Chicago Cardinals

• 1. Founding And Early Identity

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  Chris O'Brien established the Morgan Athletic Club in 1898 as an amateur football team based in Chicago. The contractor moved the group to Normal Park and renamed them the Racine Normals after the street where the park sat. In 1901, O'Brien purchased used uniforms from the University of Chicago that had faded over time. He declared the color was not maroon but cardinal red, prompting a name change to the Racine Street Cardinals. The original team disbanded in 1906 due to a lack of local competition. A professional version formed in 1913 claiming the history of the earlier squad. World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic forced operations to suspend again in 1918. The club resumed play later that year and has operated continuously since then.

• 2. Charter Membership And Rivalry

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  The franchise became a charter member of the American Professional Football Association in 1920 for a fee of $100. George Halas's Decatur Staleys joined the league alongside the Racine Cardinals as founding members. These two teams remain the only surviving franchises from that initial era. They played each other twice in 1920 with the home team winning both contests. The Cardinals defeated the Staleys 7, 6 in their first meeting when both sides scored on fumble recoveries. This loss proved critical because the Staleys finished 10, 1, 2 overall while Akron Pros claimed the title. Had the Cardinals lost that game, the Staleys would have entered the final tie against Akron with an 11, 0, 2 record. The rivalry shaped the early years of the National Football League which renamed itself in 1922. The team moved to Comiskey Park that same season after another group from Racine Wisconsin entered the league.

• 3. The 1925 Championship Controversy

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  The 1925 season ended with the greatest controversy in professional football history due to undefined rules and no playoff system. The Cardinals lost 21, 7 to the Pottsville Maroons during a snowstorm in Chicago. They then scheduled two games against weaker opponents like the Milwaukee Badgers and Hammond Pros to improve their record. A player named Art Folz hired four high school students under assumed names to ensure victories for the Cardinals. The league sanctioned the team for this manipulation despite it being within existing rules at the time. Meanwhile the Maroons were stripped of the title for playing an unauthorized exhibition game against Notre Dame All-Stars. The league decided not to award a championship for 1925 but later offered it to the Cardinals. Owner Chris O'Brien refused to accept the title arguing his team did not deserve it over a fair opponent. The Bidwill family only began claiming the 1925 title after purchasing the club in 1933.

• 4. Integration And Duke Slater

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  Duke Slater became pro football's first African American lineman when he joined the Chicago Cardinals after the first American Football League folded. He encouraged the team to sign Harold Bradley Sr who became the second black lineman in 1928. Slater and Bradley played together in the first two games of that season before Bradley retired due to a steel plate in his leg from a childhood injury. Between 1926 and 1927 NFL owners moved to follow the racist example set by professional baseball. By 1927 every African American player was out of the league except for Duke Slater. Four other players managed to draw salaries during short careers interspersed from 1928 through 1933. On the 28th of November 1929 Slater participated in an NFL record as a lineman facing Ernie Nevers. Nevers scored six rushing touchdowns in a 40, 6 victory over the Bears while Slater played all 60 minutes alternating between offensive and defensive lines. Slater achieved All-Pro status six times before retiring in 1931 without missing a game due to injury.

• 5. War Era Mergers And Decline

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  Player shortages caused by World War II forced the Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers to merge into Card-Pitt for one year in 1944. The combined team went winless that season earning derisive nicknames like Carpets. In 1945 the Cardinals snapped an NFL record 29-game losing streak dating back to 1942 by beating the Bears 16, 7. This marked their only victory of the entire season. The team finished 6, 5 in 1946 for its first winning campaign in eight years. Charles Bidwill died before the start of the 1947 season leaving the club to his wife Violet. That year the Cardinals won the championship 28, 21 against Philadelphia with their Million Dollar Backfield including Paul Christman and Charley Trippi. They lost the rematch 7, 0 in a heavy snowstorm that obscured the field during the first televised NFL championship. Violet married St. Louis businessman Walter Wolfner the following year as the team fell to 6, 5, 1.

• 6. Relocation To St Louis

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  The 1950s proved dismal for the Cardinals with records ranging from 3, 9 to 1, 10, 1 across ten seasons. Attendance remained sparse while the team accumulated just 33 wins during the decade. The Bidwills decided to cede Chicago to the Bears but faced a hefty relocation fee demanded by the league. Investors including Lamar Hunt, Bud Adams, Bob Howsam and Max Winter offered to buy the franchise. These negotiations failed because the Bidwills wanted to maintain controlling interest while selling only a minority stake. Hunt, Adams, Howsam and Winter then formed the American Football League to compete with the NFL. The league quickly engineered a deal sending the Cardinals to St. Louis beginning with the 1960 season. This move also blocked St. Louis as a potential market for the new AFL which began play the same year. Despite an existing baseball team named the St. Louis Cardinals, the football club kept its name until departing for Arizona after the 1987 season.