Bobby Hunt, a former Auburn two-way standout who started at safety for the Kansas City Chiefs in the first Super Bowl, has died at 85, according to a Facebook announcement from the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame & Museum. A cause of death was not revealed, and the hall of fame did not specify when Hunt died.
“The Alabama Sports Hall of Fame mourns the passing of 2015 Inductee Bobby Hunt,” the organization wrote. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.”
Born Aug. 15, 1940, in Lanett, Alabama, Hunt built a résumé that stretched from small-town Alabama football fields to the sport’s biggest stage. He played quarterback and punter at Lanett High School, where he received first-team all-state recognition in his final year, before moving on to Auburn University, where he became one of the program’s most versatile athletes decades before Bo Jackson claimed that mantle.
A Two-Way Force at Auburn
At Auburn, Hunt played both quarterback and defensive back, appearing in 30 games for the Tigers from 1959 to 1961. He threw for 1,185 yards and five touchdowns while showing off dual-threat ability, rushing for 1,046 yards and 14 scores across his college career. As a sophomore in 1959, he led the Tigers in passing yards, rushing yards and scoring.
His talent drew notice well beyond his own program. Even Alabama’s legendary coach, Paul “Bear” Bryant, offered praise for the rival standout.
“He’s just a great football player — that’s all,” Bryant said of Hunt, according to comments cited by AL.com.
That college success led the Dallas Texans to select Hunt in the 11th round of the 1962 American Football League (AFL) draft, with the 81st overall pick.
Immediate Impact as a Pro
Hunt made the switch to safety a permanent one at the professional level, and the results came quickly. He started all 14 games at strong safety as a rookie and intercepted eight passes — a franchise rookie record that stood until Marcus Peters matched it in 2015. The performance earned Hunt recognition from both major wire services as a first-team All-AFL selection. In the same year, Dallas won the 1962 AFL championship, defeating Houston in a double-overtime thriller.
The team moved to Kansas City in 1963 and rebranded as the Chiefs, and Hunt remained a fixture in the defensive backfield. His signature game arrived on Oct. 4, 1964, when he picked off four passes against George Blanda and the Oilers in a 28-7 win, returning one 21 yards for a touchdown. That total tied a league record and remains the most interceptions by a player in a single game in NFL history.
Hunt kept it simple when describing the feat.
“We just happened to be in the right place at the right time,” Hunt told The Kansas City Star at the time.
In 1966, Hunt matched a career high with 10 interceptions, tying Chiefs teammate Johnny Robinson for the most in the AFL that season. Kansas City won another AFL title that year, and Hunt played a key role in the championship game, recovering a fourth-quarter fumble by the Buffalo Bills to set up Mike Garrett’s touchdown run in a 31-7 victory.
A Starter in Super Bowl I
That win sent the Chiefs to the inaugural Super Bowl, then known as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. Hunt started at strong safety as the Green Bay Packers, led by MVP Bart Starr, handed Kansas City a 35-10 defeat. Hunt later recalled facing a roster stocked with the era’s biggest stars.
The Chiefs, he said, held their own before a second-half interception shifted the momentum. Hunt played that entire game against a Green Bay lineup that included Paul Hornung, Jim Taylor and Ray Nitschke.
Hunt spent his final season with Kansas City in 1967 before landing with the Cincinnati Bengals for two seasons after being left unprotected in the 1968 expansion draft. He became the young franchise’s starting free safety before retiring at the end of 1969.
Across his eight-year AFL career, Hunt never missed a game. Accounts of his career totals vary slightly: one tally credits him with 42 interceptions returned for 755 yards and a touchdown, while another lists 42 career interceptions across 112 games with 108 starts.
Life After Football
Hunt turned to coaching once his playing days ended, though he did not stay in the profession long. He served two seasons as a defensive backs coach with the Bills from 1970 to 1971 before a staff change ended that stint. He later worked for the Haggar Apparel Company and settled in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In 2015, Hunt joined the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame during that year’s induction ceremony. Decades removed from his playing career, Hunt’s legacy endures in the NFL record books and in the memory of a franchise’s earliest days.