Len Dawson

melendi first involved was drafted number one by the Pittsburgh Steelers but he partnered and read he didn't play any he threw about 20 passes I think in a three-year span of time for a couple of years I was the understudy to Bobby Lane now if you want to learn the proper techniques for quarterbacking the last guy you would go to would be Bobby Lane so I developed some terrible habits the accuracy the touch the release was no longer there I didn't know it but I had developed some real bad habits Paul Brown had wanted me when I was in college at Purdue and going over to Cleveland my job was to backup milk plum Paul Brown really wasn't looking for a quarterback because he was featuring the running game and so I could see that I wasn't going to get an opportunity to play and I hadn't signed the contract and so he says it calls me says well you know what are you gonna do he signed this contract or else I mean he had no choice in those days and I said I just said get out of here so Paul said okay fine let her not put you on waivers piece of his a fellow coach I want you to know that I don't think Lenny can play football in a national football league I said well I appreciate that very much Paul but I'm still gonna take you Hank Stram was utilizing the running game you used utilizing the things that I did best my ball handling was very good with play-action passes really helped because of my ability to handle the football I could throw on the move both left and right and so Hank started featuring that phase of the game and my strong she was accuracy I could throw the ball accurately and I and I could throw the black or lead up to 50 yards Lenny this was a great judgment throwing he threw the ball with great you know touch on it Lenny would throw the ball maybe 10 yards ahead I used to love to run under balls and catch the ball with reach you know Lenny wasn't a bullet type passed for 6 to 7 yards he threw a softball a natural leader a very very deceptive leader and that he was quiet but very demanding when he spoke they listened because he was always always under control I said to him one day I said Leonard make sure that you never let them see you sweat and he said coach quarterbacks don't sweat quarterbacks perspire Eleni was the man you know he was a man he had taken us a lot of places and earlier he is so he deserved the chance to get out there and play in a Super Bowl the gambling thing was initiated the week before the Super Bowl game there's going to be a story out before the game about Linda dawson being involved in a gambling scandal a gentleman by the name of Dawson in Detroit Michigan was raided and in the process they found an address book in a phone book with a lot of phone numbers in it one of which was Lenny Dawson's and they were trying to determine what to do about the situation and I can remember they're all sitting around I said why don't we tell them the truth I do know this person I spoke to him twice this year once when my when I injured my knee in the ass how he's doing secondly when my father passed away to offer his condolences I haven't seen this guy and I don't how long I really don't know him I don't associate with I didn't know anything about his business I said that's the truth and so uh now maybe we'll do that I was enraged because of the obvious silliness is such a charge because I knew Alan Dawson very well and there was no chance that he was going to be involved in if they implicated as they indicated possibly throwing games we never believed the rumors about lennie and lennie didn't even have to explain I think that Lenny just knew that the team and myself were in full supportive I think the one thing that made a lot easier for me was that my teammates didn't believe a word of it when it's finally clear that you know Lenny didn't have no involvement everything was straight we just say all right let's put all this behind us came out that I ain't played Super Bowl four come on money pump it in there baby just keep the trigger letting the ball down the field boys you never knew that he had any kind of a problem during the course the week and I think that's why it has to be ranked as one of the great performances by a quarterback in the history of the National Football League because of what he had to go through the week of the game it was a very unsettling thing that those there right there during the time when you find the perfect the biggest game of his life and he as he would often do being Lenny the and one of the great games he's ever had that the one thing that stands out about Lenny when I think about Lenny the bigger the game the better II play play smart football to win for you that's what that was Lenny Dawson

Channel: G0Chiefs

Views: 23,496

Rating: 4.9413919 out of 5

Keywords: Kansas City Chiefs, Len Dawson

Id: MJi5eDq9JjU

Length: 5min 13sec (313 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 10 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/kat_fud]

I always got a good laugh out of Hank Stram's toupee.

EDIT: Something I didn't know about Stram from his Wikipedia page:

Stram never had an offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, or special teams coach during his career with the Texans and Chiefs.

[u/smoboaty]

Thank you.