Tributes are pouring in for Bobby Hunt, the former two-way Auburn football star who appeared in the first ever Super Bowl, following his death at the age of 85.
Hunt’s death was first announced by the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, into which he was inducted in 2015 following a stellar career in both college and the NFL.
He burst onto the scene in the 1960s when he played as both quarterback and defensive back for the Auburn Tigers, appearing in 30 games for the school.
Iconic Alabama coach Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant once referred to him as ‘just a great football player – that’s all’, and he was quickly picked up by the then-Dallas Texans in the NFL.
He was selected No 81 overall in the 1962 AFL Draft, where he then transitioned to safety and quickly earned First-Team All-AFL honors with a franchise record eight interceptions in his rookie season.
After the Texans won the 1962 AFL Championship, the team moved to Kansas City to become the Chiefs in 1963.
Bobby Hunt played in the first ever Super Bowl in October 1967. Pictured is his quarterback Len Dawson in that game, which ended in a 35-10 defeat to the Green Bay Packers
He played in Kansas City for the next six years, ending his time there at the very top when he was a starter in Super Bowl I in 1967 – an eventual 35-10 loss to the Packers.
Speaking in 2016 about that game, he told Auburn Undercover’s Phillip Marshall: ‘We saw [Packers stars] Paul Hornung, Jim Taylor, Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke and all those guys.
‘It wasn’t that we were afraid of them. We played well in the first half, but they had an interception right at the start of the second half and kind of got away from us.’
In his time in Kansas City, he made his way into the history books, making four interceptions in a single game in 1964 – still a league record to this day.
After leaving the Chiefs, he finished his career with the Bengals, spending two years in Cincinnati before hanging up his cleats for good.
In his post-playing career, he briefly transitioned into coaching, spending two seasons as the Bills defensive backs coach from 1970 to 1971.
From there, he took on a job with the Haggar clothing company, where he remained until he retired to Charlotte, North Carolina.
