Arizona Cardinals History
In March 1994, the Cardinals were christened with a new name, the Arizona Cardinals. But there is nothing new about the oldest team in terms of its continued performance in Professional Football history. A member of the National Football League, the Cardinals began to trace their history when, in 1898, Chris O'Brien formed the Morgan Athletic Club. A few years later, he bought used University of Chicago T-shirts. He described the withered brown clothing as "Cardinal Red"
The American Professional Football Association, the direct forerunner of the NFL, began its work in 1920. The Cardinals faced an immediate challenge to land rights in Chicago against a team called the Tigers, who joined the league after the organization's meeting on 17 of September. O'Brien and the Cardinals quickly challenged the Tigers to a game in which the losers should leave town. The Cardinals won the game and the franchise rights,
Except in 1925, when they were defeated by the Pottsville Browns for their first NFL championship, there the Cardinals experienced minimal success playing the field during their first 26 seasons in the league. A Thanksgiving game in 1929 produced an all-time highlight when Cardinals superstar running back Ernie Nevers scored all of his team's 40 points, an NFL record that still stands today. standing,
In 1932, when Charles W. Bidwill purchased the team, the Cardinals began a continuous period where the team was owned by one family. His son, William V. Bidwill, operates the team now. Bidwill kept the Cardinals going through the crisis days of the 1930s and early 1940s during World War II and was then finally able to assemble a winning unit as the war ended. Building the Bidwill program produced a team that won an NFL championship in 1947 and the NFL Western Division titles in 1948. The Cardinals' 28-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles to obtain the 1947 championship stands as the team's last playoff victory. The team's coach, Jimmy Conzelman, is now a Hall of Famer as is Charley Trippi, an important member of the famed "Defense of Dreams" which Bidwill formed. The unit also included Paul Christman, Pat Harder, Marshall Goldberg and Elmer Angsman when Goldberg switched to defense. In a cruel twist of fate, Bidwill died before seeing the team in action.
Since joining the NFL, the Cardinals have been known with different city names After 40 seasons in Chicago, in 1960 they moved to St. Louis. The Cardinals were twice seriously challenged against the Cleveland Browns for the divisional honors of the 1960s but they fell halfway through the 1964 and 1968 games. For a time in the mid-1970s, the St. Louis Cardinals were serious contenders for the championship. They won the NFC Eastern Division championships in 1974 and 1975 but lost in the first round of the Playoffs each year. The franchise moved a second time in 1988, when William Bidwill selected Phoenix as the new hometown. There the Cardinals played at the 73,521-seat Sun Devil Stadium on the fields of Arizona State University. Finally in 1994, the Cardinals changed their city name to Arizona.