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Longtime NFL coach Gunther Cunningham dies at 72

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Gunther Cunningham's life would have been vastly different had his family not emigrated from postwar Germany, settling in California when he was a young boy.

For one thing, he almost certainly never would have dedicated his life to football.

Yet Cunningham would go to spend more than five decades in the game, including stints in college and the CFL before making a name for himself in the NFL. He worked for six different franchises over 34 years in the league, including a two-year stint as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Cunningham died on Saturday after a brief illness.