Kansas City Chiefs' Texas Helmets
A History of the Team Reveals Why the Chiefs' Helmets Depicted Texas
Oct 12, 2009
Usually, the Kansas City Chief's helmets show the initials "KC," (short for, unsurprisingly, Kansas City) in an arrowhead on the sides, but during the week 5 game on Sunday, October 11, the squad wore helmets that clearly showed the shape of the state of Texas. This reflects the 2009 season's recognition of the original eight AFC teams. A brief look at the history of the Chiefs' franchise will note why this seemingly arbitrary symbol was sported by the chiefs in the game against the Dallas Cowboys.
The History of the Kansas City Chiefs and their Helmet in Week 5
Prior to 1960, the National Football League was comprised of a single conference of the same name. Lamar Hunt, a sportsman and NFL pioneer, along with a few others, proposed the creation of a new conference that would battle the National League. This conference turned out to be the American Football Conference (AFC), though it began as the American Football League, and Hunt created his own team which fell into this new league in 1960. A resident of Dallas, Texas at the time, Hunt had tried to have the Chicago Cardinals relocated to Dallas to play in the AFL, but as his attempts were unsuccessful, he created his own team, the Dallas Texans. The outfits worn by the chiefs in week 5 of the 2009 season were the same as the Texan's original jerseys.
Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Texans
About the same time that the Texans were formed, the Dallas Cowboys franchise entered the NFL. The two teams played together in Dallas for three seasons (1960, 1961, and 1962) but the city was not viewed of as a suitable spot for two separate franchises. Lamar Hunt began looking at other cities that he considered to be adequate host locations for his team. The mayor of Kansas City, Missouri at the time, named Harold Roe Bartle then contacted Hunt, and offered his city as a resting place for the Texans franchise for the 1963 season. Hunt agreed, and upon relocating to Kansas City, Missouri, the team was renamed the Kansas City Chiefs.
Week 5 of the 2009 NFL Season: Cowboys at Chiefs and the Helmets of the Kansas City Chiefs
On Sunday, October 11, 2009, the Kansas City Chiefs hosted the Dallas Cowboys in Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Throughout this season, the original eight AFL teams will be sporting throwback jerseys, which are as they were when the franchise was created. The Kansas City Chiefs played at home in the uniforms that were worn by the Dallas Texans from 1960-1962 in the week 5 game. The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 26-20 in overtime.
This year celebrates 50 years of play for the original eight AFC franchises. That is why many AFL teams are seen wearing strange, historic jerseys, and why the Kansas City Chiefs had Texas on their helmets. Other AFC teams, such as the Denver Broncos, donned unfamiliar jerseys in week 5 as well. The Houston Texans of today are not associated with the Dallas Texans of old, which are now the Kansas City Chiefs.
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