Chiefs offensive line great, team Hall of Famer Ed Budde dies at age 83

Ed Budde, a foundational offensive guard for the Chiefs’ Super Bowl teams of the late 1960s and member of the club’s Hall of Fame, died Tuesday morning of natural causes, his daughter, Tionne Ellegard, confirmed to The Star. Budde was 83.

Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.

Budde, voted to the All-Time AFL Team by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, spent 14 seasons with the Chiefs, tied for the second-most years in franchise history, and started at left guard in both Super Bowl I and IV.

“He was an amazing football player and a wonderful man who loved Kansas City and the Kansas City Chiefs,” Ellegard said.

Budde was selected to play in the AFL All-Star game or Pro Bowl seven times, following his rookie season of 1963 and the 1966-71 seasons.

“He is one of the reasons I enjoy good health today,” Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson once said of Budde. “He treated me like I was a fine piece of china. Nobody was supposed to touch me.

“I never knew a guy who was a more determined player. He was a coach’s dream, a hard worker in practice, a determined player during a game who didn’t want to be beaten. If he was beaten … he would take that as a personal insult. All great linemen have that quality.”

Budde was part of the greatest draft in Chiefs history in 1963, referred to as the “Three Bs” draft by the late Lamar Hunt, in which the club selected future Pro Football Hall of Famers Buck Buchanan and Bobby Bell and Budde in the first season the club operated in Kansas City.

The Three Bs helped lay the foundation for a decade of success for the Chiefs. Budde became part of a formidable offensive line that included four other members of the Chiefs Hall of Fame in center E.J. Holub, offensive tackles Jim Tyrer and Dave Hill, and tight end Fred Arbanas.

“I came along at the right time; we all came along at the right time,” Budde said when he was inducted into the Chiefs Hall of Fame in 1984. “They had won the (AFL) championship in 1962 (as the Dallas Texans) … but we were a team in the late ‘60s that it was like all-pros at every position.

“People always asked me, ‘Who’s the best defensive tackle you played against?’ I played against an all-pro (Buchanan) every day in practice. I always got the recognition of being the premier guard, but Mo Moorman was just as tough as I was.”

Budde became a starter from the time he arrived from Michigan State as one of two first-round picks by the Chiefs in 1963. (Buchanan was the first overall pick through a trade with Oakland.)

His first professional season started with an upset of the Green Bay Packers in the now-defunct College All-Star Game and concluded with a starting spot in the Western Division’s 27-24 victory in the AFL All-Star Game.

Budde’s burly build earned him the nickname “Bluto” after the villain in the Popeye cartoons.

“I guess it was because of his physical resemblance,” said former college and Chiefs teammate Ed Lothamer. “He was always kind of an ominous character. Ed has always been the focal point of any room he walks into.”

Sometimes that meant unwanted attention. Budde’s career nearly ended after one year after he was involved in an altercation in a Kansas City bar following his rookie season. Budde suffered a skull fracture when he was struck by an assailant wielding an 18-inch metal pipe.

Budde spent several critical days in the hospital where a plate was inserted in his skull to protect his brain. Budde elected not to press charges against the two men who attacked him, and within three months, he reported to training camp.

“I made up my mind I wanted to play football,” Budde said. “The organization was a little skeptical. They put me up against Buck Buchanan that first day. I was wearing a special helmet. I didn’t have any concerns about it.”

Budde went on to play 177 career games with the Chiefs, which still ranks 12th in franchise history. The highlight of Budde’s career, like all the Chiefs of his era, was playing Green Bay in Super Bowl I and beating Minnesota in Super Bowl IV.

“It was an exciting time,” Budde said at the end of his career. “That’s what you play the game for, to win a championship. It was disappointing when we lost to Green Bay. But we got a little revenge against Minnesota.”

One of Budde’s most memorable performances was during the Chiefs’ 12-2 season of 1968 when he was voted the AFL’s Offensive Player of the Week for his play in a 24-10 victory over Oakland, marking the only time an interior offensive lineman won the award.

The Chiefs gained 215 yards on the ground in the first half, and 111 came from running behind Budde and Tyrer on 11 plays.

“We beat Oakland because of the sterling performance of Ed Budde and our entire offensive line,” coach Hank Stram said afterward. “Budde’s blocking at the point of attack was devastating.”

Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, in a statement Tuesday, called Budde a “cornerstone” of the early Chiefs teams in Kansas City.

“He never missed a game in the first nine seasons of his career,” Hunt said, “and he rightfully earned recognition as an All-Star, a Pro-Bowler and a Super Bowl Champion.”

Budde continued to live in the Kansas City area after his retirement. He worked as a sales manager for a beer distributorship, operated a sports bar, Budde’s, in Lenexa for a short time, and worked as an account manager for Coca-Cola.

His son, Brad, followed in his footsteps as a left guard and was a first-round pick by the Chiefs in 1980. Ed and Brad announced the Chiefs’ second-round pick this year (wide receiver Rashee Rice) at the NFL Draft at Union Station in Kansas City.

Ed Budde was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1998, and there are some who believe his career warranted selection into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Three other offensive linemen from the All-AFL team — center Jim Otto, guard Billy Shaw and tackle Ron Mix — are enshrined in Canton, Ohio.

“He has proved himself a Hall of Fame lineman over the years,” former Chiefs coach Paul Wiggin said at the time of Budde’s retirement. “Ed Budde represents everything pro football is about.”

The Star’s Blair Kerkhoff contributed to this report.