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Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio doesn't look back fondly on his two seasons in the 1980s as a linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs.
With the Chiefs in Jacksonville to face the Jaguars today at Alltel Stadium, Del Rio was asked this week what he recalls about those two years on a Kansas City team that went 8-23-1 and ultimately fired coach Frank Gansz Sr.
"What do I remember? Not winning many games," Del Rio said, cracking a smile.
Del Rio is known for a lot more than that in Kansas City. In particular, fans there still remember Del Rio's role in what is considered one of the ugliest incidents of both the 1987 players strike and in Chiefs history.
It's still viewed that way because of the level of violence involved and, most of all, because of who was on the receiving end of Del Rio's fury that day: franchise icon and Chiefs Hall of Fame member Otis Taylor.
Barely three days into the strike, Del Rio -- who had joined the Chiefs a month earlier after being released by New Orleans -- was picketing the main entrance of Arrowhead Stadium as teammates Dino Hackett and Paul Coffman protested nearby.
How intense were the feelings at the time? At one point that afternoon, reports said that unloaded shotguns were brandished from the back of a player's truck in the parking lot.
Taylor, a Chiefs receiving great and star of their Super Bowl IV victory over Minnesota in 1969, was a scout for the team at the time, and was bringing in potential replacement players for workouts.
According to reports in The Kansas City Star, when one of the replacement candidates accused Del Rio of slashing the tires of his car, Taylor stepped in and tried to break up the argument.
Del Rio reportedly called Taylor "a dirty scab and a lowlife," then slammed the then-45-year-old retired player into the ground. Violence ensued for three minutes before Hackett could break up the fight, and Taylor came away with a bloodied face, the reports said.
"I couldn't believe it was happening," Hackett told The Kansas City Star at the time. "Here's Jack and Otis Taylor, a Chiefs linebacker and a Chiefs legend, wrestling around there on the ground. It was unbelievable."
Del Rio claimed he was defending himself, but Taylor later filed a police complaint and a lawsuit against Del Rio that was settled out of court two years later.
Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio doesn't look back fondly on his two seasons in the 1980s as a linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs.
With the Chiefs in Jacksonville to face the Jaguars today at Alltel Stadium, Del Rio was asked this week what he recalls about those two years on a Kansas City team that went 8-23-1 and ultimately fired coach Frank Gansz Sr.
"What do I remember? Not winning many games," Del Rio said, cracking a smile.
Del Rio is known for a lot more than that in Kansas City. In particular, fans there still remember Del Rio's role in what is considered one of the ugliest incidents of both the 1987 players strike and in Chiefs history.
It's still viewed that way because of the level of violence involved and, most of all, because of who was on the receiving end of Del Rio's fury that day: franchise icon and Chiefs Hall of Fame member Otis Taylor.
Barely three days into the strike, Del Rio -- who had joined the Chiefs a month earlier after being released by New Orleans -- was picketing the main entrance of Arrowhead Stadium as teammates Dino Hackett and Paul Coffman protested nearby.
How intense were the feelings at the time? At one point that afternoon, reports said that unloaded shotguns were brandished from the back of a player's truck in the parking lot.
Taylor, a Chiefs receiving great and star of their Super Bowl IV victory over Minnesota in 1969, was a scout for the team at the time, and was bringing in potential replacement players for workouts.
According to reports in The Kansas City Star, when one of the replacement candidates accused Del Rio of slashing the tires of his car, Taylor stepped in and tried to break up the argument.
Del Rio reportedly called Taylor "a dirty scab and a lowlife," then slammed the then-45-year-old retired player into the ground. Violence ensued for three minutes before Hackett could break up the fight, and Taylor came away with a bloodied face, the reports said.
"I couldn't believe it was happening," Hackett told The Kansas City Star at the time. "Here's Jack and Otis Taylor, a Chiefs linebacker and a Chiefs legend, wrestling around there on the ground. It was unbelievable."
Del Rio claimed he was defending himself, but Taylor later filed a police complaint and a lawsuit against Del Rio that was settled out of court two years later.
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