The dreams are roughly the same for every athlete: Leave a legacy both for the team you play for and the under-served of the community. Yet the reality is that it’s tough to do, for obvious reasons. And yet Derrick Thomas made it all look so effortless. Back in the late 1980s, the Kansas City… Read more »
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Team: Kansas City Chiefs
Denny Thum
In 1988, a dozen years after joining the Kansas City Chiefs as an entry-level accountant in the ticketing office and then slowly climbing the ladder, Denny Thum found his career in the big-time of a National Football League front office. That’s when the Chiefs hired Carl Peterson (MSHOF President’s Award 2022) as team president, general… Read more »
George Toma
At age 10, he went to work on a vegetable farm, but not by choice. The family needed the money after his dad, a coal miner in eastern Pennsylvania, passed away. Fortunately for George Toma, the minor leagues rescued him as a teenager in the 1940s. But not because he could hit or pitch. Instead,… Read more »
Dick Vermeil
One of the most distinguished coaching careers in National Football League history officially concluded when Dick Vermeil announced his retirement from professional football in 2006. Vermeil spent 15 seasons as an NFL head coach and was a member of the league’s coaching fraternity for 19 seasons. In addition, Vermeil has had a prestigious career as… Read more »
Casey Wiegmann
It’s often said of athletes that their most important ability isn’t speed, or strength, or stamina. The most important ability an athlete can have is availability. Perhaps no one in Missouri sports history personifies that belief more than Casey Wiegmann. The Iowa born-and-bred Wiegmann became a folk hero of sorts during his nine total seasons… Read more »
Allen Wright
Allen Wright went to his father when he was offered a full-time job by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1984. At the time, he was working for the team as a courier and traveling on the weekends with a team on the World of Outlaws sprint car circuit and had aspirations to become a driver… Read more »
Larry Zirbel
Larry Zirbel was born in Paris Township, Kenosha County, Wisconsin on June 13, 1921. Spent his boyhood in Algoma, Wisconsin, and graduated from Algoma High School in June 1939. He was a World War II veteran, serving from 1942 to 1945. He received his BS degree from Northwest Missouri State in 1950 and his M.Ed.… Read more »