Hunt's family hoping for miracle

[miami_fan]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2695313

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Lamar Hunt was fighting for his life in a Dallas hospital Tuesday, and friends and family of the 74-year-old pioneer of the modern NFL were hoping for "miracles."

Hunt has battled cancer for several years and was hospitalized the day before Thanksgiving with a partially collapsed lung. Doctors discovered that the cancer has since spread, and Hunt has been under heavy sedation since last week.

"They're trying to make him as comfortable as possible," said Carl Peterson, president and general manager of Hunt's Kansas City Chiefs. "He's battling a very courageous fight. We'll continue to hope that miracles will happen."

The son of Texas oilman H.L. Hunt tried unsuccessfully to buy an NFL team in the late 1950s, and when continually rebuffed he persuaded several other wealthy sportsmen to form the American Football League to compete with the NFL.

His Dallas Texans moved to Kansas City in 1963 and became the Chiefs. Several years later, the NFL was forced to merge with Hunt's successful AFL, and the modern league was born.

Long an eloquent spokesman for the league and for small-market teams such as Kansas City, Hunt in 1972 became the first AFL figure inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The AFC championship trophy is named after him and, coincidentally, it was Hunt who gave the Super Bowl its name.

He and his family have also been active in professional soccer, and he's a minority owner of the NBA's Chicago Bulls.

Clark Hunt, one of his four children, has been gradually assuming his father's oversight of the family's sports interests.

"I was with Clark Hunt yesterday, and of course I speak with the family every day," Peterson said. "There's not any improvement."

Hunt and other early-day owners who put the health of the league above the best interests of their individual clubs have been credited with helping the NFL avoid the big market-small market disparity that has plagued major-league baseball.

Peterson said he visited Hunt's hospital bed last week.

"He's giving it everything he can," Peterson said. "The doctors are also. We hope and pray for good results.

"All the family is there. Everybody's there," Peterson added. "It's extremely hard for everybody. And on a personal note, certainly I've been with this guy a long time and have the utmost respect and love for him. I've known him since 1976 when I came into the league, and I know what he's contributed to the National Football League, to Kansas City, to this community.

"It's a difficult time for everybody," Peterson said.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press

[kcchief19]

Once Lamar missed the Thanksgiving Day game, it was pretty clear to a lot of us here that his condition was worse than people were letting on. That game was representative of his mission to get the league to rotate Thanksgiving Day games around rather than just leaving them to Dallas and Detroit.

If this is it, it will be a sad day in Kansas City and the NFL. As much due as Hunt has received, I'm not sure he's ever gotten the due he truly deserved. No doubt Pete Rozelle deserves the most credit for shaping the NFL into what it is today, but Hunt was easily the second most influential person in the emergence of the NFL into what it is. He was the driving force behind the AFL and was the one who convinced the other AFL owners that revenue sharing was imperative. That not only helped the AFL thrive when other upstart pro leagues vanished, and the NFL copied that model after the merger. And the man named the Super Bowl for crying out loud!

I'll be hoping for that miracle -- it will be terrible for Kansas City to lose Lamar and Buck O'Neil in a matter of months.

[kcchief19]

Two things as an aside:

1) The Thursday night Thanksgiving Day game was a reward for Lamar Hunt for championing more opportunities for teams to play on Thanksgiving. Even though he wasn't at the game, you know Lamar watched it on TV ... except that due to the greed and abandonment of their principles and roots, Lamar missed the game the NFL Network isn't available on cable in the Dallas area at his hospital. He listened to the game on the radio and it was taped for him so he could watch it on TV. Disgraceful.

2) As much as I would love for the Chiefs to become a Thanksgiving Day tradition and it would be a huge hit, I hope the NFL rotates around the Thursday night game. That's what Lamar would have wanted. I have no doubt Carl Peterson will use Lamar's legacy to try and get Kansas City as the permanent host for the Thanksgiving night game, and there have been rumors the league was considering award the game to KC annually, but I think Lamar would want other teams to get the chance.

[GoldenEagle]

Lamar Hunt passed away this evening.

[Axxon]

Rip Mr Hunt.

[SFL Cat]

Very sad.

[miami_fan]

RIP

[Raiders Army]

Rest In Peace.

[ISiddiqui]

RIP

[JPhillips]

Does this leave Al Davis as the last AFL owner still in control of the team?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by GoldenEagle

Lamar Hunt passed away this evening.

A very sad day for KC residents. Mr. Hunt and Mr. Ewing Kauffman were two men with big ideas and the bankrolls to make things happen who put this city on the map. Both of them did it while remaining very humble and wonderful people. Now they are both gone and will be sorely missed by the community.

As a sidenote, earlier in the week the Chargers/Chiefs game this Sunday was moved to Sunday night. Should be a great opportunity on a national stage to highlight Lamar Hunt and his contributions to the sporting world as we know it.

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

[colt45]

Mr. Hunt did amazing things for all of sports in America. He'll be sorely missed in Dallas as well.

[cthomer5000]

Was an amazing innovater in US sports. A true original. Sad news.

[Scarecrow]

I am wondering if Mr. Hunt is the only person in 3 major Hall of Fames?

1972: Becomes the first American Football League personage inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
1992: Inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
1993: Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

[ISiddiqui]

RIP Lamar Hunt... an integral part to both football and soccer in this country.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Scarecrow

1993: Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

How was he involved with Tennis?

Very sad to hear.

[Ragone]

I find some irony in this..

Today steve sabol was talking about a hour long piece they did on lamar hunt they are gonna show on nfl network. Yet roughly 75% of kansas city cannot get nfl network.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Radii

How was he involved with Tennis?

Very sad to hear.

Lamar is the main reason that tennis tour and the millions in prize money now exist. He founded World Championship tennis, which caused the tennis world to explode into what we know today. He invested millions of his own dollars to make it happen.....

•1967: Hunt helped launch World Championship Tennis, which helped usher in the open era of professional tennis.

•1993: Hunt was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.


“People need to be aware of what he brought to the sport of tennis: the passion he brought, the love of the game. I was lucky that I came at the time where it was just starting to explode and there were a lot of great personalities in the sport, yet at the same time, you had at least a sense of appreciation for what a man like Lamar Hunt was laying on the line.”

-John McEnroe