A view of the Kansas City Chiefs end zone is seen at Arrowhead Stadium in action during an NFL game ... [+]
With Washington’s NFL team officially changing its nickname from the Redskins, Kansas City’s team name of the Chiefs has come under scrutiny.
That name, however, was not derived from Native Americans. The Chiefs were named after former Kansas City mayor H. Roe Bartle, who helped the city land a pro football team in the early 1960s.
The franchise, of course, has adopted Native American themes since then. Fans — some dressed in Native American attire — do the tomahawk chop in Arrowhead Stadium while Warpaint the horse gallops after touchdowns.
One can make a strong case that those franchise staples offensively depict Native Americans as “savages” and should be changed.
The mere nickname, though, has more innocuous roots. According to the Chiefs media guide, the Chiefs moniker was selected in honor of Bartle, who helped convince Lamar Hunt to move the Dallas Texans to Kansas City, as part of a name-the-team contest.
Bartle, who was nearing the end of his second and final term as mayor when he persuaded Hunt, had tried to land pro football in Kansas City at least two other times during the AFL days.
The mayor was nicknamed “the Chief” not only because of his 6-3, 300-pound-plus girth, but also his work with the Boy Scouts of America.
After serving in the military during World War I and getting his law degree from the University of Chattanooga, Bartle started as a scout executive in Wyoming, following a training session in Kansas City. The number of scouts in his Wyoming area grew tenfold.
After Bartle and Hunt initially met in Dallas, only Bartle and his chauffeur knew that Hunt was scouting the Kansas City location because he didn’t want to compete with the Dallas Cowboys for fans.
Hunt surreptitiously checked into Kansas City’s Muehlebach Hotel under an assumed name, and when Bartle had to introduce him, he called him “Mr. Lamar,” according to Matt Fulks’ 100 Things Chiefs Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.
(Disclosure: I am an editor at Triumph Books, the publisher of 100 Things Chiefs Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.)
Bartle’s two four-year, mayoral terms ended in 1963. Hunt officially announced his team was moving from Dallas to Kansas City that year, and the Chiefs name was established in May.
Almost 60 years later, a letter signed by 87 investors and shareholders with a total worth of about $620 billion was sent to sponsors FedEx
During the Chiefs’ franchise history, their Native American traditions have come under scrutiny as well.
In 1992 the team stopped playing the tomahawk chop war chant at its home games. Fans, however, still sang the tune and did the arm motion before the franchise reinstituted it shortly thereafter.
Vahe Gregorian, the columnist for The Kansas City Star, suggested rebranding the Chiefs name as a way to memorialize the six Kansas City firefighters who died in an explosion in 1988.
And the City of Fountains actually has a prominent fountain located at the south end of Penn Valley Park, which features two bronze sculptures of firefighters.
Less than two miles from that fountain is Bartle Hall. The major convention center in downtown Kansas City, Mo. is named in honor of the Chief who passed away on May 9, 1974.
