The Chiefs’ trip to the White House included sizable absences. How they paid tribute

Some 40 members of the Chiefs organization comprised a backdrop behind President Joe Biden at the White House, donning their Sunday best on a Monday afternoon. Travis Kelce shined in red, Trey Smith in powder blue, and Chris Jones in a pattern of gray and black checks.

Three members, however, wore matching attire — an old-school Chiefs jacket that had a bit more significance.

Head coach Andy Reid, general manager Brett Veach and team president Mark Donovan donned black jackets with the Chiefs’ Arrowhead on the left panel, identical to what founder Lamar Hunt and former head coach Hank Stram wore in Super Bowl IV.

They’d planned to wear them Monday in Washington, D.C. already, but the jackets became a fitting tribute to some who weren’t there.

The Hunt family.

Norma Hunt, the widow of Lamar and mother of current chairman and CEO Clark Hunt, died at 85, the team announced Sunday, a day before the trip.

And for all of the festivities and celebration of a championship in Washington, D.C., they were sizable absences. A day of celebration — the franchise’s first like it on this stage — felt incomplete without its matriarch.

Clark Hunt, who assumed the role of CEO after his father passed in 2006, has been a visible owner during the team’s recent postseason runs. But among the many things that made Norma unique: She was visible at every team’s ultimate postseason triumph, the only woman known to attend all 57 Super Bowls.

It is a cruel twist that neither were able to join the franchise’s first ever trip to the White House.

“Norma was a joyful soul,” Donovan said. “She loved her Chiefs. She was really proud of this team and really proud that they had the opportunity to be here today. I can tell you from personal experience there was no one better to celebrate a championship with than Norma Hunt. And I know for a fact that she wants us to celebrate today.”

And they did. The day was full of once-in-a-lifetime experiences — or probably more like first-in-the-lifetime at this rate.

But it had to include Norma.

A tribute to a team, and the last time this team would be together, became at least partially a tribute to a person. As it should have been.

To open the festivities Monday, Biden requested a moment of silence from a crowd of a few hundred sitting on the South Lawn. Donovan would open his speech with Norma, too. And then, in a rare occurrence, Andy Reid appeared to get choked up as he followed. There was a noticeable crack in his cadence as he said, “Doggone, we’re thinking about you.”

In a statement, the Hunt family described her as “the only person we knew who rivaled (Lamar’s) love of sports.” Clark once told The Star that his mom could get quite amped during Chiefs games.

“It was tough, I think, for all of us, especially the ones who really got to know Norma and how special she was and how she helped create this organization and put her stamp on it,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said in an interview after the White House festivities. “I think that’s why it’s such a great organization to be a part of. Obviously we wish she was here and got to experience this with us, but we’re glad we got to celebrate her by being here today. There’s no better way to celebrate her than having the Lamar Hunt Trophy and the Super Bowl trophy and being at the White House showing how great the Kansas City Chiefs organization is.”

When the Chiefs reached Super Bowl LIV, before they’d play and beat the 49ers, Clark Hunt said his mother had been needling him about watching her own team while making her annual trek to the NFL’s championship. “It sure would be nice if we could play in this game once while I’m still able to go,” she said, as Clark relayed.

And then they did.

Three times.

She saw them win it twice.

But it sure would have been nice, if not perfectly fitting, if she’d been able to celebrate it Monday.