KANSAS CITY, Mo. — This used to be my town.
Sitting in the Arrowhead Stadium press box (I remember it being a lot closer to the field) Thursday night brought back a rush of memories. My youth flashed before my eyes.
I grew up here. As a young man. As a journalist. As a sports fan.
My family moved here from Dubuque, Iowa, in 1970, missing the Kansas City Chiefs’ win in Super Bowl IV by three months. I lived here until 1989, including nine glorious years at the Kansas City Star.
As I grew older, I saw KC grow up as a sports town.
When we arrived, it had venerable Municipal Stadium, home of the Chiefs and Royals. You couldn’t get a ticket to the Chiefs games. Baseball was wide open.
I would tag along with my dad, who had a part-time job parking cars across from Municipal on Brooklyn Avenue — just up the hill from Arthur Bryant’s. He would buy me a bleacher ticket ($1.50) then join me when the game started. We watched Lou Piniella, Steve Busby and Co.
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Then came 1973, the game-changing year for the city.
The Truman Sports Complex went up as KC entered the Flying Saucer era of sports stadiums, but raised the ante by building two beautiful structures. Side by side.
Kemper Arena also opened that year, as did the airport. Don’t ask me why they built it halfway to St. Joseph.
Kansas City was quite the sports hub in the early 1970s, with all four major sports including the NBA Kings (remember, Omaha?) and the NHL Scouts for a few years. The gem was the Big Eight Holiday tournament, played after Christmas.
One of my favorite memories was attending the 1973 All-Star Game with my dad. We got the tickets from our next door neighbor, a great guy named Larry Kauffman — the son of Royals owner Ewing.
No offense to Ewing, or Larry, but I’ll always call it Royals Stadium.
By 1974, I was the one parking cars at Chiefs games, way out in Lot L. I’d stand out there for three hours, waving cars along. As a perk, we got into games free.
That included the 1974 Pro Bowl, played at Arrowhead. As I recall, O.J. Simpson had a big game.
Kansas City is where I covered high school football on the sideline, keeping stats on a clipboard and usually calling in the story from a bowling alley. During one playoff game, the star quarterback took the last snap and instead of taking a knee, he turned and held the ball up. An opposing linebacker rushed up and took the ball, scored and won the game.
Kansas City is where I got a champagne bath in the Royals’ clubhouse after they won the 1985 World Series. It’s where I interviewed Reggie Jackson and Hulk Hogan, greeting both with stupid questions. The Hulkster gave me a colorful quote. Reggie gave me the death stare and said, "You're from Kansas City, aren't you?"
It’s where I played media touch football each Thursday, blocking and rushing the quarterback against the other “big” guy on the field. He wore a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey. I remember because they called him “Rush.”
As in Rush Limbaugh, then a public relations assistant with the Royals.
At the media golf outing, I was paired with Len Dawson, then the sports anchor for KMBC. On my first tee shot, the wooden club head of my driver flew off. It went farther than the ball.
Dawson fell to the ground, laughing hysterically. Another brush with greatness.
Mostly, Kansas City was and still is a college town.
It was the home of the NCAA headquarters, the Big Eight and those glorious Big Eight tournaments. It’s where I covered Missouri, Kansas and Kansas State. The 1988 Final Four was my pinnacle event in that city. I covered a lot of great basketball and a lot of football coaches’ firings — including Warren Powers in 1984, which took me away from seeing Bruce Springsteen at Kemper.
I miss Kansas City. I know Nebraska fans do, too.
Thanks to the tornado that is realignment, Nebraskans — including this one — don’t drive south anymore. Our attention is pointed east, north and now west in the Big Ten.
It’s too bad. Kansas City was always a terrific Husker town.
There’s no shortage of Nebraskans who live there. When I was there, we always considered Nebraska football to be the fourth local team.
When Marty Schottenheimer revived the Chiefs and Carl Peterson turned the tailgate lots to gold in the 90s, Nebraska fans drove down every week. Many still do to watch Andy Reid’s dynasty. I’m glad to see they still know the way.
There has always been a connection with the Chiefs and Nebraska, the red and all that passion for football. Seeing Reid greet the Huskers on Wednesday and give them a pep talk only cements that feeling.
So does all the KC connections on the Husker roster. Matt Rhule is smart to mine the high school talent here. It’s still only three hours away.
This is old home week for a lot of Huskers fans, too. Even a Big 12 logo on the field has a nostalgic feel.
NU played two games here in 1998 and the 2006 Big 12 title game, and I always thought there should be more. It’s such a natural fit.
College home games being the gold mines they are, though, neutral-site games don’t always work.
I don’t know how long the KC Classic will be around, but the Huskers should play a nonconference game here once every five years. It’s just too good.
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