From the 101

Mar 10, 2008, 9:02:30 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ

The 38th annual 101 Banquet was held Saturday night in Kansas City. It was an evening to honor the best of the NFL from the 2007 season, although this year half of the award winners did not bother to show up to receive their honor.

Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and Brett Favre were all no shows, which did not come as much of a surprise. Favre retired last week, while Belichick and Brady remain in semi-seclusion after their Super Bowl failure against the Giants.

But there was plenty of star power in the room at the Westin Crown Center Hotel and a few moments to remember.

Jared Allen showed up to receive the Derrick Thomas MVP award as the Chiefs top player in the 2007 season. And he did it in typical Jared Allen fashion. While the evening is a black-tie affair, Allen showed up in blue jeans with a tuxedo t-shirt. The only thing missing was a baseball cap.

That Allen showed up at all was a good sign. He continues to spend his off-season in Arizona while his agent works on a new contract with the Chiefs. While Allen tends to take these things personally, it was good to see him appear and accept the honor that came from his teammates. Allen was joined by Dwayne Bowe, winner of the Mack Lee Hill Award as the team’s top rookie from last year. Bowe’s honor was also voted on by his teammates.

From the national winners, those appearing in person Saturday evening were NFC coach of the year Mike McCarthy of the Packers, NFC defensive player of the year Patrick Kerney from Seattle and AFC defensive player of the year, Indianapolis safety Bob Sanders.

There to present McCarthy was former Chiefs head coach Marty Schottenheimer, who was joined by his wife Pat. They are splitting their time these days between their home in Palm Springs and their home on Lake Norman in North Carolina and Marty said he plays golf only on days that end in “Y.” He also made it plain that he doesn’t expect to get back into coaching any time soon.

McCarthy was still dealing with the retirement of Favre from earlier in the week. “I’m not concerned about Aaron Rogers,” McCarthy said of his new starting quarterback. “I’m concerned about what comes after him. That’s where we need to do some work.”

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the first Lamar Hunt Award. Conceived last year with the passing of the team and AFL founder, the Hunt family wants to honor those in pro football who exemplify the same characteristics as the Chiefs patriarch.

The initial honorees were the three remaining members of the Foolish Club, the group of eight men who brought the American Football League to life. Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams was forced to cancel at the last minute, but Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson and former San Diego Chargers owner Baron Hilton were on hand.

They had several great stories to tell about those early days of the AFL from the time Hunt contacted them in 1959, through the tough early years of the league. Hilton to this day laments that his family’s hotel business forced him to sell the Chargers in 1966 and he missed out on all the fun of the merger of the two leagues.

It was a great way to honor Lamar Hunt and end a nice evening of pro football in March.

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

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A former beat reporter who covered the Pittsburgh Steelers during their glory years, Gretz covered the Chiefs for the Kansas City Star for nine years. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Board of Selectors. He has been the senior columnist for the Chiefs web site since its inception.