Lamar Hunt

Lamar Hunt ( born August 2, 1932 in El Dorado, Arkansas, † December 13, 2006 in Dallas, Texas) was an influential American sports personality. The son of the oil billionaire HL Hunt invested in the United States in teams and players in the sports of football, soccer, tennis and basketball. Hunt died after a long illness in Dallas of complications from a prostate operation.

American Football

In the late 1950s wanted to Hunt in Dallas found a new football team as a member of the National Football League ( NFL ), which was denied by the league, however. From annoyance, he founded the rival American Football League ( AFL) with eight teams. Hunt was one of the teams, the Dallas Texans. The game mode was added in 1960. After the founding of the AFL, the NFL announced an expansion of their league in response to yet and awarded a license, those of the Dallas Cowboys, also to Dallas.

The competition of two football teams in a city also had a counter-productive, so Hunt 1963 transferred the Dallas Texans to Kansas City. Hunt was until recently one of the owners of the Kansas City Chiefs. The competition between two football leagues was unfavorable, so that the NFL and AFL merged in 1967. Today the winners trophy of the American Football Conference ( AFC) is ( which emerged from the AFL) named after him.

Hunt invented the term Super Bowl for the final game of the American Football Championship. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

Football

Hunt was the founder of the American Football Leagues North American Soccer League ( NASL ) and Major League Soccer ( MLS). In the NASL Dallas Tornado he owned the team, the 1971 champion and 1972 to 1974 was in the final. In the succession to his property League MLS clubs include the Columbus Crew, Kansas City Wizards and FC Dallas. The U.S. Open Cup, the American Cup competition, is named after him.

Tennis

In 1967 he founded the World Championship Tennis circuit, with the Open Era began in tennis and amateurs and professionals were admitted at all tennis tournaments. He was inducted for his accomplishments in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993.

Basketball

Hunt was one of the founders of the Chicago Bulls in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

496469
de