Tributes continued to pour in Monday to honor Norma Knobel Hunt, the matriarch of the Kansas City Chiefs, who died at age 85.
The Chiefs announced her death on Sunday through a statement from her family.
She was the wife of longtime Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt and the mother of Clark Hunt, the current chairman and CEO.
“She was a wonderful mother and an extraordinary woman who will be dearly missed by all who knew her,” the statement said, in part. “Kind, generous and unfailingly positive, Mom was one of a kind. Her joy and zeal for life were infectious.”
Her personality and warmth were felt across the NFL as well as Major League Soccer, with her family owning FC Dallas.
“Norma had a profound impact on everyone she met,” Arthur M. Blank, chairman and owner of the Atlanta Falcons, said Monday. “She showed a great passion for the Chiefs and FC Dallas and played an integral role in shaping those organizations into what they are today. While her loss will be felt by many, her enduring spirit will live on in the legacy she left behind.”
“Mrs. Norma was the best,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes tweeted. “Glad to be a part of this special organization she help (sic) build. She will be missed! Prayers to the entire Hunt family.”
The Hunts married in 1964, just four years after Lamar Hunt and seven others banded together to form the upstart American Football League. A Texas oilman, Hunt founded the Dallas Texans, then moved the club to Kansas City.
Norma Hunt was there in Los Angeles in January 1967 when the Chiefs played in Super Bowl I and in Glendale, Ariz., in February when her team won Super Bowl LVII. She attended every Super Bowl in between, too, and is believed to be only woman to have attended all 57 games.
“To be honest, the streak was never all that important to me, but it was always important to Lamar,” she once said, per The Kansas City Star. “He loved statistics and streaks, and it was fun for him to tell people I had seen every Super Bowl. As the numbers started to get higher and higher, I told Lamar that if he insisted on telling people I had seen every Super Bowl, then he better tell them I started when I was 8 years old! Before he passed away, he made a point to ask (sons) Clark and Daniel to keep my streak going, and they’ve done a great job making sure I get to every game.”
Lamar Hunt died in December 2006 of prostate cancer.
–Field Level Media
