Season Background
The Chiefs' inaugural season in Kansas City began with owner Lamar Hunt’s trade of quarterback Cotton Davidson to the Oakland Raiders, which landed the number one overall selection in the AFL Draft (which Kansas City used to select Buck Buchanan. Ironically, the Raiders would later select Gene Upshaw in 1967 for the express purpose of blocking Buchanan. The Chiefs tabbed offensive guard Ed Budde from Michigan State with their own number one selection, while stealing another future Hall of Fame inductee, Bobby Bell from Minnesota in the seventh round. Buchanan, Budde and Bell all became starters on their way to a combined 526 games with the team and all three of them played their entire careers with the Chiefs.
Rookie running back Stone Johnson, who was a sprinter in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck in a preseason game against Oakland on August 30 in Wichita, Kansas. He died 10 days later on September 8 and his jersey number 33 was subsequently retired. The Chiefs finished their first season in Kansas City with a 5–7–2 record and failed to reappear in the AFL Championship game for a consecutive year.
Read more about this topic: 1963 Kansas City Chiefs Season
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“Life contracts and death is expected,
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The soldier falls.”
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