Norma Lynn Hunt (, March 28, 1938 – June 4, 2023) was an American football executive who was a minority owner of the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL) from 2006 to 2023. Hunt was married to Lamar Hunt who founded the Chiefs. At the time of her death, she was the only woman in the Never Miss a Super Bowl Club. She was known as the "First Lady of Football."

Early life

Hunt was born in 1938 in Greenville, Texas, about 50 miles northeast of Dallas. She graduated from Richardson High School in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, Texas, in 1956. She played basketball and was a member of the drill team in high school. She then earned a bachelor's degree from North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) in 1960. She was president of the

Chi Omega Chi Omega (, also known as ChiO) is a women's fraternity and a member of the National Panhellenic Conference, the umbrella organization of 26 women's fraternities. Chi Omega has 181 active collegiate chapters and approximately 240 alumnae chapte ...

sorority at North Texas State. She received a

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, profe ...

fellowship to study in Dublin, Ireland, in 1962. Hunt returned to Richardson High School as a teacher of American history.

Kansas City Chiefs ownership

After Hunt's husband died, their children and she became the owners of the franchise with her son

Clark Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...

being the ultimate authority for all personnel decisions. Her two children and two step-children each owned 24.5 percent share of the franchise while she owned the remaining 2 percent. During her time as a minority owner, the Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV and Super Bowl LVII.

Never Miss a Super Bowl Club

Prior to her death in June 2023, she was one of four members (and the only woman) in the Never Miss a Super Bowl Club. She attended the first 57

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

games from Super Bowl I (which the Chiefs lost) to Super Bowl LVII (which the Chiefs won). She attended the first 40 Super Bowls with her husband, Lamar Hunt, and continued the tradition with her sons after Lamar's death in 2006. Hunt's connection to the Super Bowl includes inspiration for her husband's development of the game's iconic name. In 1966, Norma purchased three Super Balls for her children at a Dallas toy store. Lamar, who heard about the Super Balls with regularity from their children, despised the name of the "AFL–NFL World Championship Game" and successfully proposed that the league change the title to "Super Bowl".

Personal life

She met Lamar Hunt in 1963, and they were married in 1964. They had two children. Her son,

, is the chairman and CEO of the Kansas City Chiefs. Her granddaughter, Gracie, won the Miss Kansas USA pageant in 2021 and finished in the top 16 in that year's Miss USA. Hunt also shared a love of

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

with her husband. She reportedly "played a huge role" in her husband's investment in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

. The two began to love soccer when she brought him to a

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

game in Dublin as a part of her Rotary Club fellowship in 1962. Hunt was passionate about viniculture and founded the Bidwell Creek Vineyard in 2000. Her vineyard released a cabernet sauvignon under the name "Perfect Season". Hunt died on June 4, 2023, at age 85.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Norma 1938 births 2023 deaths 21st-century American businesswomen Kansas City Chiefs owners People from Richardson, Texas University of North Texas alumni Women sports owners Richardson High School alumni Sportspeople from Texas