Chiefs add wide receiver Dante Hall to their Ring of Honor

As the NFL Draft continues at Union Station in Kansas City, the Kansas City Chiefs have attended to some annual Draft Week business: naming a Ring of Honor inductee for 2023.

This fall, the Chiefs will induct Dante Hall into their Hall of Fame..

“My family and I are delighted to announce Dante as this year’s inductee into the Chiefs Hall of Fame,” Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said. “It’s not every day you get to witness a generational talent at the returner position, but Chiefs Kingdom was blessed to witness Dante’s talent for seven seasons. His quickness, agility and pure athleticism as a returner and wide receiver cemented him as one of the franchise’s greats. Following his playing career, Dante joined the Kansas City Ambassador program and has been an active participant in the brand’s international expansion efforts. We are looking forward to celebrating Dante’s Hall of Fame induction at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium this fall.”

The 48th player (and 52st individual) to be named to the team’s Ring of Honor spent seven seasons in Kansas City after being selected in the fifth round (153rd overall) of the 2000 NFL Draft out of Texas A&M, collecting 1,615 yards (and nine touchdowns) on 145 receptions, along with 215 yards on 47 rushes.

But that’s not what made “The Human Joystick” famous. During his Chiefs career, he collected 548 punt and kickoff returns for 10,526 yards and 11 touchdowns. His 12,356 combined yards tops all players in franchise history — and his 11 return touchdowns are also a Kansas City record.

In a home game against the St. Louis Cardinals on December 8, 2002, Hall returned both a kickoff and punt for a touchdown, becoming the only player in team history to accomplish that feat — and just the eighth player in league annals. In 2003, became the first NFL player to have a return touchdown in four straight games. He notched another one in the playoffs, becoming only the second NFL player to have five in a season.

Hall was named an All-Pro following the 2002 and 2003 seasons and was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week seven times — the most of any player in Chiefs history.