Email from the AFL – The Denver Broncos’ Larry Kaminski

Though brief, a very interesting interview. Being an old AFL fan / KC Chiefs in particular, always insightful to read what a player from the Western Division has to say re: his opponents, i.e. players faced who he considered ‘best’ and/or ‘toughest’ etc., comparison others.

There is always the specter of hype / bias produced by teams, the media and players themselves, self-hype or favoritism extended to or expressed toward another. There are possibly oversights unintended, and omissions intended, opine mine.

No mention of any Chiefs such as Hall of Famer Buck Buchanan, Willie Lanier or Bobby Bell for example among other, DEN and KC playing each other twice annually minimum. Larry does reference former teammate Culp, who became an Chief. Other than Buchanan, Tom Sestak & Jim Dunaway, Larry named the other DT stars of the time (Keating, Birdwell, Hunt & Antwine; Ernie Ladd was in the twilight of his career by ’66 and thereaft.)

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The John Ralston ‘take’ I’ve heard before, from others, and the merger sentiment Larry’s is also nigh on consensus players thence, my research.

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One thing I wonder about is this: it’s 1966, Larry’s rookie season, and the Broncos are playing the Chiefs in Denver. KC per the usual AFL days has a stranglehold on the hometown team (KC eventually won the game 56-10).

Late in that game, former Chiefs Head Coach Hank Stram (so he said in his book) told his kicker Mike Mercer to kick onside, and tell the Broncos it was coming, stated intent to keep the football near the middle of the field/away from the south end where Denver fans could (and had) pelted Chiefs players with snow, ice, etc. during the course of the runaway victory.

Upshot – the Chiefs recovered the onside kick anyway, scored yet another td & Broncos Coach Ray Malavasi (at minimum) was livid at Stram for “running up the score.” What would Ray or former Broncos or Chiefs players otherwise say / recollect about that day / play?

I loved the AFL, my Chiefs and Stram, but I have a suspicion Hank’s motives were not necessarily ‘pure’ shall we say… boys will be boys.

Interesting that Larry mentions Houston Antwine as one of the DTs that gave him the most trouble. Larry joins many other offensive lineman who point out that Houston Antwine was very good. How come Houston is not in the HOF?

In response to the question on my feelings toward John Ralston…I can only say he was an okay guy but his knowledge of football and coaching men was nil. He brought in college coaches who had drills and college techniques…in all my years I never heard any line coach tell the O guys that the coach is mad so I have to work you harder as a result of not doing your job…film sessions are for critique so why not be upfront with your players and point out the error…that is what real coaches to post game…Why…because he did not know the game…he benched a all star guard because he was to valuable to play…go figure…that guy became the valuable back up to the O line……the guys claim to fame was his positive attitude from a Carnegie class…it took a few years before the nucleus of the Saban team said enough and got him fired. I applaud those guys for being a team and not letting this so called coach fool the fans any longer….thanks…