Biden Welcomes the Kansas City Chiefs to the White House

The President of the United States, accompanied by the Chairman and CEO of the Kansas City Chiefs, Clark Hunt.

Welcome back. Welcome back to the White House. Super Bowl XVIII champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, the first team in 20 years to win back-to-back. Winning back to back, I kind of like that. I know, I know you led a future Hall of Famer, head coach, quarterback, tight end defensive tackle. But I think the secret to this team's success is the GM, an offensive coordinator, pass game coordinator, and they all played at the greatest school in America, my alma mater football team, the University of Delaware. That's why you're all so good. (01:53) I want to welcome all the Chiefs fans here today. Governor Kelly, members of Congress, including my good friend, Congressman Cleaver, Mayor Lucas, Mayor Garner, and all the other elected officials from Missouri and Kansas, thank you for being here. At last year's White House Super Bowl celebration I said this team was building a dynasty, which means everyone's coming to you. After starting this season red-hot, you all had your share of struggles and when the doubters questioned whether you could pull it off again, believe me, I know what that feels like. But anyway, but I don't think anybody's doubting you now. You fought hard, you kept the faith. Three all pros, three pro bowlers, resilient offense, top defense led by one of the best coordinators in the game and led by one of the best defensive players in the game, Chris Jones. (03:01) True team, eight straight division titles through a tough playoff run and you felt frigid temperatures, minus four degrees at kickoff in the home game against Miami. I thought that was in Miami, that's a joke. Wind chills under 20 degrees in Buffalo. And when you froze them out in Baltimore, clinching the fourth AFC title in five years. And then the Super Bowl, down double digits against San Francisco, everyone stepped up and with the unstoppable thirteen play drive in overtime. Patrick the comeback king, not kid, king, led the comeback team for all ages. I'll never forget I watched Marine One when I was landing in the South Lawn coming back from overseas in the White House. But just then, Kansas City was celebrating your incredible win. We saw pride, pride giving away to tragedy, a loving mom, beloved local DJ was gunned down. (04:06) Dozens were injured, 11 kids in the hospital. Amid the chaos, this team stepped up again. Trey helped pull people to safety. James, who lost his own father in gun violence, reassured kids, they'd be okay. One teen remembers Coach Reed giving him a hug, telling them, "Just breathe, just breathe." When one boy was separated from his dad, Clyde helped keep him from harm. The boy's dad later said, and I quote, "You can be an athlete for only so long, but you can be a great human being for the rest of your life. And Clyde is exceptional." (04:47) Couldn't have said it better, this team is exceptional. As a country we have to do more to stop the tragic shootings before they happen. But let me close with this. Last year I talked about how after winning the Super Bowl, many of these players come up to Coach Reed and asked what they could do to do better, to be better. Even at the peak of their success, they were looking for ways to work harder, to dig deeper, to improve. Everyone watching, especially our children, that's a powerful lesson about sports in the nation. We're a great nation because we're good people. We never give up. We look out for one another. We leave no one behind. That's America. And I've never been more optimistic about our future. We just have to remember who we are. We're the United States of America and there's nothing, nothing we can't do when we do it together. So God bless you all to make God protect our troops and I'm going to turn it over the Chiefs, but I have Travis come up here, but God only knows what he said. Travis, come here. It's all yours, pal.

My fellow Americans, it's nice to see all yet again. I'm not going to lie, President Biden, they told me if I came up here, I'd get tased. So I'm going to go back to my spot. All right?

All right.

Good to see you.

Now I'm going to turn it over to the chairman, CEO of the Super Bowl Champions, Kansas City Chiefs Clark Hunt. Clark the floor is yours, pal.

Thank you so much.

Do you want me to move that out of the way for you?

All good. Mr. President, on behalf of our family and the entire Kansas City Chiefs organization, thank you so much for having us this afternoon. It is a tremendous honor to be here as we celebrate the fourth Super Bowl championship in chiefs history. I want to thank the members of the President's staff who have helped make this possible, and the members of the Missouri and Kansas congressional delegations who are celebrating with us today. As a family, we feel very blessed by the Lord, and I'm proud to be here today on the South Lawn with my wife Tavia and my sister Sharon, and several members of our extended family. One year ago, it so happened that the team visited the White House the day after my mother passed away. Of course, anytime we are celebrating a Chiefs victory, I always think about my mom and dad. I want to take a moment to say thank you, President Biden, for the very kind words you shared about my mother last year. That meant a lot to our family. (07:26) The amazing thing about sports is how they can bring a community together. Over the past few years, the men behind me have elevated the status of Kansas City and united football fans across the country and throughout the world. There is a lot that can divide us today, but for so many of us, sports provide a unifying joy that we all need. I'm incredibly proud of our players and coaches. This season with a target on their backs, they overcame adversity and got through perhaps the toughest group of playoff opponents in league history. (08:07) They have etched their names in the NFL history books as just the second back-to-back Super Bowl championship team this century. I'm also incredibly proud of our amazing fans. They have rightfully earned their reputation as one of the best fan bases in all of professional sports. One of the things that I've enjoyed most about our championship run has been the support of the Chiefs Kingdom. Lastly, I'm humbled to work with a superb leadership group, team president, Mark Donovan, general manager, Brett Veach, and head coach, Andy Reid. That is a Hall of Fame leadership team. We have greatly enjoyed our time here today, and we look forward to the challenge of making this an annual trip. Now, I would like to ask Coach Andy Reid to join me on the podium. We have a little gift for the President.

Thank you.

Put it on, put it on.

Oh, do it. Do it.

Yeah.