Denny Thum went into work on a short night’s sleep after a long day’s work. He arrived at the Chiefs’ offices eight hours after he’d left, the joy and pride of a prime-time win in the 2010 season opener and unveiling of renovated Arrowhead Stadium pushing him forward.
Then he heard that chairman Clark Hunt needed to see him, along with someone from human resources.
Thum, then the club president, was always close with Lamar Hunt, Clark’s father and the Chiefs’ founder and longtime owner. Thum did not return messages for this column, but in 2013, as part of an age discrimination suit that was later settled out of court, he testified that after some small talk about the night before Hunt told Thum to quit on that morning in 2010.