Lamar Hunt

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Lamar Hunt (born August 2, 1932 in El Dorado , Arkansas , † December 13, 2006 in Dallas , Texas ) was an influential American sports personality. The son of oil billionaire HL Hunt invested in teams and players in American football , soccer , tennis and basketball in the United States . Hunt died after a long illness in Dallas of complications from prostate cancer surgery.

American football

In the late 1950s, Hunt wanted to found a new football team in Dallas as a member of the National Football League (NFL), but the league refused to do so. Out of annoyance, he founded the competing American Football League (AFL) with eight teams. Hunt was part of one of the teams, the Dallas Texans . Game operations began in 1960. After the AFL was founded, the NFL announced an expansion of its league in response and also issued a license for a football franchise to Dallas, which the Dallas Cowboys received.

The competitive situation of two football teams in one city was counterproductive, so that Hunt transferred the Dallas Texans to Kansas City in 1963 . Hunt was one of the owners of the Kansas City Chiefs to the end . The competition between two football leagues was also unfavorable, so that the NFL and AFL merged in 1970. Today the American Football Conference (AFC) winners trophy , which emerged from the AFL, is named after him.

Hunt invented the term Super Bowl for the final game of the American football championship. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame .

Soccer

Hunt was the founder of the two American football leagues, the North American Soccer League (NASL) and Major League Soccer (MLS). In the NASL he owned the Dallas Tornado team , which became champions in 1971 and made the finals from 1972 to 1974. In the successor league MLS belonged to his property the clubs Columbus Crew , Kansas City Wizards and the FC Dallas . The US Open Cup , the American cup competition, is named after him.

tennis

In 1967 he founded the World Championship Tennis circuit, which started the Open Era in tennis and allowed both amateurs and professionals to participate in all tennis tournaments. In 1993 he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame for his services.

basketball

Hunt was a founding member of the Chicago Bulls in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Web links

Kansas City Chiefs / Dallas Texans members in the Pro Football Hall of Fame


Marcus Allen (2003) | Morten Andersen (2017) | Bobby Bell (1983) | Buck Buchanan (1990) | Curley Culp (2013) | Len Dawson (1987) | Tony Gonzalez (2019) | Lamar Hunt (1972) | Johnny Robinson (2019) | Willie Lanier (1986) | Ty Law (2019) | Joe Montana (2000) | Warren Moon (2006) | Willie Roaf (2012) | Will Shields (2015) | Jan Stenerud (1991) | Hank Stram (2003) | Derrick Thomas (2009) | Emmit Thomas (2008) | Mike Webster (1997)


personal data
SURNAME Hunt, Lamar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American sports official
DATE OF BIRTH August 2, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH El Dorado , Arkansas
DATE OF DEATH December 13, 2006
Place of death Dallas , Texas