Actor John Amos Embodied The Spirit of The Kansas City Chiefs

I knew John Amos through the characters he embodied. First, I knew him as James Evans, the patriarch of the Evans family, in "Good Times." Later, I knew him as Cleo McDowell in the hilarious Eddie Murphy comedy "Coming To America." And finally, as the highly decorated and respected Admiral Percy Fitzwallace in "The West Wing."

I loved his portrayal of Admiral Fitzwallace in "The West Wing."  He knew how to bring the words of creator and writer Aaron Sorkin to life. That's not easy, either. Sorkin's writing is precise, and there's no room for improvisation. Sorkin's dialogue, and there's a lot of it, is poetry; there's a cadence and a rhythm to it, and actors can either pull it off or can't. Amos was one of the ones who could.

He discovered that on the day he was cut from the Kansas City Chiefs. Two things happened: Coach Hank Stram told him, "Son, you are not a football player. You are a young man who happens to be playing football. But I have a feeling you have another calling."

The second was a poem he had written about being cut. His fellow teammates refer to it as "The Turk." The Turk is the mythical figure that taps you on the shoulder and tells you to bring your playbook and see the coach. It's that meeting where you get cut from the team. Coach Stram let him read it to the team, and his words connected with them.

Coach Stram's direction and encouragement, combined with the positive experience his teammates showed when he read the poem, led Amos to concentrate on writing and acting.

In a video produced by the Chiefs in 2012, Amos tells his story and what Coach Stram and the Chiefs meant to him. In the documentary, he says walking into his home is like walking into a Chiefs museum. His short experience with the team was that impactful.

Amos says in the video, "I love the Chiefs because they gave me my first real opportunity. I know what it's like to be in the company of those superlative athletes and have a coach look at you with respect and say not this team, son, not this year. They made it, but my gift was to come in my writing."

In my mind, John Amos and his experience with the Chiefs embody what the franchise is about. Amos, while not successful as a pro football player, was dedicated—the kind of player any coach would respect and make it hard to cut. His teammates, who listened to his poetry and then rallied for the coach to keep him on the practice squad, speaks volumes. As does Coach Stram knowing Amos had another path to greatness.

For these reasons and his lifelong membership in the Chiefs Kingdom, I hope the Chiefs pay tribute to the beautiful man who once tried to be one of our football heroes and went on to greatness as an actor and writer. A moment of silence, a sizzle reel of his career, a short summation of how being a Kansas City Chief helped him find his calling.

On the Kansas City Chiefs website, you can watch Amos express what he loved about his short time with the Chiefs and hear what some of his fellow players—Chiefs greats—also had to say about him. The video is about 20 minutes long and worth every minute. At the end, Amos shares his poem, The Turk, the one he read in the locker room. It's beautiful, powerful, and sad, and anyone who has ever been cut from a sports team or anything else will relate.

Thanks, Mr. Amos, for sharing your talents with all of us. You are missed.