Hunt fighting for life

The U.S. Cup is named after him. He's been a great sponsor towards the rise of soccer and MLS in the United States. I wish all the best for his family through this ordeal and whatever happens with Lamar, I pray he'll suffer as little as possible.

HatterDon · Dec 13, 2006

RE: Lamar Hunt fighting for life

Same here.

I can't think of Lamar Hunt without thinking of how, much like MLS, he created the AFL [now AFC] out of just guts, will, and a lot of money. After the first season as owner of the Dallas Texans [now chiefs], his father HL Hunt was asked by a reporter what he thought of his boy losing a million dollars on a minor football league. HL's response? "A million dollars! Keep that up and he'll be broke in 50 years or so!"

You can't measure what the guy has meant for fitba in the US.

dcheather · Dec 14, 2006

RE: Lamar Hunt fighting for life

Rest in Peace, Lamar.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2697040

Soccer Pioneer article:

After the 2002 World Cup, during which Hunt visited all 20 stadiums used in Japan and South Korea, Hunt was asked when he thought soccer would succeed in the U.S.

"I have no doubts that it will be a major sport in the United States," Hunt said. "I'm probably not going to live to see that day because Americans are a little afraid of getting interested in something at which they're not very good. So it depends on how quickly the U.S. can become good. Well, we've made huge strides since the 1990 World Cup, USA '94, and obviously since '98. Unfortunately, those strides only register with the public once every four years. But I have no question that we're going to see the sport become a major success in the United States, with high attendance at club games.''
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pettyfog · Dec 14, 2006

RE: Lamar Hunt fighting for life

In the Hall Of Fame for THREE sports... including Tennis.

American Football
Founder of the American Football League (1960-1969)
- Founder and owner of the Dallas Texans, which moved and were called the Kansas City Chiefs;
- inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972;
- credited with coming up the term "Super Bowl".
- AFC Championship Trophy named for him

Soccer
! co-founder of the North American Soccer League (1967-84);
! inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1992
! co-founder of Major League Soccer;
! founder and owner of Columbus Crew, current owner of FC Dallas
- Built first modern soccer stadium in US, private money
! US Soccer Open Cup named for him

Other
Was one of the founding investors of the NBA's Chicago Bulls;
co-founded World Championship Tennis and was made a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993

How Lamar changed the sports world

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Listening to various ESPN sources and watching the International wires, I am beginning to get upset about the off-hand coverage.

I dont think people understand exactly WHAT impact Lamar had on modern pro sports. He's linked with the Mara and Rooney families as to NFL, besides founding AFL/AFC.

But those two were the NFL 'Old Guard' who wanted to keep things as they were; causing him to START the AFL and he worked with the other owners to apply sound marketing and ownership principles... something that hasnt been done since.

It was Hunt's principles that provided the seed of management which makes the NFL the ONLY high profile league that's profitable for all the franchises as well as the players.

Without the AFC, Pete Rozelle would have had nothing to do.

Without the above, it's highly likely that two EPL teams wouldnt have American owners.. you can judge for yourself whether that's bad or good, but true nonetheless.

Hunt started the NASL, and it's not his fault that the Cosmos took them overboard into oblivion.
- that he put so much into MLS showed that he never gave up the dream.
- that his SECOND MLS team was put in Columbus showed he understood what he learned with the Chiefs... if you build it, they will come.

ChicagoTom · Dec 14, 2006

RE: Lamar Hunt fighting for life

RIP Lamar!!

HatterDon · Dec 14, 2006

Re: RE: Lamar Hunt fighting for life

pettyfog said:

In the Hall Of Fame for THREE sports... including Tennis.

.....
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Great post, Petty.

Thanks, Lamar.

"And so it goes." Billy Pilgrim

SoCalJoe · Dec 14, 2006

RE: Re: RE: Lamar Hunt fighting for life

Thanks Petty for the great post about Hunt. No question his contribution to sports in the US is immence. The fact that he was very understated in nature is probably reflecting the coverage his passing is getting.

pettyfog · Dec 14, 2006

RE: Re: RE: Lamar Hunt fighting for life

Perhaps, my passion for him is better explained by the fact that, at the time I bought Crew season tickets, the major sports franchise owners in Ohio were:

Art Modell
Marge Schott
Mike Brown

I never could quite take on the Chiefs as 'my team' but I appreciated him even before..

" The polar opposite of Jerry Jones"
- Skip on 'Cold Pizza'
- - - - - - -- - - -
Also From Wiki:

NHL: Hunt and John H. McConnell formed Columbus Hockey Limited, L.L.C. (CHL) in an effort to obtain a National Hockey League franchise for Columbus, Ohio. Following disagreements over the financing for an arena, McConnell accepted an offer to lease a new arena from Nationwide Insurance Enterprise. McConnell froze-out CHL and Hunt and was awarded the NHL franchise. See McConnell v. Hunt Sports Enterprises, 132 Ohio App.3d 657, 725 N.E.2d 1193 (1999).
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Just business, to be sure... but McConnell never did a damn thing about NHL until Lamar showed HE believed in the Columbus sports market.
Just ONE of the reasons why I'm not ga-ga over the CBJ... and proof that perhaps there IS a 'sports karma'.
Since CBJ continue to suck, no matter what they do..

pettyfog · Dec 16, 2006

Re: RE: Re: RE: Lamar Hunt fighting for life

SoCalJoe said:

Thanks Petty for the great post about Hunt. No question his contribution to sports in the US is immence. The fact that he was very understated in nature is probably reflecting the coverage his passing is getting.
Click to expand...

Now, several days later, the news is full of testimonials ... and the wonder is that, if you read them, you know there are hundreds maybe thousands more out there.
He was born rich. He always WAS, by most measures, rich.. but he never 'acted rich'.
Now we know he always flew coach class, and {because he} enjoyed being with people.
He drove the same cars for years
Once he knew you, he ALWAYS knew you.. and everything you ever spoke about.

In fact he lived like, dressed like and acted like he was middle class Joe-Blow who just happened to be in the right place all the time.

Lamar Hunt ‘was just wonderful’

Examples of Lamar Hunt’s acts of benevolence are being exchanged these days in the wake of his death. Collectively, they show a man who truly cared about people.

Take what Hunt did for Georgia Buchanan when she was in great need.

Her late husband was Buck Buchanan, an All-American at Grambling State University. He became the first player selected in the AFL draft in 1963 by the Kansas City Chiefs and played for the Chiefs from 1963 to 1975.

In 1990, Buchanan, a defensive tackle, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. On July 16, 1992, he died from lung cancer at age 51.

When Buchanan passed away, his widow learned just how much of a friend she had in Hunt. For three days he lived at her home, taking care of various arrangements and managing the household tasks.

“Lamar Hunt was at my house, answering the telephone,” Buchanan told me recently. “He took notes on who was calling. He even helped me plan the funeral. It was like your friend coming over for three days. He was even driving me to the cemetery. Lamar Hunt did all that.”

She sat with him during the recent Chiefs home game against the Oakland Raiders.

“Lamar was so human,” Buchanan said. “Yes, he’s a person with means. But he knew everyone’s name in your family. He would ask me if I wanted to take his seat. That’s the kind of person he was.”

Buchanan described Hunt as a “gentle giant” and a “quiet storm.”

“He could get some things done, but he went about it in such a quiet way,” Buchanan said. “Lamar was just wonderful.”
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SoCalJoe · Dec 16, 2006

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Lamar Hunt fighting for life

I did hear Chris Mortenson on ESPN radio calling him "the greatest american sportsman of the last 50 years", looking at his bio makes it hard to argue.

Forum	Title	Date
Prem talk, Those Other Leagues, and International	2022 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup	May 11, 2022
Prem talk, Those Other Leagues, and International	2018 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup	Jun 7, 2018
Prem talk, Those Other Leagues, and International	Happy Birthday Lamar Hunt	Aug 2, 2010
Prem talk, Those Other Leagues, and International	Lamar Hunt Interview	Jun 11, 2005
Prem talk, Those Other Leagues, and International	Ten! In the House Lamar Built	May 10, 2009

Lamar Hunt 1932 - 2006

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