Peterson succeeded Helgeson as head coach in 1970 when Sonoma State moved up to varsity status, competing at the NCAA College Division level.
During the period when Peterson was finding talent and Vermeil was coaching, the Eagles reached four consecutive playoff seasons, including an appearance in Super Bowl XV.
After conversations with partners Myles Tannenbaum, Harold Schaeffer, and Arthur Powell, Peterson was hired as president, general manager, and part owner of the franchise that would eventually be named the Philadelphia Stars in July 1982.
In 1985, the Stars became a commuting team, having been removed from their former home at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia because of the USFL's plans—led by New Jersey Generals owner Donald Trump—to move from the spring to a fall schedule.
Not only did Peterson have an eye for playing talent, but he also discovered scouts/talent evaluators for the Stars who would go on to become NFL general managers: Bill Kuharich (Saints), Rod Graves (Cardinals), and Terry Bradway (Jets).
Peterson also was sought after by NFL teams looking for a new general manager-personnel director-type, speaking with the New York Jets, St. Louis Cardinals, Dallas Cowboys, and San Diego Chargers.
He was also part of a group led by Philadelphia Flyers and Spectrum owner Ed Snider that sought to purchase the financially troubled Dallas Cowboys and Texas Stadium.
Snider wanted Peterson's expertise in evaluating and eventually running the football operation, agreeing to an equity stake in the process of buying the Cowboys.
In November 1988, Peterson received a phone call from Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, who wanted him to study his football team and operation.
Although Schottenheimer drew attention from several other NFL teams (especially the San Diego Chargers), he was announced on January 24 as Kansas City's seventh head coach.
It was in the first months of that 1989 season that Peterson added another cornerstone to his rebuilding project: in the first round of the 1989 NFL Draft, he used the fourth selection to take LB Derrick Thomas from the University of Alabama.
Over the next decade, Thomas became an icon in Kansas City for his play on the field (134 sacks in 179 regular and postseason games and nine Pro Bowls) and his work in the community; he received the NFL's Man of the Year Award in 1993.
Peterson found talent in all areas of the NFL Draft, including first round choices like Thomas (1989), CB Dale Carter (1992), S Jerome Woods (1996) and TE Tony Gonzalez (1997).
He also found productive players in other rounds like: C Tim Grunhard (second in 1990), G Dave Szott (seventh in 1990), G Will Shields (third in 1993) and LB Donnie Edwards (fourth in 1996).
It was offense that highlighted Vermeil's tenure with the Chiefs, as they were one of the most prolific attacks in the league, led by QB Trent Green, Gonzalez, RB Priest Holmes, WR Eddie Kennison and one of the top offensive lines in recent NFL history with LT Willie Roaf, LG Brian Waters, C Casey Wiegmann, Shields at RG, and RTs John Tait (American football) and John Welbourn.
Edwards' tenure started strong when the Chiefs went 9–7 in the 2006 season, earning a spot in the playoffs where they lost in an AFC Wild Card Game to Indianapolis, 23–8.
With the team's roster aging, Edwards began a building project, working with player personnel director Bill Kuharich to get more young talent on the field.
The team went 4-12 (2007) and 2-14 (2008) in the next two seasons, and on December 15, 2008, Chiefs Chairman and Part Owner Clark Hunt announced Peterson's resignation, effective January 15, 2009.
They were a recent Super Bowl winner, with a host of superstar players of that era and a sparkling new building, built just for football, where they controlled the parking, concessions and luxury boxes, paying only a small percentage of those revenues to the Jackson County Sports Authority.
They moved the team's radio broadcast rights to an FM-music channel, 101 the Fox, in hopes of reaching a younger demographic that wasn't buying tickets.
Peterson was asked by Commissioner Roger Goodell to serve on several committees within the NFL, including a group that provided background information and recommendations on possible hires for general manager and head coaching positions.
He was also asked to serve as an adviser to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee that helped create a special class of inductees for the NFL's 100th anniversary.
In the last days of the United States Football League, New York real estate executive Stephen Ross bought controlling interest in the Philadelphia / Baltimore Stars.
Years later, after Peterson left the Chiefs, Ross asked him to serve as an advisor for his interests in the Miami Dolphins and a media company called FanVision.
Ross purchased controlling interest in the Dolphins from former owner Wayne Huizenga in 2009, and part of that deal was FanVision, a handheld device that could service fans in stadiums, arenas and race tracks with live television, and other information streams.
He is a member of the International World Presidents Organization (IWPO) and serves on the board of the Third and Long Foundation, founded by the late Pro Football Hall of Famer Derrick Thomas.
In 2012, Peterson won the Pete Rozelle Award presented by the Touchdown Club of New Orleans for his time as president, general manager and CEO of the Kansas City Chiefs and chairman for USA Football.
He received the 2023 Sergeant Major Pete Haas Semper Fidelis Award from the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation for his contributions to professional football.
Peterson was also honored in 2023 at “An Evening With The Greats” dinner by the Derrick Thomas-Neil Smith First and Long Foundation, an organization that strives to sack illiteracy by providing the support necessary to improve reading skills of students in the Greater Kansas City area.
She worked in sports architectural design with Ellerbe Becket, HOK, Populous and Meis architects, rising to associate principal in the last three firms.