From a young age, Lamar Hunt had a love for sports, which warranted his family to give him the nickname “Games.”

Despite his love for sports after turning down an Ivy League education, Hunt sat on the bench for Southern Methodist University’s football team from 1953 to 1955 as a tight end.

No one could have imagined that Hunt would have such an impact on sports worldwide, becoming instrumental in football, soccer and tennis.

Hunt used his great resources and abilities to merge the AFL with the NFL and co-found the North American Soccer League (NASL), Major League Soccer (MLS) and World Championship Tennis (WCT). In Kansas City, Hunt was the owner and founder of the Chiefs and Wizards.

Hunt has been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, National Soccer Hall of Fame and International Tennis Hall of Fame. In football, Hunt has the AFC Championship Game trophy named after him. In soccer, the U.S. Open Cup competition is named after him.

Hunt came from a wealthy family. Hunt’s father, Haroldson L. Hunt, was a billionaire oil tycoon who was among the wealthiest people in the world.

Alongside great wealth, Hunt also had a great drive and strong morals. When he made a promise he never broke that promise. That was exemplified when the AFL was on the verge of folding, and Hunt resisted.

“They would have meetings where they anticipated it would be the final meeting, and Lamar would talk them out of it,” said Chiefs historian Bob Moore.

With numerous franchises in danger of folding, Hunt played an instrumental role in saving the AFL through television contracts.

Once the AFL and NFL merged in 1966, Hunt made sure that every AFL team merged into the NFL despite pushback from the NFL, who didn’t want some cities to have multiple teams.

“Lamar’s position was ‘we all go in, or none of us come in,’” Moore said. “It shows you what kind of man he was.”

When Hunt started the AFL, with the dream of getting an NFL team, the NFL offered him a franchise, but he turned it down because he did not want to break deals he had already made with owners in the newly-formed AFL.

“He didn’t want to go back on it, so he was a man of his word,” Moore said. “He stuck with his plan to have the AFL because he didn’t want to split from the owners to do something very selfish.”

Hunt, a Dallas native, made the decision to move his Dallas Texans franchise away from his hometown to Kansas City in 1963.

Chiefs Kingdom’s wild ride

In Kansas City, Hunt won two AFL championships and a Super Bowl before handing over ownership duties to his family with his death in 2006 after a battle with prostate cancer. His impact on the sport was immense as he pioneered professional football to become the top sport in the United States.

Hunt was also embarrassed at how little soccer had developed in the United States. He decided to change that, helping to start the NASL in 1968.

“He brought it (soccer) to the United States in a form that people could follow,” Moore said. “He was always driven by the fact that soccer should have a bigger role in sports in the United States.”

He was also a founding father of MLS and the Wizards. As Wizards owner, Hunt won the 2000 MLS Cup and Supporters Shield as well as the 2004 U.S. Open Cup. Hunt also owned the FC Dallas and Columbus Crew franchises in MLS.

In tennis, Hunt made it more structured through WCT in 1967 and allowed players to be legally paid as professionals. He also encouraged fans to cheer during matches, created the tie-breaker and implemented fashionable uniforms that increased television coverage.

Through Hunt’s leadership, sports dramatically changed. Sports became more professional and fans became more involved.

“He probably did about as much to start spectator sports as anybody,” Moore said. “Over a short period of time, he brought professional sports across the country.”

Hunt’s curious sports mind gave him an innovative instinct that no one else had. His legacy isn’t just major in Kansas City, but across the country and even across the world.

“He’s at the forefront of three major sports around the world,” Moore said. “If you take a look at the growth of spectator sports in this country, he is very much one of the pioneers in popularizing professional sports to what we recognize as today.”