Sometimes The Good Die Young from Sports Illustrated [originally published on Nov 7, 1983]
Last Sunday, Oct. 30, Joe Delaney's team, the Kansas City Chiefs, played the Denver Broncos. And in Shreveport, down the road from Haughton, where Joe was reared, the Louisiana State Fair was in its last day. The signs said: IT'S YOUR FAIR—SO BE THERE, and for sure a goodly number of folks came out.
Had he lived, Delaney last Sunday would have celebrated his 25th birthday while playing against the Broncos. But on June 29, 1983 he died, a gentleman and a hero, in Monroe, at Chenault Park, around two in the afternoon.
Joe Delaney: Remembering the Player, the Hero, the Legacy from Chiefs.com
Wednesday marks the 33rd anniversary of the loss of Kansas City Chiefs running back Joe Delaney.
The Chiefs 1981 second-round pick rushed for over 1,100 yards and 3 touchdowns his rookie season, earning Pro Bowl honors and the AFC Rookie of the Year award presented by United Press International.
Friends, family and teammates remember Delaney's achievements both on and off the field, and tragically, his most selfless sacrifice of all - risking a promising football career to try and save the lives of three children.
To help remember #37, below is the New York Festival and Emmy-winning Chiefs Kingdom episode on Delaney:
Chiefs Strength Coach Barry Rubin Remembers College Teammate Joe Delaney from Chiefs.com
The reason Delaney's story stands the test of time is not only for what he did in that one heroic moment, but because that one moment was simply a reflection of the way he had always lived his life.
The tragic passing only put a magnifying glass on a man who was truly humble when he had every reason not to be, and his character stretched far beyond that summer day in 1983.
According to current Chiefs head strength coach Barry Rubin, who has a special connection with Delaney as they were college teammates for three years at Northwestern State, the moment Delaney is most remembered for wasn't out of his character. It simply allowed the rest of the world, whether they were football fans or not, to learn of the man who never put himself above anyone else.
The Lost Chief: Remembering Joe Delaney from Grantland [originally published Aug 21, 2015]
Delaney would be buried with a football from one of his greatest games; on his tombstone would be engraved that famous verse from the Gospel of John: "Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for another." I remember a photograph of him as a Chief taped to the stone — a splash of red in a small graveyard rich with greens and browns.
Pre-Camp Reads: Looking at OL Mitch Morse from Chiefs.com
2016 OUTLOOK
While much of the focus is always on who is throwing, catching or running the football, the truth is everything starts up front. Football games are won and lost in the trenches, and Morse and company look to build some continuity and improve an offense that managed to put up 25.3 points per game last year, which ranked No. 9 in the NFL.
"It's our job to come and compete and get farther than last year," Morse said. "Last year was great, but that's behind us. We're focused on winning a championship."
AFC West Q&A: With Peyton Manning retired, who is the division's most feared player? from ESPN
The Chiefs were certainly relieved to see Manning retire. They were 1-7 against him when he played for the Broncos. They were similarly futile against him when he was with the Colts. With Manning gone, the player the Chiefs will fear most won't be another quarterback or an offensive player at all. The top candidates are defensive players, with Oakland linebacker Khalil Mack being the strongest of the bunch. The Broncos and Chiefs have their respective linebacking versions of Mack inVon Miller and Justin Houston, respectively, but Houston is coming off knee surgery and probably won't play a full season in 2016. One more defensive player to consider is Kansas City's Marcus Peters.
Finding the Fits: Top pick Chris Jones brings Chiefs size and insurance from CBS Sports
Jones will make an immediate impact for the Chiefs in 2016, which is something we probably should not expect from flashy wideouts Demarcus Robinson and Tyreek Hill, though each offers undeniable talent. Historically, head coach Andy Reid has prioritized his club's receivers fully understanding all of the routes for each position (flanker, split end, slot), making it extremely difficult for players in their first year working with his offense to see immediate playing time.
This is one of the reasons why it was critical for the Chiefs to sign Jeremy Maclin(who, of course, played for Reid in Philadelphia) rather than rely on youngsters that Dorsey had drafted. This isn't to say that Robinson, Hill and last year's freakishly gifted receiver Chris Conley don't have a future in Kansas City, only that quarterbackAlex Smith's primary receiving outlets in 2016 are likely to be Maclin, tight end Travis Kelce and running back Jamaal Charles yet again.
Column: Bears,Chiefs & rest of NFL plans for St. Louis in post-Rams TV world from FOX2Now
The Chiefs have had several MU football alums on the roster in recent years, first with Chase Daniel and now Mitch Morse and Kirkwood grad Jeremy Maclin. But thanks to the rise of fantasy sports betting, the NFL Ticket season package and more national television games over the air than we had twenty years ago, geography may be less of a factor for fan loyalty.
This author still doesn't quite know what to do. I was born and raised in upstate New York and endured the Buffalo Bills' run of four straight Super Bowl losses. As my career has taken me around the country, I'll admit that I've become less attached to them-they've been largely irrelevant since a playoff loss to Jeff Fisher's Tennessee squad the year the Rams beat the Titans in the Super Bowl. Now, as I'm debating what to do with my loyalties, I know they won't be with the Rams as a franchise.
Tony Richardson part of Kansas City's love of players from Alabama from AL.com
The two places may not seem like they fit together.
But when it comes to football, Kansas City and the state of Alabama are inexorably linked together--and have a mutual admiration for each other.
Tony Richardson (No. 71 on our list of top 100 football players with ties to Alabama) played for the Kansas City Chiefs for 11 seasons and is a newly-elected member into their Hall of Fame.
Cassidy Kaminski scouting any and all paths to NFL from The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
One day, Kaminski worked up the nerve to talk to Dorsey.
"I said, 'I know who you are, I know what you do, and I'd do anything to do what you do,'" Kaminski said.
Dorsey could have said, "Sure, kid," paid for his gas and been on his way. But Kaminski's ambition struck a chord. Every time he stopped in to pay for gas on his way to or from the golf course, Dorsey spent a few minutes talking football with Kaminski.
Their unlikely friendship wound up putting Kaminski on a path to his career goal: working as a scout for an NFL team and, ultimately, running one.
Former CMU, Colts RB Tipton dies after accidentally shooting self at Roseville car dealer from WXYZ
7 Action News has learned the man is former Central Michigan University and Indianapolis Colts running back Zurlon Tipton. Tipton played with the Colts for two years and was waived from the team in December.
Tipton's former CMU teammate, Kansas City Chiefs' lineman and former 1st overall draft pick Eric Fisher remembered his teammate on Facebook.
Right tackles are becoming more important in the NFL, but they still fall short of left tackles from SB Nation
When right tackle Mitchell Schwartz hit free agency this offseason, there was speculation that he could earn close to left tackle money with a new team. Instead, Schwartz signed with the Kansas City Chiefs at an average salary of $6.6 million per year. Schwartz was one of the best right tackles last season, and the way he performed against Miller when the Browns faced the Broncos -- Schwartz allowed zero sacks to the eventual Super Bowl MVP -- is likely a big part of the reason Kansas City wanted to sign him.
Some right tackles around the league are making strong cases for more equitable compensation at both tackle positions. At this point, however, a discrepancy in the quality of a right tackle's play is more common around the league.
TEACHING PRISON INMATES ABOUT THEIR OWN BRAIN TRAUMA COULD HELP THEM REHABILITATE from Newsweek
Convincing the general public to care about the mental health of society's cast-offs is no easy task. But in the past decade, the interplay of brain disorders and criminal behavior has started to become a topic of popular discussion, partly because some athletes and soldiers—society's heroes—have turned criminal, suicidal, emotionally volatile or violent, and a common denominator may be traumatic brain injury.
In December 2012, Jovan Belcher, a linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, killed his girlfriend in a murder-suicide. An autopsy of his brain found that he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, the progressive degenerative brain disease caused by repeated brain trauma and concussions. In a 2015 study, researchers at Boston University found the disease—which is associated with anger, aggression, depression, impaired judgment and poor impulse control—in 131 of 165 former NFL, college and semipro football players, some of whom shot themselves.
Fans of Flamengo, Cairo Santos and Jose Aldo are from Gazetaweb [translated from the original Portuguese]
The football player Cairo Santos has experienced a period of preseason troubled. Ambassador NFL in Brazil and kicker of the Kansas City Chiefs, he met Monday with the MMA fighter Jose Aldo , who has a fight scheduled for 9th July in Las Vegas, USA. In common, a passion for Flamengo. They posed for pictures in a gym.
Cairo Santos, the Kansas City Chiefs, visit CT Rei Pelé from A Tribuna [translated from the original Portuguese]
On site, the kicker of the Kansas City Chiefs taught Elano and Gabriel playing football. The performance of Santos was not bad, as you can see in the video (see below). The "teacher" approved his pupils. "The guys were entitled. I was embarrassed to kick (laughs). The athletes are awesome. If a shot went wrong, already repaired," he said.