Now that my New York Jets have been eliminated it's not for me to predict the winner—or even have much of a rooting interest—in this year's Super Bowl between the Packers and the Steelers. But there is one prediction that I will make. As the big game approaches we will once again be told that, as Wikipedia puts it, the name "Super Bowl" was "coined by [Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar] Hunt, who took it in part from the then popular toy, the Super Ball." Indeed this is all the more likely since this year's game will be played in Dallas, Hunt's long-time home. And my confidence in this prognostication is certainly not diminished by the fact that it has already come to pass: a story crediting Hunt with coming up with the game's name appeared in the Dallas Morning News a few days ago .
There is no question that crediting Hunt (who passed way in December 2006) with coming up with the name "Super Bowl" is one of the event's most cherished, and oft-repeated, traditions—and one that is immortalized in the Professional Football Hall of Fame, complete with a display of replica "super balls" in the Hall's Lamar Hunt Super Bowl Gallery.
But is it true?
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