Top 100 all-time Kansas City Chiefs moments: 25-1

KANSAS CITY, MO – CIRCA 1960’s: Head Coach Hank Stram of the Kansas City Chiefs talks with several of his players on the field during a late circa 1960’s NFL football game at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Stram was the head coach of the Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs from 1960-1974. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

7. Hank Stram hired (1960)

It was 1960, and there was not a bigger name in all of football than Bud Wilkinson, the same Bud Wilkinson that was Lamar Hunt’s first choice to pilot his newborn Dallas Texans (Chiefs) when the franchise was birthed. It turns out that Bud was not for you, so Hunt turned his attention to a lesser-known assistant with the New York Giants, Tom Landry.

Failing to draw Landry to his fledgling franchise, Hunt landed on the perfect coach to lead his team, Hank Louis Stram, an assistant college coach who’d paid his dues for 11 years at universities such as: Purdue, S.M.U. Notre Dame, and Miami (FL).

Stram was a superb mix of Bobby Knight and John Wooden; because he was both passionate and compassionate. Stram’s offenses were a peek into the future of football with his varied formations and backfields in motion. Known as an innovator, Stram will forever be Kansas City royalty and rightfully so.

Stram was a great match for Vince Lombardi in Super Bowl I, and it’s a shame they didn’t meet again in another Super Bowl. The history books tell a more accurate story today, reflecting the greatness that was Stram. The architect of AFL three titles in an eight-year period (1962, 1966 and 1969), Stram coached up seven players who are now in the NFL Hall of Fame. How many coaches in NFL history who meet that standard? Not many.

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