Kingdom Quarterback

Starred review from June 26, 2023
Journalists Dent and Dodd’s outstanding debut weaves the story of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes into a warts-and-all history of the Missouri city. The son of a former major league pitcher, Mahomes’s passing skills while playing at Texas Tech University caught the attention of the Chiefs, who drafted him in 2017. He became the team’s starting quarterback in 2018 and brought the franchise to new heights, including Super Bowl titles in 2020 and 2023. The authors, both Kansas City natives, contextualize what Mahomes’s achievements meant to the city with a colorful look at its past, discussing Prohibition-era political boss Tom Pendergast’s corrupt dealings, the racial covenants that segregated the city for much of the 20th century, and downtown’s fight to retain residents and business amid widespread migration to the suburbs beginning in the 1950s and ’60s. Dent and Dodd suggest that Mahomes’s success has reinvigorated Kansas City’s spirit and that his activism in support of Black Lives Matter has drawn attention to how racism has shaped the metropolis for centuries, though the authors are careful to note that problems persist, including a lack of affordable housing and discrimination faced by people of color seeking home loans. It’s a riveting look at the plight of a midwestern city through the prism of a star athlete.