Lamar Hunt Totally Explained

Everything about Lamar Hunt totally explained

Major League Soccer

Lamar Hunt was also one of the original founding investors of Major League Soccer, which debuted in 1996. This time he owned two teams: the Columbus Crew and the Kansas City Wizards. In 1999, Hunt financed the construction of the Columbus Crew Stadium, the first of several large soccer-specific stadiums in the USA. In 2003, Hunt purchased a third team, the Dallas Burn (now FC Dallas), after announcing that he'd partially finance the construction of their own soccer-specific stadium. On 31 August 2006, Hunt sold the Wizards to a six-man ownership group led by Cerner Corporation co-founders Neal Patterson and Cliff Illig.

Other sports and activities

Basketball: Hunt was one of the founding investors of the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association. He remained a minority owner until his death. Tennis: In 1967, Hunt co-founded the World Championship Tennis circuit, which gave birth to the open era in tennis. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993. NHL: Hunt and John H. McConnell formed Columbus Hockey Limited, L.L.C. (CHL) in an effort to obtain a National Hockey League franchise for Columbus, Ohio. Following disagreements over the financing for an arena, McConnell accepted an offer to lease a new arena from Nationwide Insurance Enterprise. McConnell froze-out CHL and Hunt and was awarded the NHL Columbus Blue Jackets franchise. See McConnell v. Hunt Sports Enterprises, 132 Ohio App.3d 657, 725 N.E.2d 1193 (1999), a lawsuit that Lamar Hunt lost and thus granted McConnel sole ownership of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Amusement Parks and Caves: Hunt was also the founder of two theme parks in Kansas City: Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun, which opened in 1973 and 1982 respectively. The two parks were an outgrowth and adjoined a vast industrial park he developed in the bluffs above the Missouri River in Clay County, Missouri. Immediately south of the parks is the Hunt-developed SubTropolis, a 55,000,000 square foot (5,060,000 m³), 1,100-acre manmade limestone cave which is claimed to be the World's Largest Underground Business Complex (TM). Hunt's extensive business dealings in Clay County were to contribute to the Chiefs having their NFL Training Camp at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri until 1991.

Honors

For service to Dallas, Texas, Lamar Hunt was honored during halftime of the Dallas Cowboys/Kansas City Chiefs game in 2005.
For his efforts in building the sport of soccer in the United States in the modern era, Hunt was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1992, and given their prestigious Medal of Honor in 1999, an award so far given out only 3 times in history.
The United States Soccer Federation changed the name of its oldest and most prestigious competition, the U.S. Open Cup (est.1914), to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 1999.
The NFL's trophy for the champion of the American Football Conference is named in honor of Lamar Hunt.
The winner of the Border Showdown football game receives a trophy named for Lamar Hunt, effective with the 2007 return of the series to Kansas City.
On December 17, 2006's Sunday Night Football game against the San Diego Chargers, the Kansas City Chiefs wore an emblem on the back of their helmets with the initials "LH" and continued to wear them until the end of the season. For the 2007 season, see "Tribute".
On March 11, 2007, the inaugural Lamar Hunt Pioneer Cup match was held at Pizza Hut Park between Hunt's MLS teams, FC Dallas and the Columbus Crew.
For the 2007 season, Major League Soccer players will wear a small patch on their arm with the initials LH as a memorial to Lamar Hunt and his contribution to soccer in America.
On February 20, 2008, Hunt was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians in the Missouri state Capitol.

Death

Lamar Hunt died December 13, 2006 at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas of complications related to a ten-year battle with prostate cancer. Upon his death, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones called Hunt, "a founder of the NFL as we know it today.... He's been an inspiration for me."
   Said Dan Rooney, chairman of the Pittsburgh Steelers: "Lamar Hunt was one of the most influential owners in professional football over the past 40-plus years, He was instrumental in the formation of the American Football League and in the AFL-NFL merger, which helped the National Football League grow into America's passion."
   The Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, Kay Waldo Barnes, requested that all city flags fly at half-staff the following Thursday and Friday of his passing.
   Upon his death his son Clark Hunt was named chairman of the Kansas City Chiefs. He was elected by his other three siblings, Lamar Jr., Sharron Munson, and Daniel.

Tribute

In 2007, the Kansas City Chiefs honored Hunt and the AFL. The Chiefs 2007 Media Guide is full of images, logos and anecdotes about the league and each of its original teams. Prominently featured in the Guide and in the Chiefs 2007 Yearbook is a special AFL patch. The Yearbook's description of the patch states: "As part of a year-long tribute to Hunt in 2007, the Chiefs will wear a commemorative patch that prominently features the American Football League logo to serve as a reminder of Hunt's formation of the AFL and the lasting impact the American Football League has made on the game of Professional Football. The patch will be affixed to the left chest of both Kansas City's home and away jerseys, meaning this piece of woven symbolism will be worn over the heart of every Chiefs player." On January 31, 2008, Clark Hunt, Lamar Hunt's son and President of the Chiefs, announced that henceforth, the patch will be a permanent part of the Chiefs uniform.
In 2007, the Columbus Crew honored their founder and owner by displaying a commemorative Lamar Hunt emblem on the left chest of both the home and away jerseys. The emblem consisted of the initials "LH" within a circle. Prior to the 2008 season, the Crew announced that the "LH" emblem will be a permanent patch on the left sleeve of the club's jerseys.

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