The Cardinals were sold
The Arizona Cardinals are a member club in the National Football League (NFL). They are actually a charter member from the league’s inception of 1920, and only one of two that still exist today. The other is the Chicago Bears, who in 1920 were originally called the “Decatur Staleys.” The Cardinals franchise back then was named the “Chicago Cardinals.”
That maiden season, the NFL had a different moniker. It was called the “American Professional Football Association,” and two years later, it was renamed the NFL.
RELATED: HOW THE BIDWILLS BECAME OWNERS PART 1
The Cardinals have been owned by the Bidwill’s since 1932. However, in the first segment, they had not yet owned the franchise. Here is the second portion of the story of how this family received ownership of the team.
PART 2
“Blue Shirt Charley” and the Cardinals
In the summer of 1932, Charles “Blue Shirt Charley” Bidwill and his wife, Violet, hosted an informal dinner party aboard their luxurious yacht “The Ren-Mar” and cruised along Lake Michigan. In attendance was Arch Ward, sports editor of the Chicago Tribune, with his wife Helen, plus Dr. David Jones and his wife Elsa.
The Bidwills were a wealthy family in the Chicagoland area, as Charles had built up a successful law practice.
Dr. Jones owned a lot of stock in the Chicago Cubs pro baseball club and solely owned the Chicago Cardinals NFL club. But for now, it was just a casual evening on a luxury yacht, eating, drinking, and cruising the lake.
The topic eventually got around to pro football, of which Jones was the full owner of the Cardinals, and Bidwill was a minority owner and VP of the crosstown Bears. Ward covered both clubs in the newspaper.
As drinks were flowing throughout the Ren-Mar, Jones began to complain about the unfortunate state of the game in terms of annual financial losses and how much money he was losing. He also mentioned a disdain for having to compete with the Bears, which drew well at the gate, plus annually signed some of the best college talent, and usually had winning teams.
At the time, the NFL college draft was a few years away from coming into existence,8 so blue-chip college players signed with whichever NFL team was offering the most. The better teams always had the best attendance and thus could afford to pay young talent, whereas the bad to mediocre clubs didn’t have the luxury of good gates, and subsequently signed the lower levels of talent.
Like the Cardinals.
Violet Bidwill had seen that although her husband had been involved in so many sporting venues and activities over the decades, but since joining the Bears, he had found a new love in being part of an actual team with day-to-day operations.
At that point aboard the Ren-Mar, Violet Bidwill jokingly asked Jones, “Why don’t you sell the team to Charley?” Jones’ answer was that he would sell anything he owned if the price was right. Bidwill then asked what that price was, to which Jones replied, “$50,000.” 9
Bidwill brought out $2,000 in cash right there on the yacht. There was debt on the Cardinals’ books for $45,000, and another payment of $3,000 was agreed upon to meet the grand total of $50,000.10
And suddenly, Blue Shirt Charley owned his own NFL team – the Chicago Cardinals. This was a way to keep his lifelong love of sports alive. How much cold, hard cash did it actually cost the Bidwells? $5,000.
The transaction wouldn’t be announced until the following year, allowing the businessman to get rid of his Bears stock since the NFL had restrictions on persons being invested in multiple clubs.
Essentially, Bidwill had saved both Chicago franchises from going extinct.
During the following season, Bidwill sold his shares in the Bears but remained their Vice President and even had season tickets, which was a blatant conflict of interest that in those days but few cared.
Despite owning the Cardinals fully without any minority owners, Bidwill made it known he remained a Bears fan. He was even seen at a Bears home game while his Cardinals were playing an away game.
Bidwill was an intelligent man who knew how to make a winner in everything he was involved with. His checkbook was free-wheeling. As far as the NFL, Halas and the other owners were happy that Bidwill was now in the stable of NFL owners, which brought financial stability into the ranks, and the league no longer had to worry about the Cardinals folding.
Through the years
During this time, Bidwill purchased four Florida dog tracks and two Chicago horse racing tracks.
Eventually, as Bidwill became more involved in the management of the Cardinals, the draft came along and provided the weaker teams with some of the best college talent, and the City of Chicago began to catch on and provide better gates, as the Cardinals would replace the Bears in Bidwill’s heart.
He owned the team for 14 seasons. Bidwill had gotten through the lean years of World War II, when a large majority of all rosters were decimated by men joining the war effort. In 1944, neither the Cardinals nor the Pittsburgh Steelers had enough players, so they combined rosters and called themselves “Card-Pitt.”
In 1946, Bidwill hired Jimmy Conzelman as the new head coach, and the franchise went from 1-9-0 to 6-5-0. Conzelman had been a college star halfback for the University of Washington.
In April of 1947, Bidwill caught pneumonia during the week, was admitted to the hospital, and died four days later.11 He was 51 years old. His wealth was estimated to be between $6 million and $10 million.
His death came just days after he had outbid the New York Yankees for University of Georgia halfback Charley Trippi, whom the Cardinals had drafted with the first overall pick. The Yankees were a new team in the upstart “All America Football Conference,” which was an NFL-rival league with eight clubs. Trippi was signed to an unheard sum of $100,000 on a four-year deal.12
Back then, the NFL was divided into two divisions. The winners of each division would play in the NFL Championship Game. With that 1947 season, the Cardinals won the Western Division by one game after they defeated the Bears in the final game 30-21 in front of 48,632 fans at Wrigley Field.
Next up, the Cardinals (9-3-0) had the title game at Comiskey Park. The turf was like a skating rink when they met the Eastern champs, Philadelphia Eagles (8-4-0). 30,759 patrons braved the elements to see if the City of Chicago could capture yet another World title. The contest was televised on ABC television. The Cardinals had won the regular-season meeting in Philadelphia three weeks earlier by 24 points.
The Cardinals’ players eventually wore basketball sneakers and finally got some traction as they built a 14-0 lead. The Eagles then switched from cleats to sneakers and were able to get footing. In the end, Chicago defeated Philadelphia 28-21 for the franchise’s second title.13
As much time, money, and effort that “Blue shirt Charley” put into the Cardinals, he never witnessed an NFL title for his hobby.
Before the 1947 NFL Championship season, Bidwell’s widow, Violet, now owned the Cardinals. She became the very first female owner of a professional football team.
Next up: Violet Bidwill runs the Cardinals, remarries, and the Bidwill family ownership continues strong when Stormy and Bill’s takeover begins
Notes
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8 NFL Operations, “The History of the Draft”
9 John Eisenberg, “Almost Broke,” The League, Basic Books, 2018
10 The Arizona Republic, 2018
11 “Charles Bidwell, Dog Tack Owner, Dies in Chicago,” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, April 20, 1947
12 “Charley Trippi Class of 1968,” ProFootballHOF.com
13 https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/194712280crd.htm
Category: General Sports
