KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Following in his father's footsteps, Clark Hunt and the Kansas City Chiefs organization are continuing the fight for equality.
“He didn’t care where you came from, what your background was, what your race was," said Hunt, Chiefs CEO.
In the 1960s, Chiefs Founder Lamar Hunt and head coach at the time, Hank Stram, hired the first full-time Black scout in the National Football League.
The team then went on to draft many players from historically Black colleges and universities, including hall of famers Buck Buchanan and Willie Lanier.
“My dad set a great example for me and my siblings on a lot of issues," Hunt said, "and probably his greatest strength was how he treated people."
Faced with issues surrounding social injustices today, Hunt said he's proud of his team, and Head Coach Andy Reid agreed.
“Whether it’s with the [coronavirus] pandemic or racially, we’re attacking the issue," Reid said, "and all the way around and I’m proud of the way we’re doing it, with the exception of any of the violence that goes with it. So we’re addressing issues, which is important."
Two team leaders, Patrick Mahomes and Tyrann Mathieu were praised for their efforts.
“They’re very engaged," Hunt said. "They want to make a difference. They want to do things that are going to make our country better, things that are going to help us get along as a country."
From voter registration to social injustices, Mahomes said negative tweets and comments from fans will not stop him.
“I’m going to do what I believe and what I believe is right," Mahomes said, "and I’m going to do whatever I can to fight for equality for all people, and I feel like I’ve shown that over this off-season and I’m going to continue that fight."
As the franchise works to make the community a better place, Hunt said they still have one more goal to tackle.
“We’ve made an effort to get all of our players registered to vote here and then the icing on the cake would be if we could have Arrowhead as a polling station," Hunt said. "We don’t know if that’s going to work out, but we’ve had some really good dialogue with some of the highest levels of the state and we hope it does."
