For the most part, the Kansas City Chiefs’ uniforms haven’t changed. Their helmet, adorned with an iconic arrowhead, and the combination of red, white and gold have stood the test of time.
But the club has added a detail for the 2023 campaign: a small football-shaped patch on the right side of each player’s chest. And, inside that football are the letters “NKH.”
What’s the significance of that addition? It honors Norma Knobel Hunt, the “First Lady of Football.”
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Norma Knobel Hunt Died During the 2023 Offseason
If you’re a longtime football fan, you’re probably familiar with Lamar Hunt. In addition to being one of the American Football League’s (AFL) power players and coming up with the name “Super Bowl,” the Arkansas native also owned the Chiefs since their days as the Dallas Texans.
Hunt’s life was more than football, though, and his wife, Norma, was a key part of that.
As laid out in her Dallas Morning News obituary, the pair bonded over sports; during a single weekend in 1963, they attended five football games in four days. The pair also honeymooned at the Innsbruck Winter Olympics in 1976 and, in 1966, Norma suggested that her husband should become a founding investor in the Chicago Bulls. That move would, of course, pay off down the line.
Hunt was also present at every Super Bowl—which she also helped name by gifting her children a “Super Ball”—through 2023’s Super Bowl LVII. Fittingly, her last trip to the Big Game saw Kansas City lift the Lombardi Trophy as NFL champions.
But focusing on athletics only tells part of the story.
“It was in her personal relationships that conjure up the most vivid memories of Norma,” an official Chiefs write-up explains. “She touched the lives of not only countless sports people she met, but also those of fans and their families. She met every person, every player, stadium worker, public official, and fan with a smile no matter what their station in life might have been. She sought to make everyone comfortable in her presence.
“With her friends, she had singular and remarkable relations. She was always thoughtful, sensitive and interested—but never intrusive. Their pleasure, somehow, became her pleasure, their disappointment, suddenly hers. Their victories were a reason for her to celebrate, and their concerns engaged her patient and sympathetic ear. Acts of kindness extended to her, large or small, were received enthusiastically and gratefully. In short, she reduced life to the essentials.”
Today, the Hunt family still owns the Chiefs, with Clark—Norma and Lamar’s son—serving as the club’s chairman and CEO.
Norma Hunt died on June 4, 2023, and the team said that “throughout the 2023 season, the Chiefs will wear a patch in her honor, celebrating the life and legacy of the First Lady of Pro Football.”
Fittingly, Lamar Hunt is Also Honored on KC’s Jersey
During their adult lives, Lamar and Norma Hunt were a partnership. Now, they’re together again on the jerseys of their beloved Chiefs.
While the “NKH” patch is a more recent addition, KC has honored Lamar Hunt on their uniforms since his death in 2007. Worn on the left side of each player’s jersey and sitting over their heart, the memorial patch mimics AFL’s old logo, but features an “LH” inside of the football.
Other uniform details may come and go, but that touch remains constant.
“Similar to how the Chicago Bears memorialize their founder, George Halas, the Hunt patch remains as a permanent patch on team uniforms with a smaller version on the coaches’ sideline gear,” the Chiefs’ website explains.
