A century of influence: How St. Joseph and one man inspired the name ‘Chiefs’

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- Decades before the founding of the Kansas City Chiefs, before the glory of four Super Bowl championships, and even before the birth of Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt, decorated civic leader H. Roe Bartle was known as "Chief" throughout St. Joseph.

It was a fitting and renowned name for the former mayor of Kansas City and larger-than-life figure who stood 6 feet, 4 inches tall, at times weighing between 350 and 400 pounds. Bartle would change the course of sports history by persuading Lamar Hunt to move the Dallas Texans football team to Kansas City in 1963, adopting the name "Chiefs" as a tribute to him shortly after.

"It was kind of a dual nickname. He was chief of the tribe of Mic-O-Say, which is the honor camp society he started in St. Joseph. And he was also the chief scout executive," said Bill McMurray, a scout for the last 60 years and former mayor of St. Joseph, who met Bartle several times. "Even the guys who were young and scouting in the 1920s always called him 'Chief'."

The son of a St. Joseph pastor, Bartle earned the famed nickname during his early days as the scout executive for the St. Joseph Boy Scouts chapter in the late 1920s. Under Bartle's acclaimed leadership, the local district grew by more than 1,000 scouts in just three years. He was even married in St. Joseph.

For Bartle, the name "Chief" was more than just an adopted nickname, it was considered a symbol of his leadership, wisdom and philanthropic efforts that flourished in St. Joseph, whether it was mentoring young scouts or countless community service hours, setting the stage for Bartle's political career and savvy lure of Kansas City's first professional football team decades later.

“It was here in St. Joe that the name started, and then he just continued on to Kansas City, and he was the chief there. And the rest is history. Right?" said McMurray, a passionate Chiefs fan since the team's inception in 1963. "Bartle was instrumental in getting the Dallas Texans to Kansas City."

St. Joseph and the 'Chief'

Born in 1901 in Richmond, Virginia, Harold Roe Bartle received his early education from the Fork Union Military Academy of Virginia before graduating with a law degree in 1920. He practiced law for several years before finding his calling in youth leadership with the Boy Scouts of America in 1923.

A young Bartle made his way to St. Joseph in January of 1925 after spending two years as scout executive in Casper, Wyoming, a pair of transformative years for his life and later St. Joseph scouts. It was during his time there that he developed a passion for Native American lore and culture, even claiming to have received the name Lone Bear from a local Arapaho tribe.

Bartle used those experiences to create the Mic-O-Say tribe once in St. Joseph in 1925, an honorary Boy Scouts society for experienced scouts who displayed strong leadership.

Artifacts, dances and ceremonies became traditions of the Mic-O-Say and Boy Scouts camp that thrived under Bartle's leadership. Participation grew exponentially from 420 scouts to more than 1,700 as summer camps were filled with jamborees, training schools, courses and a range of other activities.

It's where the nickname "Chief" was born.

“He was always 'Chief'... he honored and revered these traditions, 'Be like our Native American ancestors, be people of courage,'" McMurray said, remembering his words. “He wanted to use the high ideals of the Native American culture to inspire Boy Scouts to live by the Scout oath and law."

An article from the St. Joseph News-Press in 1985 reported that more than 9,500 scouts had been inducted into Mic-O-Say by that point.

During his time in St. Joseph, Bartle's community contributions beyond scouts were extensive, a trait he would carry throughout his life. Along with serving on numerous boards, he was a member of several booster clubs, the Kiwanis Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the American Legion and the Ministerial Alliance.

“He was an incredible leader. He was president of a college. He never took a salary as the scout executive; he donated it all," McMurray said. “He was everywhere for many, many years." 

Wearing his longtime necklace from when he first joined Mic-O-Say, McMurray vividly remembers Bartle's public speaking prowess and leadership going back to the first time he met him as a 15-year-old scout in St. Joseph in 1966.

Bartle was said to give upwards of 700 speeches a year. One of the top local scout leaders now, McMurray has studied many of his speeches to imitate his dynamic speaking ability.

“People across the river bluff could hear him and he was that loud, even at an advanced age," McMurray said. “He would say things like, 'Reach out and lift up those who were younger and weaker." 

During World War II, he served as director of the American War Dads, a soldier support organization, which provided council and assistance to those returning home to the U.S.

He also founded the American Humanics Foundation later in his career, now a thriving group called the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance, an organization aimed at preparing students for leadership in nonprofit organizations.

A move to Kansas City and tale of the Chiefs

Bartle quickly rose through the ranks of the Boy Scouts of America due to his success in St. Joseph. In 1928, he was asked to relocate to Kansas City to take the same position while also joining the national scout executive board.

Bartle rose to become a prominent and well-known figure in the community over the next few decades as his accomplishments and responsibilities grew, including being national president of the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity from 1931 to 1946 and president of the Missouri Valley College from 1945 to 1952.

In 1955, with no prior political experience, he ran for and was elected mayor of Kansas City as an independent. Bartle was urged to run by several former scouts, the local Citizens Association, and even former president Harry S. Truman, according to reporting from KC Yesterday.

It was during Bartle's second term in office in 1962 that the "Chief" caught wind of team owner Lamar Hunt's desire to relocate the Dallas Texans, then part of the AFL, due to competition with the newfound Dallas Cowboys, a rival NFL expansion team.

The founder of the AFL, Hunt, made the decision despite the Texans winning the AFL Championship that season with a familiar duo leading the charge: head coach Hank Stram and quarterback Len Dawson. Hunt knew that having two football teams in the same city -- even one as large as Dallas -- wasn't sustainable before the sport's popularity exploded.

Hunt was reportedly engaged in negotiations and favored relocating to other cities such as New Orleans, Atlanta and even Miami.

But as he did throughout his career, Bartle's leadership would prove instrumental in making the case to Hunt and General Manager Jack Steadman about the prospect of Kansas City, which had no professional football teams at the time.

“What I had always heard was that (Bartle) contacted Lamar Hunt and agreed to sell an enormous number of season tickets, and I guess impressed him enough," McMurray.

Bartle called upon the help of more than 1,000 community members and 20 businesses to conduct a massive season ticket drive with the goal of selling 35,000 tickets for the team, nearly triple the amount the Texans had in Dallas. He also promised to expand Municipal Stadium by an additional 14,000 seats.

Bartle was given a four-month deadline to secure the tickets, a condition of the team's move, all of which was done in secret as the announcement had not been made public. Fans buying tickets knew almost nothing about who the team was or where they were coming from.

Bartle accomplished the feat in just two months. Hunt was more than convinced.

On May 22, 1963, Hunt announced the team would be moving to Kansas City, much to the buzz of the city. Despite initially wanting to keep the name Texans, Hunt was talked out of it, and a naming contest was held shortly after.

The Mules ended up receiving the most votes, followed by the Royals. The city was also home to the Kansas City Athletics of the MLB at the time.

Despite the vote, Hunt and team executives opted to pay tribute to the man who convinced not only them but the city of Kansas City to buy into the newfound team, something the Chiefs honor on their website.

“So they named the team the Chiefs," McMurray said.

Just four years after moving the team to Kansas City, the Chiefs were playing in the first-ever Super Bowl against the Green Bay Packers, a 35-10 defeat.

“I didn't like the ending, but it was quite the game," McMurray said with a laugh. "Everybody remembers that Super Bowl."

The following years would see the team's first Super Bowl victory in 1969 against the Minnesota Vikings, followed by the construction of Arrowhead Stadium in 1972, now a major topic of discussion in 2025.

Bartle would end up serving two terms as mayor of Kansas City from 1955 to 1963. The Kansas City Convention Center was later named "Bartle Hall" in his honor in 1976.

Fond memories and return to St. Joseph

Bartle often made his way back to his old stomping grounds in St. Joseph following his days as mayor and impact on the Chiefs, even praising a speech by a teenage McMurray during a Mic-O-Say event.

"I gave a little speech. Kind of bumbled around at the age of 15, and then when he gave his speech, he came up and said 'This young man gave a fine speech,'" McMurray recalled. "He was always very elevated."

Nearly 50 years from when he first set foot in St. Joseph as a young scout executive, Bartle continued to uplift those around him and support the community he had such strong ties.

Several years later, as a 21-year-old Eagle Scout in 1972, McMurray was able to convince Bartle to return for another speech at Camp Geiger in St. Joseph. By then, the towering Bartle weighed between 350 and 400 pounds and was known to smoke upwards of 20 cigars a day.

"He used to joke and say he wore size 52 Boy Scout shorts. So he was a big guy and just very personable and interested in scouting and people," he said.

Bartle died two years later on May 9, 1974, at the age of 72, often speaking fondly of St. Joseph until the end.

“What a life. A very admirable life," McMurray said. "He certainly held St. Joe in great esteem ... some of the older guys said he wouldn't trade a golden nugget for the great feeling that he had being back in St. Joe."