Abner Haynes obit

Former KC Chiefs & Dallas trailblazer who still holds franchise records has died

 He was not on the list.

Former Chiefs running back Abner Haynes, a symbol of the early, wide-open days of the American Football League and a model for young Black athletes of the turbulent 1960s, died Thursday in Dallas. He was 86. Though Haynes played only two seasons in Kansas City after the Texans moved from Dallas in 1963, his legacy was so profound that he was inducted into the Chiefs Hall of Fame in 1991 and his No. 28 jersey is one of just 10 retired by the club. Haynes was one of the AFL’s first superstars after Chiefs founder/owner Lamar Hunt signed him for the Texans under the goal posts following the 1959 Sun Bowl. Haynes led the infant league in rushing in 1960 and was its first Player of the Year. Haynes did it all for the embryonic Dallas franchise — rushing, receiving and returning kicks — while scoring 43 touchdowns in the first three years of the AFL and serving as captain of the 1962 champion Texans. But confronting the issues of the day was as much a part of Haynes’ style as sidestepping linebackers. Haynes’ outspoken manner may have shortened his career. He was a key figure in a threatened boycott that forced the AFL to move its 1965 All-Star Game in midweek from New Orleans to Houston because Black players were having trouble getting taxis and accommodations. The Chiefs traded him to Denver four days later. “Somebody had to set the tone; that’s what my father kept saying, and it might as well be me,” Haynes, son of a Dallas church bishop, said when inducted into the Chiefs Hall of Fame. “I came through the ‘60s. The President got killed. Dr. King got killed. The University of Mississippi was being integrated … Central High School (in Little Rock) … That was all affecting me while I was trying to play ball.” Haynes was a trailblazer himself when he became the first Black player at what was then North Texas State, and he led the Eagles in rushing for three years and was an all-American in 1959. “I thought it was my role to … show other Black kids you can achieve, you can compete, you can go to white colleges … you could have white friends, black friends … and get along under adversity. I think I proved that,” he said After signing with the hometown Texans, Haynes, slightly built at 6-feet, 175 pounds, dazzled the AFL with his speed and shiftiness as he rushed for 875 yards and led the Texans in receiving with 55 catches. Typifying his versatility was a game against the New York Titans, when Haynes rushed for 157 yards, returned a field-goal attempt 92 yards and caught eight passes. Though he played only five years for the franchise, Haynes remains a prominent part of the Chiefs’ record book. He shares the club record for most touchdowns in a game, with five against Oakland in 1961. That feat was matched by Jamaal Charles at Oakland in 2013. Haynes’ 12 touchdowns as a rookie was matched by former Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill in 2016. But Haynes still holds the franchise record for highest rushing average in a game: 14.27, on 11 carries for 157 yards at the New York Titans in 1960. His crowning season was 1962, when he rushed for 1,049 yards and scored a then-pro record 19 touchdowns. Moved to flanker in the AFL championship game at Houston, he scored both of Dallas’ touchdowns on a 28-yard pass from Len Dawson and a 2-yard run. Unfortunately, most people remember Haynes’ decision during the coin-toss before the first overtime, when he chose to “kick the clock,” or kick into the wind. Haynes’ instructions from coach Hank Stram were to defend a goal that would have put the Texans on defense, but with the wind. However, when the referee asked Haynes if he wanted to kick or receive, Haynes said the Texans would kick, and that gave Houston both the ball and choice of ends. The Texans overcame Haynes’ mistake and won the longest game in pro football history to that point, 20-17 in two overtimes. And when Haynes was asked bout the coin-toss after the game, he reportedly said: “How else could we have the wind in the sixth quarter?” Despite winning the AFL championship, the Texans had difficulty competing with the NFL’s Cowboys, and Hunt moved the franchise to Kansas City in 1963. It was a traumatic move for Haynes, who was surrounded by friends and family in Dallas. A back injury limited him to 99 carries for 352 yards in 1963, but there was an incident that had far more impact: the death of Stone Johnson. Haynes persuaded the Chiefs to sign Johnson, an Olympic track star from Dallas who played wide receiver at Grambling. In the final preseason game in Wichita, Johnson suffered a fractured neck and died eight days later. “It affected me a lot,” Haynes said. “I was the cause of him being here. I felt responsible for him being there and getting killed. The ambulance took an hour and a half … now you have ambulances at any kind of football game, but we’ve already blown it. Nobody wants to hear how we got to this point, who paid the price.” The next season, Haynes led the Chiefs in rushing with 713 yards, was voted to the All-Star Game and selected AFL Comeback Player of the Year. But the racial tensions of the ‘60s spilled into New Orleans when cab drivers refused to pick up black AFL All-Stars at the airport. After the black players threatened to boycott the game, it was moved to Houston, where 15,446 attended. New Orleans was awarded a franchise by the rival NFL in 1966. Haynes finished his career with two undistinguished seasons in Denver, but his legacy endured. “Thank heaven we had people like Abner who would stand up for their rights and made a difference in the league,” Hall of Famer Buck Buchanan — one of 13 Chiefs in the 1965 All-Star Game — said before his death in 1992. “There were a lot of things players in the AFL would not stand for that players let go by in the old NFL. That was one of the things Abner did for all of us when he stood up and said, ‘No more of this. If we’re going to be a first-class league, let’s don’t treat our players in a second-class manner.’”

 

areer information

High school:            Lincoln

(Dallas, Texas)

College:            North Texas State (1957–1959)

NFL draft:            1960 / Round: 5 / Pick: 55

AFL draft:            1960 / Round: First selections

Career history

Dallas Texans / Kansas City Chiefs (1960–1964)

Denver Broncos (1965–1966)

Miami Dolphins (1967)

New York Jets (1967)

Career highlights and awards

AFL champion (1962)

AFL Most Valuable Player (1960)

AFL Comeback Player of the Year (1964)

AFL Rookie of the Year (1960)

3× First-team All-AFL (1960–1962)

Second-team All-AFL (1964)

4× AFL All-Star (1960–1962, 1964)

3× AFL rushing touchdowns leader (1960–1962)

AFL rushing yards leader (1960)

AFL kickoff return yards leader (1965)

AFL All-Time Team

2× First-team All-MVC (1958, 1959)

Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame

Kansas City Chiefs No. 28 retired

North Texas Mean Green No. 28 retired

Career AFL statistics

Rushing yards:            4,630

Rushing average:            4.5

Rushing touchdowns:            46

Receptions:            287

Receiving yards:   3,535

Receiving touchdowns:            20

Return yards:            3,900

Return touchdowns:            2