Supe’s On 2024: Kansas City Uniform History

Good Morning Uni Watchers and welcome to Super Bowl Sunday!

Once again, I’m joined by Timmy Brulia, one of the head honchos over at the incredible Gridiron Uniform Database, and who is bringing us the uniform histories of the two combatants in SB LVIII (Supe 58). There’s a LOT to cover again, so let’s just delve right in, shall we? With Kansas City the designated “home” team, we’ll cover their uni history today. If you missed yesterday’s San Francisco uni history, click here.

Also, ICYMI, on Friday, Paul reminded readers he’ll be stepping down as Editor in late May, and thought you fine readers might have some questions for me about how we’ll be handling things, what changes we might make, what suggestions we might be open to, etc, once Paul hands me the UW reins. So for the next few days, we’re inviting you to send me your questions and suggestions about my upcoming stewardship of the site. As Paul says, “Think of it as a town hall meeting where you get to submit queries to the new boss.” Thanks — I’ll be happy to answer any and all your questions about what to Uni Watch once Paul becomes Editor emeritus.

Also, also — late yesterday afternoon I posted the complete uni-matchup history of Kansas City versus San Francisco (with some uni trivia as well). Give that a look-see if you missed that. Thanks :)

And now… for the complete uni history of KC, from the franchise’s founding as a charter member of the AFL in 1960 and up through today, here’s Timmy:

• • • • •Kansas City Uniform History
By Timmy Brulia

1960: The Dallas Texans take the field as one of the eight original American Football League teams. The helmets are red with a white map of the state of Texas on the sides. with a very thin black outline and a yellow star where Dallas is located. The Texans sport white jerseys with red numbers trimmed in yellow on the front and back and tv numbers in the same fashion on the sleeves. The home jerseys are red with white numbers edged in yellow on front and back, with TV numbers in white on yellow on the sleeves. The pants are white with a very thin red/yellow/red stripe pattern on the sides. Socks are white with red/yellow/red stripes (worn with white jerseys) and red with white/yellow/white stripes (worn with red jerseys). Starting with the 11/18 game at Boston, the Texans add names on the backs (NOB) of their jerseys. Red names on the white jerseys and white NOBs on the red jerseys.

• • •1962: The Texans wear the red socks with both sets of uniforms.

• • •1963: With dismal attendance in Dallas, the Texans relocate to Kansas City and are renamed the Kansas City Chiefs. Out of necessity the team revises their helmets, keeping the same red color but changing the emblem from the Texas state outline to a white arrowhead, with the point facing forward and a red “KC” inside the arrowhead. The arrowhead and KC have thin black outlines. The rest of the uniform remains as is, with the pant stripes thickening ever so slightly.

• • •1966: The NOBs are now serifed. The sock stripes are separated by a razor thin strip of red.

• • •1967: NOBs return to the sans-serif format.

• • •1968: For the first tine, stripes are added to the sleeves. The white jerseys have a red/yellow/red combo on the sleeve edge, while the red jerseys feature a white/yellow/white pattern. Red pants are introduced to the mix with side stripes of white/very thin red/yellow/very thin red/white. White socks are reintroduced for the first time since 1961 to be worn with the white jersey/red and pants set and have the same red/yellow/red stripes as worn in ’61.

• • •1969: The thin red separations of stripes on the red socks are deleted. The team wears special red jerseys for Super Bowl IV. NOBs are serifed and a special 10th season AFL patch is worn on the left shoulder for the game.

• • •1971: KC joins in on the anti-black cleat craze. The team wears white cleats with the white jerseys and red cleats with the red jerseys.

• • •1972: White socks are worn with both sets of uniforms.

• • •1973: The red socks return and are worn with the red jersey.

• • •1974: The helmet logo is reduced in size a tad and the face masks are changed from gray to white.

• • •1976: Red cleats are worn exclusively.

• • •1977: Sock stripe patterns are changed. For the white socks, stripes are thin red/yellow/thin red/yellow/thin red. On the red socks the stripes are thin yellow/white/thin yellow/white/thin yellow. White cleats are worn full-time.

• • •1978: The socks revert back to the three-stripe pattern, with the inner yellow stripe being a lot thicker than before on both sets.

• • •1983: A memorial patch for deceased running back Joe Delaney was worn on the left breast of both jerseys for the season. The helmet logo shrinks a little more.

• • •1984: A patch celebrating KC’s silver anniversary was worn on the left breast of both jerseys for the season.

• • •1989: The red pants are ditched and the white pants are worn with both jerseys.

• • •1992: A memorial patch for Director of Player Personnel Whitey Dovell is worn on the left breast of both jerseys.

• • •1994: Two commemorative patches are worn on the jerseys. The league wide NFL 75th season patch is worn on the left breast and the team’s 35th season patch is worn on the right breast. As with all other NFL teams, KC wears throwback jerseys for a few games. These throwbacks are based on the 1963-1967 seasons, with stripeless sleeves and the old style red socks worn with both sets.

• • •1999: KC’s 40th season is commemorated with a patch on the right breast of both jerseys.

• • •2000: To the delight of many, the red pants are revived, with the same stripe pattern as worn before, with the inner yellow stripe slimmed down.

• • •2002: KC wears a commemorative 45th season patch for just one game, 10/27 at home against the Raiders.

• • •2006: KC wears three uni combos this season, the normal red over white, as well as white over red and white over white.

• • •2007: After the passing of AFL founder and team founder Lamar Hunt late in 2006, the team wears a permanent patch honoring Hunt. The patch is basically the old AFL insignia with LH on the football in the logo. The all-white combo worn for several games in 2006 is dropped.

• • •2008: The league-wide Gene Upshaw memorial patch worn for Week 1 is on the right breast of the red jersey.

• • •2009: KC wears a 50th season patch on the right breast of both regular jerseys. The all-white combination is worn for the last two weeks of the season. As part of the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the American Football League, the team breaks out togs worn when they were the 1962 Dallas Texans, with a special AFL Anniversary patch for three games. The highlight was when the “Texans” in red at home played the Dallas Cowboys, who wore 1962 blue throwbacks of their own on 10/11.

• • •2010: The red/white, white/red and white/white combos are again worn.

• • •2011: A 9.11.01 ribbon patch is worn on the right breast of the red jersey for the 9/11 game.

• • •2012: There is a change – a subtle change – on the jerseys. The TV numbers bump up from the sleeves to the shoulders and the sleeve stripes, previously on the sleeve edge, are now offset from the edge. A league-wide patch for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 50th Anniversary is worn on the right breast of the white jersey for Weeks 14 and 15. The same three uni combos are worn.

• • •2013: The usual three combos are worn…PLUS the combo that almost no one thought would never be worn, the red over red! The all-red look (with white striped socks) was worn for the first time on Week 2 against the Cowboys.

• • •2014: The all-whites take a breather. White/red, red/white and the all-reds (with red striped socks) make another showing, this time for Week 4 at home vs. the Patriots.

• • •2015: KC wears four combos this season: white/white/red socks, white/red/white, red/white/red and red/red/red.

• • •2016: Kansas City, noted for their rather conservative taste as other teams fell prey to the mix and match era of the 2010s, go full throttle with six uniform combinations this season. White jerseys are worn with white pants and white socks, white pants and red socks, and red pants with white socks. Red jerseys are worn with white pants and red socks, red pants and red socks, and for the Thursday night Color Rush against the Raiders for Week 14, red pants and red socks without the usual white sanitary socks.

• • •2017: Four uni combos take the field: white/red/white, red/white/red, red/red/red (with white sannies), red/red/red (without sannies).

• • •2018: These were the four combos worn: white/red/white, white/white/red, red/white/red and red/red/red.

• • •2019: Three combos were worn: white/red/white, red/white/red and red/red/red. For Week 9 the team switched out their white face masks for gray. The team wore a Super Bowl Patch in SB LIV which ended the 2019 regular season.

• • •2020: The COVID-19 Pandemic forces cancellation of all pre-season games. The team appears in SB LV against Tampa Bay and wears a special patch.

• • •2021: All four color combos were worn (white/white, white/red, red/white, red/red). Gray facemasks were affixed to the helmets for Week 15. From Week 10 on, socks were more or less pick-and-choose between red or white colors.

• • •2022: The red-over-red set was not worn. The SB LVII patch was worn on the players’ right breast of the white jersey.

• • •2023: A memorial patch for Norma K. Hunt, widow of KC’s founder Lamar Hunt, is worn on the right breast of the jerseys starting with the regular season. The red-over-red combo returned for one showing. The other three combos (red/white, white/red, white/white) continued to be worn. The Super Bowl LVIII patch will be worn on the right breast, above the Norma Hunt patch, on the red jersey.

• • • • •Thanks so much, Timmy! Fantastic job as always. Readers, please give Tim a tremendous round of applause for his research prowess and dogged determination to get all the details right for us!