\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the Sport newsletter\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Lamar Hunt (left) founder of the Kansas City ChiefsCredit: Getty<\/p>\n
The Chiefs celebrate a Super Bowl victory in Las Vegas, Nevada, led by quarterback Patrick MahomesCredit: Getty<\/p>\n
In 1959, a businessman known as Lamar Hunt had an idea. He wanted to build a new professional football league to rival the NFL.<\/p>\n
That dream would come to fruition in the form of the American Football League, and the Dallas Texans were born in 1960.<\/p>\n
Of course, the Texans we know today are based in Houston, but these Texans would go on to become the Chiefs<\/a> in a few short years.<\/p>\n The Dallas Texans didn\u2019t look all that much different from the team they would transform into.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t TRADE TALKS<\/p>\n Bears trade superstar WR DJ Moore to NFL rivals Bills in blockbuster move<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t ON THE MEND<\/p>\n Fears grow over Fernando Mendoza after NFL coach picks better quarterback<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n They wore red jerseys with white letters outlined in gold, white pants, and red and gold socks. <\/p>\n The Texans also wore alternate white jerseys with red numbers outlined in gold, white pants, and red and gold socks. <\/p>\n The team\u2019s iconic red helmets were simply adorned with a white silhouette of the state of Texas.<\/p>\n Dallas\u2019 logo featured that same silhouette, except in red, with a cowboy holding a football and a pistol with the name Texans across his chest.<\/p>\n The Texans spent three years in Dallas, competing for fans with the Cowboys.<\/a><\/p>\n Hunt was swayed into moving the team to Kansas City by mayor Harold Roe Bartle.<\/p>\n He promised increased season-ticket sales and expanded seating at the Municipal Stadium.<\/p>\n The Texans were never meant to be renamed to the Chiefs, but Bartle insisted the team be named after himself.<\/p>\n He was nicknamed \u201cChief Lone Bear\u201d for his role in the Kansas City Boy Scout councils, and eventually the name \u201cChief\u201d stuck with people in town.<\/p>\n Jack Spike, running back for the Dallas TexansCredit: Getty<\/p>\n Head coach Hank Stram looks on from the sidelines of a mid 1960s Chiefs gameCredit: Getty<\/p>\n So, while the team has long used Native American imagery in its theming, it was actually named after the city\u2019s mayor at the time.<\/p>\n Starting in 1963, the Chiefs competed in the AFL and adopted two new logos. The first emulated the old Texans logo, but instead used the outlines of Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma as its silhouette. Across the front of the silhouette was a Native American chief holding a football and a tomahawk.<\/p>\n The second logo the Chiefs adopted in 1963 is the one we recognize today. A white arrowhead with the letters KC in red adorned across the center of it.<\/p>\n Hunt also brought the Dallas Texans\u2019 uniforms to Kansas City, and simply swapped out the old Texas silhouette on their helmets in favor of the arrowhead logo.<\/p>\n While Hunt brought those uniforms to Kansas City, the Chiefs very nearly looked much different from how we know them today.<\/p>\n When the team was first being established, Hunt wanted the color scheme to be Columbia blue and orange.<\/p>\n However, Bud Adams \u2014 the founder of the Oilers \u2014 chose Columbia blue and scarlet for his team\u2019s uniforms, so Hunt reverted to the red and gold we see on the field today.<\/p>\n The Chiefs\u2019 first three seasons weren\u2019t perfect, with the team going just 19-19-4 from 1963-1965. <\/p>\n And while the team was working on becoming a contender in Kansas City, Hunt was working on another project in the background. <\/p>\n Stram celebrates winning the Super Bowl with the Chiefs in 1970Credit: Getty<\/p>\n He was a central figure in the negotiations with NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle to agree on an AFL-NFL merger, and officials from both leagues agreed to hold a combined league championship game at the end of the 1966 season. That would end up being the first Super Bowl<\/a>.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/chicago-bears-wide-receiver-dj-1064181439.jpg\"\/)
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772993417_487_fernando-mendoza-indiana-hoosiers-looks-1062907512.jpg\"\/)
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n