"Len was like a quiet assassin," former running back Ed Podolak said, "He could say more with a stare than most players could with words. He was the team leader, no doubt about it. "Dawson, who was inducted into the Chiefs Hall of Fame in 1978, received the ultimate football honor in 1987 when he joined teammates Bobby Bell and Willie Lanier and Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

It was an honor well deserved and many thought, long overdue. Dawson led the Chiefs to two AFL championships and was voted MVP of Super Bowl IV. He capped the victory with a 46-yard scoring strike to his favorite target, Otis Taylor. During his 19-year career, he passed for 28,711 yards and 239 touchdowns. He is now the 11th ranked passer in NFL history, but he was ranked No. 1 when he retired.

A product of Purdue University, where Stram was head coach, Dawson led the AFL in passing four times and was named the NFL's Man of the Year in 1973 for his off-field charitable work. His annual Len Dawson Charity Golf Classic benefits Truman Medical Center East in Jackson County, MO.

He is a legend in Kansas City and still has a high profile job as color commentator for Chiefs broadcasts and as sports director of KMBC-TV in Kansas City.

Dawson was a field general. He was a leader who could rally his troops and direct the most potent and complex offense to come out of the AFL.

Despite his frail build, he lasted with Chiefs for 14 seasons. No quarterback in team history has come close to matching his totals. In fact, the quarterback spot has been, perhaps, the most controversial spot to fill for the handful of coaches who have come and gone since Stram's era.

When he isn't behind the microphone announcing Chiefs game, or sitting behind the broadcast desk at Channel 9, he's serving as the co-host of HBO's cable football program, "Inside the NFL", the longest running sports show on television.