Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Len Dawson died today at the age of 87. He had been such an integral part of the AFL/NFL fabric for so long. While I never knew him as a player, he was one of those guys who made such a smooth seamless transition from gridiron great to host/analyst and did a tremendous job in that role for decades. He just looked like the type of guy who even if he never ever picked up a football he could excel in that host role. He just had the look of a veteran, trusted newsman

Made me think back to the show Inside the NFL, which to me used to be appointment television on Thursday Nights. Collinsworth, Buoniconti, and Dawson, with the great Harry Kalas doing voiceover work for the highlight packages. It was the best and most in depth recap and analysis of the previous week of football and a look of what was to come. Kind of makes me miss the days when the NFL wasn't as oversaturated as it is now and there weren't these nauseating attempts to tie it into everyday pop culture/comedy. That really started with FOX right around 1994. People don't realize that Terry Bradshaw used to be an NFL analyst and not some FOX created cartoon character, and that 40% of an NFL pre game show used to not be forced comedic skits

Agree 100% sheajets. And I learned a lot about football from watching Inside the NFL. If I remember right, our household got HBO before ESPN. And that was in the day when really the only highlights you got from outside your market were on Monday Night Football and whatever you happened to get at halftime on Sunday. So, Inside the NFL was a real game changer at the time. To be able to see all of those highlights, with Harry Kalas no less, and all of the no-nonsense analysis from Nick Bounicounti and Len Dawson, Inside the NFL was a must-watch every week. Even watched a couple of old episodes on YouTube lately. So much better than what we get today even though there's a lot more in terms of quantity. I'm glad the NFL is so popular but like you I really miss the days when it was substance over entertainment.

RIP Lenny 'The Cool' Dawson. He managed to overcome all that terrible publicity prior to SB IV regarding his supposed association with a gambler, one 'Dice' Dawson. Now he is reunited with his old coach Hank Stram. I can just hear him now, "Just keep matriculating the ball down the field Leonard."

RIP Len Dawson!

Now, quite very sadly, both starting QBs in SBI are now gone.

I totally agree that Dawson, even if he never played football in his life, was quite a legit NFL commentator!

Here's an example in an old post I started a bit back...

https://www.profootballresearchers.org/ ... a41#p27321

I simply thought he was GREAT in this, here, example!

Around 1990, HBO and Inside the NFL became available here in Mexico City, it was my favorite show. I won't forget that they had a section called "Where are they now?" featuring retired players of the past and once they interviewed Hall of Famer Alex Wojciechowicz. Len Dawson told that it was his favorite part of the show. RIP Mr. Dawson.

Dawson had a very interesting career.

Paul Brown wanted him badly and was upset that he had to settle for Jim Brown at #6 overall in the 1957 draft because the Steelers had taken Dawson with the #5 pick.

In 3 seasons with Pittsburgh, he was unimpressive but threw only 17 passes so he wasn't given much chance to impress. Brown finally acquired him in a trade, but Dawson couldn't beat out Milt Plum for the starting job and he looked like a complete bust when the Browns cut him after only 2 seasons. He was 27 and had completed 21 of 45 passes, with 1 TD and 2 INT.

Hank Stram, who had coached Dawson at Purdue, was then (in 1962) coaching the Dallas Texans of the AFL. He signed Dawson, gave him the starting job, and they won the AFL championship. Thus began an HOF career.

Was impressed to see he led the AFL in completion percentage in 1962 as well as 1964-1969. Even his final season at age 40 in 1975, though he only started 5 games, he led the NFL in completion percentage that year as well.

20/32 233 1 td 0 int
17/27 184 0 td 1 int
17/25 217 1 td 1 int
25/36 307 2 td 2 int
14/20 154 1 td 0 int

An quality run for a 40 year old QB in 1975

sheajets wrote:Was impressed to see he led the AFL in completion percentage in 1962 as well as 1964-1969. Even his final season at age 40 in 1975, though he only started 5 games, he led the NFL in completion percentage that year as well.

20/32 233 1 td 0 int
17/27 184 0 td 1 int
17/25 217 1 td 1 int
25/36 307 2 td 2 int
14/20 154 1 td 0 int

An quality run for a 40 year old QB in 1975

I wouldn't put Len Dawson in the upper-echelon of QBs, but he was very tough and his offenses usually did well. When he retired, he was the highest rated QB in NFL history, a title he held for a few years until Roger Staubach retired (IIRC). As others have said, he was a great speaker, announcer, story-teller. I loved his stories in the America's Game film on the 69 Chiefs.

Though the Vikings were a great story in 1969, Dawson had a season to remember, overcoming an injury that would have shelved most QBs and getting revenge on the Raiders, who humiliated the Chiefs in the 1968 postseason and then after winning his third AFL Championship, getting revenge on the NFL by leading his team to victory in SB IV after a shaky performance in the SB I blowout loss to the Packers ...