Gold Jacket Spotlight: Len Dawson Made Opportunity Count

Few spotlights shine as brightly as the ones casting their glare on the Super Bowl.

Len Dawson, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 1987, knows this first-hand.

As quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs for the majority of his 19 pro seasons, Len played in two of the most important Super Bowls in the history of pro football.

Of course, Super Bowl I wasn’t even known by that name until a few years after it was played in 1967. It was the first “AFL-NFL World Championship Game,” and Len and the Chiefs faced the Green Bay Packers.

Little that afternoon went well for the champions of the American Football League. Len completed 16 of 27 passes for 211 yards and a touchdown, but an interception proved costly in the 35-10 Packers victory. The outcome added to the perception of the AFL as the inferior professional league.

Two years later, the New York Jets humbled the powerhouse Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, but for many observers, that outcome was a fluke.

In the final season of the AFL before its merger with the NFL, it would be up to Len and the Chiefs to end the debate about parity once and for all. They were more than up to the task, posting a resounding 23-7 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, who had come into the game with a 14-2 record.  

Len was the cool “field general,” completing 12 of 17 passes for 142 yards and a touchdown. He was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

This week, Len steps into the Gold Jacket Spotlight, allowing fans to recall a player whose football career owes a great deal to the AFL.

The Steelers selected Len in the first round (fifth overall) of the 1957 NFL Draft. In three seasons in Pittsburgh, he made 19 appearances, one start, throwing six completions in 17 attempts.

“I spent my first three years on the bench,” Len said in a 2012 interview. “I only started two games in five years. Basically the only thing I did was hold on extra points.”

A trade to Cleveland didn’t change his fortunes, but Len’s decision two years later to sign with the Dallas Texans in the AFL changed everything.

In his first season in Dallas, Len directed the Texans to the 1962 AFL title with an All-Pro season. Over the next 14 seasons, he set numerous franchise records. He led the AFL in completion percentage seven times, touchdown passes four times and quarterback rating six times. His 30 touchdown passes in 1964 stood as the team record until Patrick Mahomes threw 50 in 2018.

Len was the 1973 NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year and winner of the Walter Camp Distinguished American Award in 2008. He was honored at the Hall of Fame a second time – as winner of the 2012 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award in recognition of his longtime exceptional contributions to broadcasting in professional football.

In 2012, Len returned to his native Alliance, Ohio – a city near Canton – for a Hometown Hall of Famers program and gave current Alliance High School players his best advice.

“Football is a tough game. It’s hard,” he said. “But it’s very rewarding. Don’t give up. If you give up, your career is over. All you can ask for is an opportunity, an opportunity to succeed.”

This week, Len gets his opportunity in the Gold Jacket Spotlight.