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Arizona Cardinals
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The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American Football team based in Glendale, Arizona. The Cardinals are members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Cardinals were founded in 1898, and are the oldest continuously run professional American football club in the United States.
The team was established in Chicago in 1898 and was a charter member of the NFL in 1920. The club moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1960 and played in that city through 1987.
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Encyclopedia
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American Football team based in Glendale, Arizona. The Cardinals are members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Cardinals were founded in 1898, and are the oldest continuously run professional American football club in the United States.
The team was established in Chicago in 1898 and was a charter member of the NFL in 1920. The club moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1960 and played in that city through 1987. Before the 1988 NFL season, the team moved to Tempe, Arizona, an eastern suburb of Phoenix, and played their home games for the next 18 years at Arizona State University's Sun Devil Stadium. In 2006 the club began playing all home games at the newly constructed University of Phoenix Stadium in the northwestern suburb of Glendale.
The franchise's lone NFL championship game victory came in 1947 while they were based in Chicago, and came two decades before the first Super Bowl game was ever played. The club's other NFL championship occurred in 1925, eight years before the league began holding a championship game, and is a controversial title to this day. The much contested title was believed to belong to the Pottsville Maroons but was given to the Cardinals instead in what is called the 1925 NFL Championship controversy. In the six-plus decades since winning the championship in 1947, the Cardinals have qualified for the playoffs only six times and has won only five playoff games, three of which were achieved during their run in the 2008-09 NFL Playoffs in which they reached Super Bowl XLIII.
Overview
The Cardinals are the oldest professional American football club in the United States. The team now known as the Arizona Cardinals was originally formed in 1898 as the Morgan Athletic Club in Chicago. The club's name changed to the Racine Normals, because they were originally located in Normal Park on Chicago's Racine Avenue (not Racine, Wisconsin, as mistaken in the notes from an early APFA meeting). Their name was changed to the Racine Cardinals after the club started wearing dark reddish uniforms inherited from the collegiate Chicago Maroons.
After becoming a charter member of the NFL in 1920, the club was renamed the Chicago Cardinals, in part to distinguish them from a new franchise in Racine, Wisconsin. In 1944, during manpower shortages caused by World War II, the Cardinals merged with the Pittsburgh Steelers, called Card-Pitt in the standings, for that single season.
The Cardinals moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1960, becoming the St. Louis Cardinals. The club was sometimes called "The Football Cardinals" or "Big Red" to distinguish them from the baseball team, and were also called "The Cardiac Cards" during brushes with success in the 1970s.
After an unsuccessful campaign for a new football-only stadium in St. Louis, the club relocated to the Phoenix metropolitan area in 1988, first playing at Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University in the suburb of Tempe. The team was known as the Phoenix Cardinals before it switched to using "Arizona" in its name in 1994.
Despite moving to St. Louis and then to Arizona, for decades the Cardinals remained in either an Eastern conference or division. When the league was divided into Eastern and Western conferences prior to the 1953 season, the Cardinals were placed in the East while the Chicago Bears were placed in the West. After the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger, the team was placed in the NFC East. The Cardinals were finally moved to the NFC West, despite the club's objection, as part of the 2002 realignment.
Despite being the oldest existing professional football franchise in the United States, the Cardinals have a remarkably lean postseason history. They were NFL Champions in 1925 and 1947 and prior to 2008 they had last played for the NFL title in 1948. Following the advent of the Super Bowl, the team had not played in the championship game until the 2008 season, and thus currently holds the NFL record for the longest championship drought. The team has also won only three division titles (1974, 1975, and 2008) since their 1947-1948 NFL championship game appearances. In addition, the club in 2008 became the last NFC team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to reach the Conference Championship Game. The team's futility has also been attributed to a sports-related curse placed onto the team because their 1925 title was the result of a disputed, controversial ruling by the NFL. (See 1925 NFL Championship controversy for more details).
The Cardinals conduct their annual summer training camp at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.
Franchise history
Chicago years (1898–1959)
The Cardinals began as an amateur athletic club team in Chicago named the Morgan Athletic Club, which was founded by Chicago painter/builder Chris O'Brien in 1898. Early in the 20th century (by 1913), the team turned professional.
O'Brien later moved them to Chicago's Normal Park and renamed them the Racine Normals, since Normal Park was located on Racine Avenue in Chicago. In 1901, O'Brien bought used maroon uniforms from the University of Chicago, the colors of which had by then faded, leading O'Brien to exclaim, "That's not maroon, it's cardinal red!" It was then that the team changed its name to the Racine Cardinals.
The team disbanded in 1906 mostly for lack of local competition, but reformed in 1913. They were forced to suspend operations for a second time in 1918 because of World War I and the outbreak of the Spanish Flu Pandemic. They resumed operations later in the year, and have since operated continuously.
In 1920, the team became a charter member of the American Professional Football Association (which became the NFL in 1922), for a franchise fee of $100USD. The Cardinals and the Bears (originally founded as the Decatur Staleys before moving to Chicago in 1921) are the only charter members of the NFL still in existence, though the Green Bay Packers, who joined the league in 1921, existed prior to the formation of the NFL. The person keeping the minutes of the first league meeting, unfamiliar with the nuances of Chicago football, recorded the Cardinals as Racine, Wisconsin. The team was renamed the Chicago Cardinals in 1922, after the NFL placed a team in the Wisconsin city. That season the Cardinals moved to Comiskey Park.
The Cardinals won their first NFL championship in 1925, finishing the season with a record of 11-2-1. In a controversial ruling by the league, the Pottsville Maroons, the team with the best record, had their franchise revoked for violating the territorial rights of the Frankford Yellow Jackets. Thus, the Cardinals won the 1925 title by default. (For more on the controversy, see 1925 NFL Championship controversy, and Sports-related curses.)
The Cardinals posted a winning record only twice in the twenty years (1931 and 1935) after their championship—including 10 straight losing seasons from 1936 to 1945.
Dr. David Jones bought the team from O'Brien in 1929. In 1932 the team was purchased by Charles Bidwill, then a vice president of the Chicago Bears. The team has been under the ownership of the Bidwill family since then.
In 1942 on October 25th the Cardinals would lose their first of 29 straight games against the Cleveland Rams, finishing out their season with a 3-8 record, losing their last 6 games. In 1943 the Cardinals would record their first of two winless seasons going 0-10 in both the 1943 and 1944 seasons. In 1944, owing to player shortages caused by World War II, the Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers merged for one year and were known as the "Card-Pitt", or derisively as the "Carpets". In 1945 after losing their first three games, the Cardinals would end their 29 game losing streak by winning against the Chicago Bears on October 14th in almost 4 years of futility, while finishing their season with a 1-9 record.
The Cardinals won their last NFL championship game in 1947 (28–21 over the Philadelphia Eagles) with their "Million-Dollar Backfield", which included quarterback Paul Christman, halfback Charley Trippi, halfback Elmer Angsman, and fullback Pat Harder, piling up 282 rushing yards. It was the franchise's first home playoff game, but Bidwill was not around to see it; he'd died before the season, leaving the team to his wife Violet. He had, however, beaten the Chicago Rockets of the upstart All-America Football Conference for the rights to Trippi. This signing is generally acknowledged as the final piece in the championship puzzle. They advanced to the championship game the next season, but lost 7-0 in a rematch with the Eagles, played in a heavy snowstorm that almost completely obscured the field. The next year, Violet Bidwill married St. Louis businessman Walter Wolfner.
The 1950s were dismal for the team, with only 33 victories for the decade. Most years found the Cardinals in last place and in their best year of the decade (1956), they finished second with a 7-5 record. Following the 1958 season, they traded their star running back Ollie Matson to the Los Angeles Rams for an unprecedented nine players, but this did little to improve the Cardinals. The team's poor performances, coupled with the near-mythic status of the crosstown Bears, resulted in a decline in attendance and revenue.
The 1959 season, the Cardinals last in Chicago, saw the team decline to a 2-10 record. They left their long-time Comiskey Park home to play four games at Soldier Field on Chicago's lakefront plus two "neutral site" games in Minneapolis. That did not improve attendance as Bidwill started looking elsewhere to move her team.
Eventually, the Bidwills engineered a deal with the NFL which sent the Cardinals to St. Louis beginning with the 1960 season, a move which also blocked St. Louis as a market against the emerging American Football League.
St. Louis years (1960–1987)
Coincidentally, St. Louis already had a baseball team called the "Cardinals". The established National League team eventually decided against pressing a formal objection to another sports team in the city using the same name. Sports fans and local news broadcasters called the team "The St. Louis Football Cardinals" or "The Big Red" to distinguish the two teams.
The new "St. Louis Football Cardinals" were much improved, and the team was competitive for much of the 1960s. New stars emerged, such as Larry Wilson, Charley Johnson, Jim Bakken, Sonny Randle, and Jim Hart. However, in an era when only two or four teams qualified for the NFL playoffs, the Cardinals' playoff drought continued, though the team did advance to the Playoff Bowl in 1964.
Violet Bidwill Wolfner died in 1962, and her sons, Bill and Charles, Jr. took control. Bill Bidwill became sole owner in 1972 and still owns the team today. Only the New York Giants and Chicago Bears have been in the hands of one family longer than the Cardinals.
In 1973, Don Coryell became head coach and the Cardinals registered a 7-0 record to open the 1974 season. They won the NFC East then and in 1975, losing in the divisional playoffs both times. During this period, the Cardinals boasted an effective offense in the wake of a record-setting offensive line which included standouts Dan Dierdorf, Conrad Dobler, and Tom Banks.
This period for the franchise was characterized by exciting close games, come-from-behind nailbiters, and several frustrating near-misses. The press and league fans began to call the team the "Cardiac Cardinals". Team stars from the 1970s included Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback Roger Wehrli, wide receiver Mel Gray, and running backs Terry Metcalf and Jim Otis.
The Cardinals experienced several years of notoriously poor drafts and unfortunate personnel moves in the late 1970s, typified by the first-round selection of kicker Steve Little and hiring of college coaching legend Bud Wilkinson in 1978. However, the Cardinals had some success in the early 1980s, posting three consecutive winning seasons from 1982 to 1984. The heart of this squad was the prolific trio of quarterback Neil Lomax, wide receiver Roy Green, and running back Ottis Anderson.
In 1987, the team's last in St. Louis, on November 8, the Cardinals had the 12th greatest comebacks in NFL history when trailing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 28-3, the Cardinals scored 28 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to win the game 31-28.
During the Cardinals' 28-year stay in St. Louis, they advanced to the playoffs just three times (1974, 1975, 1982), never hosting or winning in any appearance. The team left St. Louis before the 1988 season, after Bidwill was unable to convince the city to build a new stadium.
Arizona years (1988–Present)
In 1988, the Cardinals moved to Arizona, and the Phoenix Cardinals started playing home games in Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University. Before the 1994 season, in order to better market the franchise to a statewide fan base, the name of the team was changed to the Arizona Cardinals.
1990s
The Cardinals spent most of their first decade in Arizona as a cellar-dweller. In 1996, the team served as the backdrop for a popular romantic comedy, Jerry Maguire. The team's record of futility figured prominently in the screenplay by Cameron Crowe: the eponymous hero is a struggling sports agent whose only client is a flamboyant Cardinals wide receiver. Cuba Gooding, Jr. won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the fictional Cardinal wide receiver Rod Tidwell.
Things began to look up during the 1998 season as Jake Plummer enjoyed his greatest stretch of success during his tenure with the franchise, in terms of victories at least, as his quarterback rating was still an average 75.0. The team during that time had once again been dubbed the Cardiac Cards by the local and national media as eight of their 16 regular-season games were decided by three points or less, and seven of those games ended in favor of the Cardinals. With a 6-7 record going into the 15th week, the team won 3 straight games to clinch a playoff spot, including one overtime win, with a total margin of those 3 victories a mere 8 points.
This and the fact that none of their victories had been against teams with winning records made them heavy underdogs going into their Wild Card Playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys. Considering their two regular season losses to the Cowboys and the fact that they had been on the losing end of 16 of the last 17 games against their division rivals, including 9 straight losses at Texas Stadium, the "Team of the Nineties" seemed to have history, among other forces, on their side. To further the situation, the Cardinals franchise had not won a single playoff game since their title year of 1947, resulting in the longest active drought in professional sports history.
The Cardinals won the game 20–7; however, the final score made the game appear closer than it actually was, as Arizona dominated the Cowboys on both ends of the football throughout the game. At Texas Stadium that afternoon, the Cardinals jumped out to a 10-0 halftime lead. The Cardinals would later increase that lead to 20-0 in the final minutes of the 4th quarter. The Cowboys' only score was a touchdown late in the 4th quarter, and the Cardinals held on for the upset. The Cardinals, who had suffered for 51 years as the NFL's doormat, finally had a playoff win. However, the distinction was short lived as the Cardinals fell in the divisional round of the playoffs to the Minnesota Vikings who possessed a 15-1 record as well as the highest-scoring offense in NFL history, a record which was broken by the 2007 New England Patriots. The Vikings won the game 41-21 in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis.
The Cardinals had no winning seasons after this playoff appearance until 2008. Coming off their playoff run in 1998, the Cardinals were expected to do bigger and better things in 1999, but a tough schedule ranked in the top 5 as well as key injuries resulted in what would be another disappointing season, getting off to a 2–6 start. However, the Cards would make another run winning 4 straight to get back into the playoff chase, but it was not meant to be as Arizona lost their last 4 to finish with a disappointing 6–10 record. The team finished with 5–11 records in 2005 and 2006.
2000s
In 2000, Maricopa County voters passed a ballot initiative by a margin of 51% to 49%, providing funding for a new Cardinals stadium (as well as for improvements to Major League Baseball spring training facilities in the greater Phoenix region; and youth recreation). After some legal obstacles, the Cardinals began construction of their new facility in April 2003, in Glendale, one of the western suburbs of Phoenix. University of Phoenix Stadium features a retractable roof and a slide-out grass surface, which is good for the hot desert weather; the new stadium has a state-of-the-art air-conditioning system and high-back seats.
In 2002, the NFL realignment moved the Cardinals to the more geographically correct NFC West. Their current division rivals are the St. Louis Rams (the Cardinals' first trip to St. Louis since the realignment was a nationally televised game on ESPN), San Francisco 49ers, and the Seattle Seahawks.
The 2006 season was one that gave many Cards fans optimism as the team drafted highly touted quarterback Matt Leinart and signed free agent running back Edgerrin James. However the lofty expectations were not to be as the team was plagued with inconsistency as the Cards struggled out of the gate with a record of 1-8. A notable low point of the season was in a home game against the Chicago Bears, the Cards squandered a 20 point lead to lose the game 24-23. The game was notable for coach Dennis Green's post-game conference outburst in which he made the now famous line "They are who we thought they were!". The Cards went 4-3 down the stretch to finish the season at 5-11, but it wasn't enough to save Green's job, as he was fired at season's end.
The Ken Whisenhunt Era
In 2007, the Arizona Cardinals announced the firing of coach Dennis Green. The leading candidate to coach the Cardinals after the firing was Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt. He was hired on January 14, 2007, making $2.5 million annually for four years. The Cardinals started their first 10 games at 5–5, and ended the season at 8–8, barely missing the playoffs in Whisenhunts first year as head coach.
In 2008, the Cardinals started out with one of the best offenses in the league, led by former NFL MVP quarterback Kurt Warner and wide receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. The Cardinals' decision to approach the 2008 season with Kurt Warner at quarterback instead of Leinart drew criticism, but contributed to their qualifying for the playoffs that year. At the halfway point of the season, the Cardinals led their division, for the first time since 1998, with a record of 7–3.
On December 7, 2008, the Cardinals won the NFC West Division by beating the St. Louis Rams 34–10. In the process, they clinched their first playoff berth since 1998, and their first division title since 1975 (and third of the post-merger era). However, they proceeded to lose two of their last three regular season games, to the Minnesota Vikings and the New England Patriots, in blowout losses.
On January 3, 2009, the Cardinals won their first playoff game since 1998 and their second since moving to Arizona by beating the Atlanta Falcons 30–24. This was also the first time they had won a post-season game at home since their 1947 league championship game. In fact, the Cardinals never hosted a playoff game in St. Louis despite winning two division titles.
On January 10, 2009, the Cardinals, as 10-point road underdogs, won their second playoff game since 1998 and their third since moving to Arizona, by beating the Carolina Panthers 33–13.
After the Philadelphia Eagles beat the New York Giants, the Cardinals hosted their first NFC Championship game in Arizona. They went on to defeat the Eagles 32–25, but lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII 27–23.
Logo and uniforms
The team has used the cardinal red jerseys since Chris O'Brien bought them for the club in 1901. And for most of its history, the Cardinals have used the same basic uniform design of white helmets, white pants with red stripes on the sides, and either red or white jerseys.
Starting in 1947, the team had a logo of a cardinal bird perched on the stitches of a football. However, the club did not attach a logo to their helmets until they debuted a cardinal-head logo in 1960, the year the franchise moved from Chicago to St. Louis. When the Cardinals moved to Arizona in 1988, the flag of Arizona was added to the sleeves. And in 1990, the team began wearing red pants with their white jerseys.
In 2005, the team unveiled its first major changes in a century. The cardinal-head logo was updated to be sleeker and more menacing than its predecessor, which had been derisively called a "parakeet." Black was added as an accent color, while trim lines were added to the outside shoulders and sleeves, and the sides of the jerseys and pants. Both the red and white jerseys have the option of red or white pants.
Hoping to break a six-game losing streak, the Cardinals wore the red pants for the first time on October 29, 2006 in a game at Lambeau Field against the Green Bay Packers. The Packers won 31-14, and the Cards headed into their bye week with a 1-7 mark. Following their bye week, the Cardinals came out in their all-red combination at home against the Dallas Cowboys and lost, 27-10. Arizona did not wear the red pants since that loss to the Cowboys, and managed to win four of their last seven games. However, the following season, in 2007, the Cardinals again wore their red pants for some of their games. They wore red pants with their white jersey in games on the road at the Cincinnati Bengals and Seattle Seahawks. They paired red pants with the red jersey, wearing the all-red combination for home games against the Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns, and St. Louis Rams. In 2008, the red pants have not been worn.
In the Madden NFL video game series, the Cardinals were outfitted in the all-red combination at home and the all-white combination on the road. In some versions of game, the red jersey-white pants and white jersey-red pants combinations appear as alternates.
For their first 18 years in Arizona, the Cardinals, like many other NFL teams in warm climates, wore their white jerseys at home during the first half of the season—forcing opponents to suffer in their darker-colored jerseys during Arizona autumns that frequently see temperatures over 100 °F (38 °C). However, this tradition did not continue when the Cardinals moved from Sun Devil Stadium to University of Phoenix Stadium in 2006, as early-season games (and other day home games not in the early portion of the season where the temperature outside the stadium is still very warm) are played with the roof closed (except for home games with the temperature outside the stadium at a more comfortable level along with night games excluding preseason). With the temperature inside at a comfortable 70 °F (21 °C), Green opted to have the Cardinals wear their red jerseys at home full-time. In 2008, the Cardinals did wear their white jersey at home though, for the first time in University of Phoenix Stadium on August 29, 2008 in a preseason game against the Denver Broncos.
Although the team does sell its previous team colored jersey as an alternate "fashion jersey" and even has it listed as the team's "alternate jersey", the team has yet to wear them in a game as a third jersey since retiring the jersey in 2005.Also they sold a black alternate jersey.
Season-by-season records
Single-season records
Points Scored: 427 (2008)
Passing
Rushing
Receiving
Returns
Kicking
* NFL Record
Cardinals career records
- Passing Yards: 34,639 Jim Hart(1966–1983)
- Passing Touchdowns: 209 Jim Hart(1966–1983)
- Rushing Yards: 7,999 Ottis Anderson (1979–1986)
- Receptions: 535 Larry Centers (1991–1998)
- Receiving Yards: 8,496 Roy Green (1979–1990)
- Pass Interceptions: 54 Larry Wilson (1960–2002)[49]
- Field Goals Made: 282 Jim Bakken(1962-1978)
- Points: 1,380 Jim Bakken (1962-1978)
- Total Touchdowns: 69 Roy Green (1979–1990)
- Punt Return Average: 17.7 Red Cochran (1947–1949)
- Kickoff Return Average: 28.5 Ollie Matson (1952–1958)
- Punting Average: 45.0 Jerry Norton (1959–1961)
- Sacks: 66.5 Freddie Joe Nunn (1985–1993)
Players of note
Current roster
Pro Football Hall of Famers
Chicago Cardinals
- Charles Bidwill, team owner
- 1 Jimmy Conzelman, QB-CB, head coach
- 1 John "Paddy" Driscoll, QB-S-K-P, head coach
- 2 Walt Kiesling, G-DT, head coach
- 4 Ernie Nevers, RB-S
- 13 Guy Chamberlin, TE-DE
- 33 Ollie Matson, RB
- 62 Charley Trippi, RB-QB
- 81 Dick "Night Train" Lane, CB
St. Louis Cardinals
Wilson, Dierdorf, Smith, Conrad Dobler (66, G), Jim Hart (17, QB), and Jim Hanifan (head coach) have been inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.
Retired numbers
Ring of Honor
The Cardinals' Ring of Honor was started in 2006 to mark the opening of University of Phoenix Stadium. It honors former Cardinal greats from all eras of the franchise's history. Following is a list of inductees and the dates that they were inducted.
- Charles Bidwill, Owner (8/12/2006)
- Jimmy Conzelman, Coach (8/12/2006)
- Dan Dierdorf, T (10/16/2006)
- John "Paddy" Driscoll, QB (8/12/2006)
- Marshall Goldberg, HB (8/12/2006)
- Dick "Night Train" Lane, DB (8/12/2006)
- Ollie Matson, HB (8/12/2006)
- Ernie Nevers, FB (8/12/2006)
- Charley Trippi, HB/QB (8/12/2006)
- Roger Wehrli, CB (10/14/2007)
- Larry Wilson, S (9/10/2006)
- Pat Tillman, S (11/12/2006)
- Aeneas Williams, S (11/09/2008)
Other notable alumni
Chicago
St. Louis
Phoenix/Arizona
First-round draft picks
The Chicago Years, 1936-1959
1940s
1950s
The St. Louis Years, 1960-1987
1970s
1980s
The Arizona Years, 1988-present
2000s
Coaches of note
Head coaches
Current staff
Radio and television
The Cardinals' flagship radio station was KMVP, "ESPN Radio 860." KMVP assumed the broadcast rights in 2006 after many years on KSLX-FM and KDUS. Dave Pasch, Ron Wolfley, and Paul Calvisi handle the radio broadcast. Most preseason games are televised on KNXV, channel 15, the local ABC affiliate. Mike Goldberg and Bill Lewis are the TV announcers.
On New Year's Day 2007, KMVP began a simulcast of KTAR, which switched to an all-sports format (the news/talk station became 92.3, KTAR-FM). For the 2007 season, KTAR was the official flagship station; however, some broadcasts were also be heard on 92.3 FM because of conflicts with Arizona Diamondbacks baseball games on 620 AM.
External links
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