Past Passes

I kept a few of the various press credentials as souvenirs: Royals MLB baseball, Chiefs NFL football, Kings NBA basketball, NAIA and NCAA tournaments, even froufrou, caviar-grade pro tennis came through our hick town a couple of times.

Some Kansas City-based passes covered a whole season, but others cleared by the Secret Service lasted just hours. There was quite a carousel of politicians stopping off in KC, and every dignitary visit required a fresh clearance, even if your background check was OK’d just three days before. After all, they needed to know who might get close to the “football”, the briefcase that supposedly contained the nuclear codes to launch missiles. I think I saw it once, being passed into the presidential limo at the last second.