Retired Numbers

[KC Warpaint 3,234]

KC Star

BY BLAIR KERKHOFF

JULY 22, 2024 6:55 PM

The death of former Chiefs running back great Abner Haynes offered an opportunity to remember one of the franchise’s great players, perhaps the first one.

Haynes was the AFL’s first MVP in 1960, when the team was known as the Dallas Texans, and he continued winning honors when founder Lamar Hunt moved the organization to Kansas City.

Haynes’ recent passing provides another conversation topic. The only player in Chiefs’ history to wear No. 28, he is one of 10 men whose Kansas City jersey and number are retired.

No original AFL team has retired more jerseys than the Chiefs’ 10. Is it possible, with current and future candidates, that the Chiefs could one day find themselves in a uniform numbers crunch?

“As we’ve gone along over the years, we’ve needed to be more judicious in retiring jerseys, just from a practical standpoint of just having enough numbers available, particularly in training camp,” Chiefs chairman and owner Clark Hunt said Monday. “It certainly doesn’t mean that we won’t retire another jersey. But it’s something we’re really going to think about and approach from a bigger perspective.”

The list of retired Chiefs uniform numbers starts those whose played all or nearly all of their Pro Football Hall of Fame careers with the Chiefs:

• Bobby Bell (78)
• Buck Buchanan (86)
• Willie Lanier (63)
• Len Dawson (16)
• Jan Stenerud (3)
• Emmitt Thomas (18)
• Derrick Thomas (58)

Two other players’ numbers were retired after they died at a young age. Running back Stone Johnson, a former Olympic sprinter and Grambling quarterback, suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck during a 1963 preseason game in Wichita and died 10 days later. He never played a regular-season game, but his No. 33 hasn’t been worn since.

Mack Lee Hill (36) was among the AFL’s top rushers in his first two seasons. But after suffering a knee injury late in the 1965 season, he died on the operating table 90 minutes after undergoing surgery.

Another former Chiefs running back, Joe Delaney, died tragically when he attempted to rescue children from drowning in a pond in 1983. Delaney had played two seasons and rushed for 1,121 yards as a rookie. Although his No. 37 wasn’t officially retired, it hasn’t been worn since then.

That makes 11 numbers out of circulation for the Chiefs — and interestingly, that’s not the most in the NFL. The Chicago Bears and New York Giants each have 14 retired numbers. In other sports, basketball’s Boston Celtics have retired 24 numbers and baseball’s New York Yankees 21.

Still, 10 or 11 is a large number for a team, and the Chiefs could face a squeeze down the road. Consider that, of the 10 retired numbers, nine were worn by guys who spent most of their career — their best years — playing in the 1960s.

That leaves five-plus decades of performance to consider, and although several periods after the opening decade were nowhere near as successful, the current Chiefs have been the NFL’s top franchise for the past five years. They’ve won three Super Bowls and are led by some of the greatest players in team history.

It’s easy to visualize the Nos. 15 (Patrick Mahomes), 87 (Travis Kelce) and 95 (Chris Jones) qualifying for retirement someday. Others could become deserving, too.

And then there’s this: Two Chiefs have entered the Hall of Fame in the past decade. Offensive lineman Will Shields (68) was voted to Canton in 2015, and tight end Tony Gonzalez (88), who spent 12 of his 17 seasons with the Chiefs, followed him there in 2019. There is no word, yet, on their respective jersey retirements.

The Chiefs also induct former stars into their Hall of Honor. This season, defensive end Tamba Hali will become the 49th player to enter the Chiefs Hall of Honor and see his name added to the ring around Arrowhead Stadium.

That may have to suffice as the team’s highest honor available, at least for a while.

[West 6,713]

Ring of Honor is pretty good.

Mahomes, Kelce and Jones deserve all of the above

[oldtimer 8,683]

26 minutes ago, West said:

Ring of Honor is pretty good.

Mahomes, Kelce and Jones deserve all of the above

meh. Jersey number retirement but they should be an extremely rare few. JMO but #3 and #18 are not up to par with the others nor#28,  #33 or #36 for that matter. 

The Raiders and Steelers interestingly enough have 0 altho this IS a dated list ( 2016)

 

 https://www.espn.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/200349/nfl-teams-retired-jersey-numbers-for-every-franchise

Kansas City Chiefs

1: Jan Stenerud

16: Len Dawson

18: Emmitt Thomas

28: Abner Haynes

33: Stone Johnson

36: Mack Lee Hill

58: Derrick Thomas

63: Willie Lanier

78: Bobby Bell

86: Buck Buchanan

[West 6,713]

I am with you....Not worth losing sleep over but one could argue that the Chiefs decide on Ring of Honor Standard and to get your number retired you have to be in the NFL HOF and the Ring Of Honor.

Stenerud, Thomas, Haynes, Mack Lee Hill were great players but I am not sold of the numbers being retired.

 

[mex 65,577]

7 hours ago, oldtimer said:

Jersey number retirement but they should be an extremely rare few.

There's already almost too many. Not because they don't deserve it, more because they're running out of numbers.

[mex 65,577]

6 hours ago, West said:

I am with you....Not worth losing sleep over but one could argue that the Chiefs decide on Ring of Honor Standard and to get your number retired you have to be in the NFL HOF and the Ring Of Honor.

Stenerud, Thomas, Haynes, Mack Lee Hill were great players but I am not sold of the numbers being retired.

 

Weren't Nick Lowry's numbers equal to if not better than Stenerud's? That Nick isn't in the Hall is a travesty. Dude was MONEY... and only played 10% of his games in a dome, unlike both Anderson's and Vinatieri.

[reesebobby 5,661]

1 hour ago, mex said:

There's already almost too many. Not because they don't deserve it, more because they're running out of numbers.

There's an infinite amount of numbers. We just need exponents. 

[reesebobby 5,661]

Good to see Tamba make the Ring of Honor.  One of the more underrated Chiefs IMO.