Chiefs great Jim Kearney dies at 81

Jim Kearney, whose 12-year pro football career saw him win a Super Bowl ring with the Chiefs, has died at the age of 81.

Kearney was a quarterback in college at Prairie View and a 1965 11th-round pick of the Lions. He moved to safety in the pros and played two seasons in Detroit before finding his greatest success in Kansas City, where he had a stretch of eight consecutive seasons in which he started every game.

“During his nine-year career in Kansas City, Jim was part of an AFL Championship team and helped lead the Chiefs defense to a 23-7 victory in Super Bowl IV,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said in a statement. “Jim first appeared in a Chiefs uniform in 1967, and for the next eight years, he never missed a game. And yet, the most impressive parts of Jim’s life happened off the field. After his playing days, he became a high school teacher and coach. He mentored hundreds of children in the Kansas City area, and he will be remembered as a great player, a great teacher and a great man. My family and I send our deepest condolences to Shirley and the entire Kearney family.”

In 1972 Kearney returned four interceptions for touchdowns, a single-season pick-six record that Kearney owned a share of until Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland had five pick-sixes last year.