Glory Days A mericans were first introduced to football in the 1800s Back then the sport was played mostly by men in their teens and early 20s They took the field for fun and glory In the 1890s a few teams began charging fans to watch them play This was the beginning of professional football Chicago was home to one of the first pro teams The players wore red jerseys and team became known as the Cardinals the Soon there was enough interest in pro football to form an entire league In 1920 the Cardinals joined forces with 13 other clubs in the American Professional Football Association APFA Two years later it was renamed the NFL The Cardinals chief rivals were the Bears who also played in Chicago 6
The Cardinals won their first championship in 1925 Their leader was a great runner and kicker named Paddy Driscoll In the years that followed the Cardinals welcomed many more stars including Ernie Nevers and Duke Slater Nevers was the best all-around player in the NFL He once scored 40 points in a game against the Bears Slater was an excellent blocker and tackler and the top African-American player of his time After many losing seasons in the 1930s the Cardinals returned to the top of football in the years after World War II They beat the Philadelphia Eagles for the 1947 NFL championship A year later Chicago lost in a rematch with the Eagles Quarterback Paul Christman and running backs Pat Harder Elmer Angsman and Charley Trippi formed the heart of these teams They were nicknamed the Million Dollar Backfield All along the Cardinals and Bears competed for the hearts of Chicago fans In the end after nearly 40 seasons the Bears won LEFT This trading card shows Ernie Nevers during his college days ABOVE Quarterback Paul Christman wrote the book on passing 7
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out In 1960 the Cardinals moved to St Louis The team thrilled fans in its new home during the next decade On offense Charley Johnson was one of the most talented passers in the league Jackie Smith Sonny Randle and Bobby Joe Conrad were sure-handed receivers The St Louis defense was fast and unpredictable It starred Larry Wilson who made tackles all over the field The Cardinals were even better during the mid-1970s Their coach was Don Coryell He was a genius when it came to the passing game Coryell put together a great offense that included quarterback Jim Hart receivers Mel Gray and Roy Green kicker Jim Bakken and running back Terry Metcalf In 1979 Ottis Anderson joined the team In his first year he ran for 1,605 yards and was named the Offensive Rookie of the Year Even with all this talent St Louis fell short of reaching the Super Bowl In 1988 the team moved again this time to Arizona The fans there were hungry for pro football and supported the Cardinals with great enthusiasm Over the next decade the team put some LEFT Ottis Anderson takes on the defense of the New York Giants ABOVE Jackie Smith was one of the NFL’s best tight ends 9
