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Hundreds of thousands of people turn out for Chiefs Super Bowl victory parade

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Some other news now - hundreds of thousands of people crowded Kansas City for a victory parade celebrating their city's Super Bowl win. Of course, Frank Morris of our member station KCUR attended.

FRANK MORRIS, BYLINE: After walking much of the parade route, high-fiving fans, Kansas City's quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, got on stage, about as humble as a liquored-up Super Bowl MVP in an enormous, bejeweled, professional-wrestling-style belt can be.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PATRICK MAHOMES: We're world champs.

(CHEERING)

MAHOMES: I just want to say, we appreciate everybody here today. Arrowhead Stadium is one of a kind, and we just want to say Chiefs Kingdom is one of a kind. So give a round of applause for everybody that's standing here today.

(CHEERING)

MORRIS: Of course, that love goes both ways. Teenagers Ashlyn Vaughn (ph) and Sammi Vinzanti (ph) managed to touch Mahomes during the parade.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: He came up, like - he came up, and then he, like, touched our hands.

MORRIS: Elizabeth Adams (ph), longtime fan, says she loves seeing the city coalesce around its football team. The Chiefs last won the Super Bowl in 2020, right before the pandemic shut everything down.

ELIZABETH ADAMS: It's nice to finally be together. We're finally coming back together as a city and as people and for one thing. It doesn't matter your race, religion, views of anything. We're all here to come together as a family, as a Chiefs family - as Chiefs Kingdom - all together.

MORRIS: Adams is from Leavenworth, Kan., near Kansas City. George Perry (ph) drove in from tiny Slater, Mo., two hours away.

GEORGE PERRY: Great thing, man - great time, good people, good city, great football team.

MORRIS: A great team built around the talents of pro football's most valuable player.

WILLIE WRIGHT: Patrick Mahomes is our Superman, and we're the kryptonite for the rest of the NFL.

(LAUGHTER)

MORRIS: Willie Wright (ph) looks a bit like a superhero himself, dressed head-to-toe in matching Chiefs apparel. He says the second recent Super Bowl win feels better than the first because now the team's on the road to being a dynasty.

For NPR News, I'm Frank Morris in Kansas City.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Frank Morris
[Copyright 2024 NPR]