Lamar Hunt is Fighting for His Life

by Chris Thorman on Dec 12, 2006 2:50 PM CST in 2006 Kansas City Chiefs Campaign

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.

Everyone here at AP certainly wishes Lamar and the Hunt family the best of luck. In case you are unfamiliar with Lamar Hunt's momentuous contributions to the game you know as football today, here's a quick take from his Wikipedia entry:

Lamar Hunt (born August 2, 1932, in El Dorado, Arkansas) is one of the most influential sports promoters in the United States. He was one of the founders of the American Football League and Major League Soccer. He is also the founder and owner of the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs and the Columbus Crew of MLS.

Hunt applied for a National Football League expansion franchise but was turned down. In 1959, professional football was a distant second to Major League baseball in popularity and the thinking among NFL executives was that the league must be careful not to "oversaturate" the market by expanding too quickly.

In response, in 1960 Hunt led several other investors in forming the AFL. Hunt encouraged, wheedled, and cajoled seven other like-minded men to form this new league. One of them, fellow Texan Bud Adams of Houston, had likewise tried but failed to be granted an NFL franchise. Lamar Hunt's goal was to bring professional football to Texas and to acquire an NFL team for the Hunt family. Hunt became owner of the Dallas Texans, and hired future hall-of-famer Hank Stram as the team's first head coach.

Without Lamar Hunt, the National Football League would not be where it is today.

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