I doubt you know me, Mr. Hunt.

And if you do, it’s as the wide-eyed young reporter with whom you’ve crossed paths on the elevators in Arrowhead Stadium, or the awestruck fellow with the unflattering slouch who sits on the far aisle during Herm Edwards’ news conferences.

I instinctively straighten my posture when you, the founder of the AFL and namesake of the AFC championship trophy, enter the room to see your coach speak. You’ve used my shoulder for support on a couple of occasions as you struggled to your seat, your son, Clark, and longtime friend Jack Steadman always close behind. Despite living in Dallas, you’ve never missed a chance, when your health has allowed, to watch your team play and socialize with your coaches and players.

“He knows everybody’s name,” your middle linebacker, Kawika Mitchell, said after Sunday’s loss to Baltimore. “He always talks to everybody. His family is the same way. He’s just an all-around great guy.”

Your passionate but hands-off approach to ownership should be, and often is, emulated around the league.

But you’ve been absent from postgame socializing since a Nov. 19 victory against Oakland. Five days later, the Chiefs won the first Thanksgiving game they ever played host to since the AFL-NFL merger, something you had suggested for decades.

We were told afterward that your collapsed lung was not life-threatening.

“We’re sad he wasn’t here to take part in the festivities,” your son said at the time.

But it was a sign that, perhaps, the cancer that was supposed to take your life four or five years ago finally had caught up.

You were tired of competing with the NFL’s Cowboys when you and Steadman brought the AFL’s Dallas Texans to Kansas City in 1963.

You initially wanted to go to New Orleans, but some red tape gave you time to reconsider the void of professional sports in the Midwest.

“He’s the reason we’re all here,” guard Brian Waters said Sunday.

You named the Chiefs after the nickname of H. Roe Bartle, the mayor who sold you on K.C., as a sign of gratitude.

You knew you had made the right decision.

Thanks to you, Kansas City is still a major-league town.

“He’s probably the biggest thing in this city,” Mitchell said of you.

Get well soon, Mr. Hunt.

Everyone who knows you personally or merely by recognition on an elevator hopes to see you at Arrowhead Stadium on New Year’s Eve.