Sherrill Headrick
Linebacker
Career: 1960-1967
Induction: 1992
More than any other sport, football is filled with pain. All players experience pain, but the great players simply learn to play through injuries and help their team win. No player in the Chiefs organization withstood pain and injury like former Dallas Texan and Kansas City Chief linebacker Sherrill Headrick.
In 1960, his first season with the Texans, Headrick set the standard for playing hurt. Headrick fractured a vertebrae in his neck in a pre-game collision at Houston. Despite feeling pain in his neck, he played the entire game before learning of the fracture five days later. He went on to play the following week, earning the nickname Psycho.
Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson explained Headrick's nickname. "He was crazy," Dawson said, "Who would play with a broken neck?"
Although teammates often doubted Headrick's sanity because of his penchant for playing through pain, no one doubted his ability as an outstanding football player and a ferocious tackler. He was a standout with the Chiefs for eight seasons, appearing in the AFL All-Star Game five times. Headrick was one of the original members of the AFL, coming to the Texans from Texas Christian University.
Headrick was a member of the Chiefs linebacking corps for two AFL Championships ('62 and '66) and the first Super Bowl against Green Bay.
Chiefs Hall of Fame coach Hank Stram summed up Headrick's style during one of his standout seasons. "He just plays with reckless abandon," Stram Said. "Sherrill has absolutely no concern about his physical safety in a game. He's a great competitor."
