This Week in Chiefs History

Jul 18, 2008, 10:10:46 AM by Brad Kuhbander

JULY 13 – 19

The Chiefs had trained at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri since the club moved to Kansas City in ‘63. Chiefs President Carl Peterson and head coach Marty Schottenheimer wanted to find a cooler place to train away from the stifling summer heat and humidity in the Midwest. Current COO/Assistant General Manager Denny Thum headed the search group that settled on a western Wisconsin town located 45 minutes east of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The town of River Falls, Wisconsin welcomed the Chiefs to America’s Dairyland for the first time on July 16, 1991. Nearly 2,000 fans greeted the Red and Gold during a parade down Main Street on the way to the University of Wisconsin – River Falls. The town held a welcoming ceremony at Ramer Field as the fans simply followed the parade to the football stadium.

In New York, they have ticker-tape parades,” UWRF Chancellor Gary Thibodeau said in the Kansas City Star at the time. “In small-town America, you just experienced the way we welcome an NFL team.”

“I have been in 16 training camps and this is the greatest welcome I have ever seen,” Chiefs President Carl Peterson commented.

Kansas City joined Chicago, Green Bay, Minnesota and New Orleans to form the Cheese League. The five teams all practiced within driving distance of each other allowing the teams to practice with each other. The clubs agreed it was better to break up the Groundhog Day feel of training camp by holding joint practices.

“All of Wisconsin is so proud of the fact that we are the site of the birth of a new football league,” Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson said. “That’s the Cheese League. The Kansas City Chiefs are the topping that makes everything happen. They are the only team that can fly into Minnesota, see the Metrodome on their way to training camp and come back there and play in the Super Bowl next January.”

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

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A eight-year veteran of the Chiefs, Kuhbander is Kansas City's Manager of Football Information. As the club's in-house "stats guru," he coordinates statistical research for the club's coaching staff and executives, in addition to performing a variety of other functions for the Public Relations Department. Every week he contributes a "Stat of the Week" and a "This Week in Chiefs History" segment for kcchiefs.com.