ChiefsPlanet - Lamar wanted Arrowhead to retain the Arrowhead name

Hard to imagine, but Lamar Hunt will no longer guide Chiefs
By DOUG TUCKER
AP Sports Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - For the first time since Lamar Hunt founded the Kansas City Chiefs 47 years ago, they're about to go against his wishes.

The Chiefs will probably open play next year on Hunt Field, or in Hunt Family Stadium. Or maybe they'll compete at the Truman-Hunt Sports Complex.
Kansas Citians are determined to honor the visionary NFL patriarch who died Wednesday and was responsible, in the words of Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson, "for bringing the game to all parts of the United States.''

Chiefs president and general manager Carl Peterson confirmed that preliminary ideas were already being kicked around.

"He would not allow us to even mention that when he was alive,'' Peterson said. "But I will tell you, I'm sure we're going to discuss it now. I certainly would be a proponent of doing something appropriate in remembering Lamar Hunt at this complex.''

The final decision, as with everything else now associated with the Chiefs, will rest with 41-year-old Clark Hunt, whose father has been carefully grooming him to take over a far-flung sports empire that includes football, tennis, soccer and other enterprises.

"The apple did not fall far from the tree,'' Peterson said.

Lamar Hunt, founder of the AFL, which led to the AFC when the upstart league merged with the NFL, has not actually been the owner of the team for more than a decade. In 1995, employing an army of lawyers and accountants, he transferred 98 percent of his vast holdings to his four children.

"The family paid an enormous gift tax. But Lamar wanted the team to remain in his family forever. He had seen what happened to some other owners who did not estate plan,'' said Jack Steadman, the former general manager of the Chiefs and Hunt's right-hand man for almost 50 years.

"He wanted to make sure the Chiefs would stay in the control of his heirs, and then in the control of their heirs after them. And that has been done.''

Clark Hunt, Daniel Hunt, Sharron Hunt Munson and Lamar Hunt Jr. each received 24 1/2 percent of their dad's holdings. Hunt and his wife, Norma, each held 1 percent.

Clark, the only one of the four children who apparently has ever shown much interest in getting involved in the football operation, was named chairman of the board in 2004. In recent years he has been accompanying his father and Peterson to NFL meetings, getting immersed in the day-to-day operations as well as league-wide issues.

Unlike his father, Clark has not seemed approachable to the media. But those who know Clark Hunt say he is very similar to his father - quiet, unassuming and exceptionally bright.

Last year when time came to work out a new four-year contract with Peterson as the Chiefs' CEO, Lamar Hunt stepped aside and insisted that Clark handle all the negotiations.

"Clark has been working toward this day,'' Steadman said.

Fans do not have to worry about the family moving the team. Under terms of an agreement with the county after passage this year of a sales tax for the upgrading of Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs' lease runs through 2031.

But one of the most striking characteristics of Lamar Hunt's ownership was his hands-off, non-meddlesome approach, something that set him apart from many other owners and endeared him to team executives.

Is that going to change?

"I don't think there will be any substantial change,'' said Peterson, who has run the Chiefs since 1989.

"Lamar had very intelligently prepared for this. Clark is very bright, very talented. Everything is in place for the transfer. I think the transition will be smooth.''

Nevertheless, it seems difficult to imagine the Kansas City Chiefs without Lamar Hunt. Eventually, one would think, there will have to be change. Everything could not possibly stay the same.

"Sure, things will be a little different with his being gone,'' said Peterson.

"In his own quiet, selfless way, he's been involved in everything and anything we do.''

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One of Lamar's last words, to Jack Steadman, was, "Jack, I want you to make sure the stadium is the new Arrowhead and that people will be excited about it," Hunt told Steadman. "We owe that to the taxpayers."

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