Len Dawson with a Fresca and cigarette is an iconic photo, but it went unseen for years

Photos can give us a glimpse into the past, sometimes showing us things we could never imagine.

That’s especially true of one picture of former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Len Dawson. Sitting on a simple folding chair at halftime of Super Bowl I, Dawson was taking a drag of his cigarette when the photo was shot. At his legs was a glass bottle of Fresca.

Such a scene would never be witnessed in an NFL locker room today for a variety of reasons.

The photo of Dawson, who has died at age 87, his family said Wednesday, has been widely shared on social media since it was first revealed he’d entered hospice care earlier this month.

The iconic image remained unseen by the public for decades, as Life magazine declined to publish it following the AFL-NFL World Championship Game on Jan. 15, 1967. It only came to light when Life shared a photo slideshow from the first Super Bowl more than 45 years later.

Getting the shot

A 2020 story in The Ringer recounted how Life photographer Bill Ray was in position to get the shot. Ray, who died two years ago, had a deal with Chiefs coach Hank Stram to take pictures of the team.

As Dawson relaxed at halftime with a soda and a smoke, Ray grabbed his camera, realizing the scene was perfect to be immortalized.

“It seems impossible now,” Ray told The Ringer’s Kevin Clark. “People smoked all the time, and it was amazing that the star quarterback was doing it.”

So why was the photo not published in 1967? As Ray told The Ringer, his deal with Stram for access in the locker room included a caveat: the images could be published only if the Chiefs defeated the Packers in Super Bowl I.

But the Chiefs lost 35-10, and the picture of Dawson stayed unseen until 2013. Now the image, including a colorized version, is widely shared on social media.

Chiefs historian Bob Moore told the late Terez A. Paylor in a 2020 Yahoo Sports story why he believed the photo of Dawson remained so popular.

“The fact that it’s so unusual, so out of the question now — that’s what grabs them. (People are like), ‘I can’t believe it! He’s in his uniform!’” Moore said. “If you were to capture a cultural moment on the change that’s taken place, that’s as good as any, because we’re very health conscious today. Certainly cigarettes have a stigma, and then to equate it with an athlete and then equate it with a quarterback and then equate it with a guy in the Hall of Fame ... you have all the elements that make it interesting and intriguing.”

Ray took a number of historical images in his lifetime, ranging from Elvis Presley in the army to Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday” to President John Kennedy to the Beatles in the United States.

Those photos, along with the one of Dawson, are part of a gallery on Ray’s website.

In addition to being shared on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, the picture of Dawson, also is in the office of Chiefs president Mark Donovan

“It’s one of my favorite photos,” Donovan told Paylor. “There’s a lot of reasons why it’s there.”

He added: “It’s got so much to it that makes that photo so special.”

Count Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes as a fan of the photo as well In fact, Mahomes owns a hooded sweatshirt with the image on the back.

He wore it to Arrowhead Stadium before a Chiefs game in 2018.

“(T)he iconic picture he has where he’s smoking the cigarette at halftime with a Fresca,” Mahomes told The Star’s Vahe Gregorian this month, “that’s just the type of swag and confidence that he kind of brought.”