Before they were a regular participant in the Super Bowl — even before Patrick Mahomes was born — the Kansas City Chiefs’ first championship team was an underdog.
Not favored to win the American Football League championship game against the Oakland Raiders, let alone the Super Bowl against the Minnesota Vikings, the Chiefs’ first title in 1970 was a surprise.
Warren McVea led all players with 12 rushing attempts in Kansas City’s upset win in Super Bowl IV. The pinnacle of McVea’s career as a professional proved to be his only championship in six seasons with the Chiefs (1969-73) and Cincinnati Bengals (1968).
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But it was hardly the most notable accomplishment of McVea’s life — on or off the field. McVea, who died Sunday at 79, was the first Black player to receive a college football scholarship to a major Texas university.
A native of San Antonio, McVea parlayed an outstanding career at Brackenridge High School into a scholarship to the University of Houston in 1964.
McVea broke the color barrier with the Cougars, then proceeded to fashion an outstanding career. He rushed for 1,461 yards, 841 receiving yards and 17 total touchdowns in college before taking his talents to the pros.
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Drafted in the fourth round (109th overall) of the 1968 Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals (then of the AFL), McVea caught two touchdown passes and ran for another as a rookie in the Bengals’ backfield.
Despite his early promise, McVea was traded by the Bengals to the Chiefs for kicker Horst Muhlmann and a draft choice on Sept. 8, 1969.
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The Chiefs made it back to the playoffs in 1971, but McVea did not appear in their season-ending double-overtime loss to the Miami Dolphins.
A knee injury kept McVea off the field for the entirety of the 1972 season. In 1973, he appeared in only seven games and carried the ball four times for five yards. That proved to be the end of McVea’s NFL career.
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McVea reportedly lost his Super Bowl ring, his wife, his house, and two cars when he was sentenced to five years in prison for arson in 1989. He was previously convicted of cocaine possession.
McVea was inducted into the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame (2003) and the University of Houston Athletics Hall of Honor (Class of 2004).
McVea’s daughter, Tracey Ellis, told the Associated Press he died at home in Los Angeles surrounded by family members.
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