Dallas billionaire Clark Hunt and his family waited a half-century for their Kansas City Chiefs to get a crack at winning a second Super Bowl.
They're about to get that shot when the Chiefs square off against the San Francisco 49ers in Miami next week.
Last Sunday, Hunt celebrated on the field of Arrowhead Stadium, lifting the Lamar Hunt Trophy after his team won the AFC Championship game.
The 54-year-old chairman of the Hunt family's $3 billion sports empire had just received a trophy named for his iconic father, who'd been instrumental in creating what is now the National Football League.
The moment was both sublime and surreal.
"It was so special _ not just for me but for my entire family and the Chiefs organization," Hunt said at his office in downtown Dallas. "Not only had we qualified for the Super Bowl, but for the first time in club history, we'd won the trophy with my dad's name on it. ... And to get to do it in Arrowhead Stadium in front of our fans was a very, very special and emotional moment for me and my family."
Arrowhead is his second home _ literally. Hunt, his wife Tavia and their three children live in Highland Park, but they also have a six-bedroom, two-story apartment atop the owners box at the stadium.
Many viewers watching the post-game ceremony on TV had no idea the Hunts are Dallasites. It was clear that Kansas City considers the Hunt family one of its own.
But the irony wasn't lost on even those who knew the Big D connection. Hunt's friend, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, had entered the season with great expectations. But it would be Dallas' "other" NFL owner, not Jones, jet-setting to Miami for the big game.
Hunt remembered looking up into the stands at Chiefs Kingdom, where fans stood resolute despite braving below-zero wind chills for more than five hours.
"They had to be freezing," he said. "But it was that special for them, too. A lot of them had waited for a large part of their lives for the team to make it back to the Super Bowl. Getting the Lamar Hunt Trophy probably meant as much to them as it did to me and my family."
But as poignant as all that was, Hunt said there's unfinished business.
"I have a full appreciation for how hard it is to get to the Super Bowl, particularly since it's taken the Chiefs 50 years to get back," he said. "But given how rare the opportunities may be to get there, we need to close the deal and win the Lombardi Trophy now."
