Virginia Foxx: “Mr. Speaker, the world of professional sports lost one of its strongest enthusiasts this past December when Lamar Hunt…”

“Mr. Speaker, the world of professional sports lost one of its strongest enthusiasts this past December when Lamar Hunt lost his long battle with prostate cancer. Widely known throughout the professional sports industry, his inspirational career helped the National Football League, the Major Soccer League and the National Hockey League become the massive successes they are today. Born in El Dorado, Arkansas, and raised in Dallas, Texas, Lamar Hunt was a passionate sports fanatic. He played on his college football team at Southern Methodist University, but his real involvement began when he applied for an expansion to the National Football League in 1959. He was turned down, and a year later he decided with a group of eight others to form the American Football League. Facing tough competition from the NFL, he was determined to become the owner of a Texas football team. His first team ownership came with the founding of the Dallas Texans. A few years later, the team moved to Kansas City and became the Kansas City Chiefs, which Hunt would continue to own until the time of his death. His Chiefs went on to play in the first-ever Super Bowl game, which, by the way, was the term he coined as the championship game between the two leagues. Lamar Hunt was instrumental in the merger between the National Football League and the American football League in 1970.”