photo by: (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 11, 1970 file photo, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Len Dawson prepares to handoff to running back Mike Garrett (21) as running back Robert Holmes (45) and guard Ed Budde (71) lead the play during the Super Bowl in New Orleans. (AP Photo, File)

Although many lifelong Kansas City Chiefs fans are experiencing something entirely new, with their favorite team advancing all the way to the Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years, there are plenty of others around Lawrence who knew from experience it wasn’t impossible for the Chiefs to play on the NFL’s grandest stage.

Well, they were at least fairly optimistic it could happen again.

“It started to seem like they might never get back before I was leaving this earth,” 67-year-old Dennis Smarker, of Lawrence, said with a laugh.

A lifelong Chiefs fan and Kansas City native, Smarker admitted there were many seasons when the playoffs began and he found himself getting pumped up about the notion of the Chiefs finally ending their Super Bowl drought. But even after some very successful regular seasons, Smarker, like so many of the team’s supporters, suffered letdown after letdown.

“And, of course, that’s what sports are all about,” he said. “And there’s no guarantees.”

Even so, Smarker had more reason to feel confident than most because he actually witnessed the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl with his own eyes, back in 1970.

At the time, Smarker was a senior at Bishop Ward, in Kansas City, Kan. A large number of people he knew from high school got together and decided to arrange a trip down to New Orleans to watch the Chiefs play Minnesota in Super Bowl 4.

The group had everything he and his friends needed, and the kids and parents who were going as chaperones piled onto a bus to abandon the frigid KC area for the rainy, but much warmer bayou.

“We were high school kids and, you know, this was just by far the biggest thing that I had ever been able to do without my family being present,” Smarker remembered. “Off on my own having a good time with a bunch of buddies.”

The trip to the Big Easy included an “eye-opening” walk along famed Bourbon Street for the 17-year-old and his pals. But the enduring memories from Smarker’s unique experience primarily revolve around the Chiefs’ 23-7 win over the Vikings.

“The game was terrific for us. We really enjoyed it. I’m a big baseball fan. That’s my sport that I really enjoy the most, so until the Royals won in ’85, that was the biggest day of my life, going to the Super Bowl, especially since we won,” Smarker said.

As special as that day remains for him, Smarker said he didn’t give much thought to making another Super Bowl trip this weekend, to watch his favorite team take on San Francisco in Miami.

“I don’t know that I could afford it today,” he said with a chuckle. “It was less than 100 bucks for the whole trip (50 years ago) with the room and everything, and the ticket to the game. You couldn’t even buy a room for a night for that today.”

As of Friday, on secondary market ticket sites such as SeatGeek, it would cost a fan somewhere around $7,500 for a single ticket to Super Bowl 54.

“And I’m going, yeah, right. I think I’ll watch it on TV,” Smarker said. “Although if someone was going to give me tickets, I’d go!”

These days, this particular fan is feeling happy for the Chiefs’ long-suffering supporters, owner Clark Hunt and family, and some of Smarker’s favorite coaches who he thought would make it to the Super Bowl but never did, such as Marty Schottenheimer and Dick Vermeil.

He’s watched religiously through it all.

“I live and die with them,” Smarker said of the Chiefs. “They’re my team. You know, I’m a Kansas City boy. Although I’ve lived in Lawrence now for the last 20 years and we’ve raised our kids here in Lawrence, I’m still a Kansas City kid and the Chiefs, I’ve been with them all these years, even through the really lean times and the bad times — we’ve had some.”

If the Chiefs are able to win the Super Bowl again on Sunday, Smarker, now retired from a 32-year career working in the U.S. District Court, said he will celebrate by appreciating the moment.

“It’ll be very special,” he said of a Chiefs championship, “because it’s been so long and I was able to be there the last time.”

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What follows are more perspectives on Chiefs fandom from people around Lawrence, many of whom are about to watch their beloved franchise play in the Super Bowl for the first time in their lives.

• Dillon Davis, 27, director of communications at Currus

Davis has been a Chiefs fan “since birth” and was convinced they’d make the Super Bowl in his lifetime “eventually.”

“I’m still pretty young, though, so if I was 20 or 30 years older I might have had my doubts,” he said.

If the Chiefs beat the 49ers on Sunday night, he’s pretty sure he knows how he’ll respond.

“I’ll probably rush Mass Street,” Davis said, “because that’s what we do in Lawrence, right? Also cry.”

photo by: Associated Press

Kansas City Chiefs fans hold signs after the NFL AFC Championship football game against the Tennessee Titans Sunday, Jan. 19, 2020, in Kansas City, MO. The Chiefs won 35-24 to advance to Super Bowl 54. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

• Meghan Kennedy, 23, operations manager at Target

Though Kennedy said her fondest Chiefs memories are “incredible,” she didn’t have much trouble identifying painful ones.

“Oh, I don’t even know where to begin,” she said. “I think all their recent playoff losses are the ones that sting the most. Dee Ford lining up offsides (in the AFC title game a year ago) is the first that comes to mind — that physically pains me to think about. Aside from that, losing to the Steelers at home when (the Chiefs) didn’t score a single TD all game, or losing to the Colts, 45-44, after blowing a 28-point lead. To this day, I still don’t understand how (Andrew) Luck scored that TD.”

So when she was at Arrowhead Stadium to see the Chiefs beat the Titans to go to the Super Bowl, Kennedy described it as “euphoria.”

“I couldn’t believe it. Pretty sure I was crying for half the game because I was just so excited for the thought of a Super Bowl,” Kennedy said. “I had no words, partially because I lost my voice from screaming so much. It was just so surreal that Lamar Hunt’s trophy was coming back to the team he founded. Arrowhead was electric the entire game, but when Frank Clark sacked (Ryan) Tannehill to send us to the Super Bowl it was chaos. One of the best moments of my life. I still can’t wrap my head around it.”

• Aidan Setter, 21, KU senior from Topeka

“My favorite Chief of all-time has been Priest Holmes,” Setter said of the running back who played for KC from 2001-07, leading the NFL in rushing touchdowns twice in that time.

“He could do it all. He has a really cool name that I think probably resonated with me. I am Catholic and would see a priest say Mass and then go home to watch Priest score touchdowns,” Setter explained. “To this day, I still wear his jersey and his picture is my laptop wallpaper. I remember the day he retired I told my dad that I would never watch football again. That obviously ended up being false.”

Setter, in fact, kept watching the Chiefs, even as the first several years following Holmes’ retirement weren’t promising.

“I knew that when they finally became this good, I would want to be there for it,” he said. “For some reason, I have always understood that you must be a part of the bad to really be a part of the good.”

This past weekend, in order to better appreciate the Chiefs and the upcoming game, Setter and his friends got together to watch Super Bowl 4.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez hauls in his 63rd career touchdown during the first quarter of the Chiefs’ 27-20 victory over Cincinnati. Gonzalez, who set the NFL record for TD catches by a tight end, added No. 64 in the fourth quarter Sunday in Kansas City, Mo.

• LeAnn Meyer, 31, KU libraries assistant director of advancement

“I can’t remember not being a Chiefs fan, but Tony Gonzalez is the first player I can remember eagerly waiting to watch on the field,” Meyer said of the Hall of Fame tight end. “I was 9 years old during his rookie season, so I’m sure the favoritism was tied to his jersey number (88) and my birth year. That said, I remain a fan decades later.”

Meyer’s work travels make it difficult for her to get to Arrowhead to watch games in person too often. But after watching the Chiefs from the comfort of her own home the past few weeks, she’s looking forward to having friends and family over on Sunday for a Super Bowl watch party.

“After watching the Chiefs win the last two games in that space,” she said, “it seems like the best move — at least for my superstition.”

• Jaimes Perez, 33, Travelers Insurance claim operations specialist

Before the Chiefs beat the Titans in this year’s AFC Championship game, Perez’s fondest fan memory came when former Kansas City safety Eric Berry returned to the field after beating cancer.

“At the time, I was working as an event manager for the Kansas City Chiefs,” Perez said. “I remember everyone stopped what they were doing, fans jumped to their feet and you felt the entire spirit of the stadium come alive as E.B. was reintroduced to his beloved home crowd.”

Perez attributes his dedication as a fan to how he was raised.

“You don’t quit because things get hard, or the result isn’t quite what you had hoped for,” he said.

Tyler Thigpen (4) is sacked by Buffalo safety George Wilson. The Chiefs lost, 54-31.

• Sam Oliver, 22, senior at KU and Lawrence native

As a youngster, Oliver had plenty of incentives to give up on the Chiefs, not that he did.

“The Chiefs have always been my number one team,” Oliver said. “My dad started taking me to Arrowhead before Allen Fieldhouse, Memorial Stadium, and Kauffman. Through the (quarterback Tyler) Thigpen, (QB Matt) Cassel, and (general manager Scott) Pioli years, I still managed to watch each game every Sunday. Hope is a state of mind fans have to have to keep supporting. Once Andy Reid came in the narrative changed.”

Before watching Patrick Mahomes play QB, though, Oliver wasn’t sure the Chiefs would ever make the Super Bowl.

“I knew it would take a special QB,” he said, “but nobody could have imagined a generational talent like Patrick coming here.”

• Greg Simms, 58, Hermes Abrasives factory rep/sales

Back in his high school days, Simms attended Shawnee Mission East, along with the children of then-Chiefs coach Hank Stram, and went to watch his favorite team at Municipal Stadium, before Arrowhead existed.

“Len Dawson was my man back then,” Simms said of the Hall of Fame QB who helped the Chiefs win Super Bowl 4. “We all wanted to be like No. 16. I became kind of content with being a .500 team for many years, with an occasional playoff game, and that was OK. But I thought maybe sometime when I’m ‘old,’ we would make it to the Super Bowl again.”

One season of watching Mahomes had Simms convinced the Chiefs were “finally” close to a return to the Super Bowl, and they proved him right a couple of weeks ago.

“We watched that championship game with my wife, our daughter, along with great friends. We were all so excited,” Simms said, “some of us may have had a few tears.”