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Arizona Cardinals The Cardinals, have not always been the Arizona Cardinals but were always the Cardinals. Founded in 1898 and a charter member of the National Football League, hold the distinction of being the oldest continuously run professional football franchise in the nation. The official Team Store has many jerseys, jackets, shirts, hats, collectables as well as specific player gear from their history. The Early Days The team boasts a colorful history! Its fans have known the club as the Arizona Cardinals, Phoenix Cardinals, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cardinals, Racine Cardinals, the Normals, and the Morgan Athletic Club. The team began as a neighborhood group that gathered to play football in a predominantly Irish area of Chicago's South Side, playing under the name Morgan Athletic Club. The team later was acquired by Chris O'Brien, a painting and decorating contractor, and soon its playing site changed to nearby Normal Field, prompting the new name Normals. In 1901, the team gained long-standing identification when O'Brien, finding a bargain, bought used jerseys from the nearby University of Chicago. The jersey color and the location of the field led to a new and obvious name, the Racine Cardinals. The war in Europe and a flu epidemic in the United States forced the team to suspend operations once again in 1918. Growth The Racine Cardinals, their popularity growing in the Chicago area, eventually became one of 11 charter members of the American Professional Football League, forerunner of the NFL, in 1920 for the $100 franchise fee. Immediately after joining the league, O'Brien lured a great halfback, John "Paddy" Driscoll, to the Cardinals for $3,000 a year, a sum considered outlandish at the time. But Driscoll was an authentic superstar, a superior runner, blocker, punter, and possibly the finest drop kicker in the history of football. A Cardinal from 1921--22, Horween scored two rushing touchdowns during his three-year career during the days of leather helmets without face masks, numberless sweater jerseys, and $40 paychecks. Under new Head Coach Norman Barry, the Cardinals outdistanced a field of 20 teams to win their first NFL championship in 1925 by virtue of the league's best record. It was the unprecedented signing of University of Georgia all-America running back Charley Trippi, for the then-unheard of sum of $100,000, that finally put the Cardinals over the top, winning their one and only NFL championship via a title game. In March 1994, the Cardinals were rechristened the Arizona Cardinals. But in reality, there was nothing new about one of the oldest teams in pro football history. A charter member of the NFL, the Cardinals trace their history back to 1898, when Chris O'Brien formed the Morgan Athletic Club. A few years later, O'Brien bought some faded maroon jerseys from the University of Chicago. He described the clothing as "Cardinal red" and the team, then playing at 61st and Racine Streets in Chicago, became the Racine Street Cardinals. The American Professional Football Association, the direct forerunner of the NFL, began play in 1920. The Cardinals faced an immediate challenge for territorial rights in Chicago from a team named the Tigers, who joined the league on September 17. O'Brien and the Cardinals promptly challenged the Tigers to a game, with the loser to leave town. The Cardinals won the game, 6-0—and franchise rights—thanks to the legendary Paddy Driscoll's touchdown. During their first 26 seasons in the league, the Cardinals experienced only minimal success on the playing field, the lone exception being 1925, when they edged out the Pottsville Maroons for their first NFL championship. In addition, a Thanksgiving Day game in 1929 did produce an all-time highlight when the Cardinals' superstar running back, Ernie Nevers, scored all 40 points—an NFL record that still stands today—in a 40-6 victory over the Chicago Bears. In 1932, Charles W. Bid will bought the Cardinals. The Bid wills still own the team. (Charles' son, William V. Bid will, now operates the team.) Bid will kept the team going through the Depression and World War II, and finally managed to put together a winning unit just as the war ended. Bid will’s building program produced a team that won the NFL championship in 1947. The Cardinals' 28-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1947 championship game still stands as the team's last playoff victory. The coach of that team, Jimmy Conzelman, is now a member of the Hall of Fame, as is Charley Trippi, a key member of Bidwill's famed "Dream Backfield." The unit also included Paul Christman, Pat Harder, Marshall Goldberg and Elmer Angsman (when Goldberg moved to defense). In a cruel twist of fate, Bidwill died before seeing that team in action. Since joining the NFL, the Cardinals have called three cities home. After 40 seasons in Chicago, they moved to St. Louis in 1960. In the 1960's, the Cardinals challenged the Cleveland Browns twice for divisional honors but in both 1964 and 1968, they fell one-half game short. For a time in the mid-1970's, the Cardinals were championship contenders. In both 1974 and 1975, they won the NFC East, but lost in the first round of the playoffs each year. In 1988, the franchise was moved for a second time when William Bidwill selected Phoenix as the team's new home.Voters in Maricopa County passed Proposition 302, the Tourism and Sports Initiative, to help fund a new stadium for the Cardinals, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, and future Super Bowls, in addition to providing revenue for Cactus League spring training baseball, tourism, and youth recreation. The team's new home is scheduled to open in 2005!
Arizona Cardinals Firsts, Records, and Odds and Ends
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