Ken Gray (64) blocks for John David Crow (44)
November 29, 1959: The Chicago Bears beat the Chicago Cardinals, 31-7 at Soldier Field. But this is not a home game for "Da Bears": They won't begin playing home games at Soldier Field until the 1971 season.
Rather, this is a home game game for the Cardinals, who took up residence at Soldier Field this season, after playing most of their history at Comiskey Park, home of baseball's Chicago White Sox. The hope was that, by not having to start the season on the road, because the White Sox had first choice of scheduling, the Cards could get off to a good start, and generate better attendance.
Certainly, this worked in the White Sox' favor: They won the American League Pennant for the 1st time in 40 years. And it almost worked for the Cardinals: In their opener, on September 27, they beat the Washington Redskins, 49-21 -- but only 21,892 fans came out to Soldier Field. The next week, the had even fewer, 19,935, to see a 34-7 loss to the Cleveland Browns.
They forfeited a home game to "take one for the team" -- "the team" being the NFL, which was scouting Minneapolis as a location for an expansion team. On October 25, the Cardinals lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 28-24, in front of 20,112, at Metropolitan Stadium in suburban Bloomington, Minnesota. They won their next game, 45-24 over the Pittsburgh Steelers, at Soldier Field, in front of 23,187.
That would be their last win -- ever. They lost 2 more on the road; went to Metropolitan Stadium again and lost to the New York Giants, 30-20 in front of 26,625; and then played this game, in front of 48,687, most of whom seemed to be rooting for the Bears.
They played 2 more games, losing both, the last a 35-20 defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Forbes Field. They finished 2-10-2, and while 6 of those losses were by 10 points or less, only 2 were by 6 points or less, so they weren't in as many games as the previous statistic would suggest.
The Cardinals had talent. Running back John David Crow had won the Heisman Trophy in 1957, and had helped Texas A&M win the National Championship the year before. Bobby Joe Conrad was also a good running back. Defensive tackle Frank Fuller and safety Jerry Norton made the Pro Bowl that season. And they had perhaps the greatest cornerback who ever lived, Dick "Night Train" Lane.
But their coach was Lee "Pop" Ivy, a player on the Cardinals' 1947 NFL Championship team. A former assistant to Bud Wilkinson at the University of Oklahoma, who had led the Edmonton Eskimos (now the Edmonton Elks) to 3 straight Grey Cups, he was dreadful as a head man in America, going a combined 32-43-2 ties for the Cardinals in the NFL and the Houston Oilers in the AFL.
And their quarterback was Stuart King Hill, who went by his middle name. A Texas native and a star at Rice University in Houston, King Hill was no king of the hill, and spent most of his career backing up first Sonny Jurgensen, then Norm Snead, on the Eagles.
In their 40 seasons in Chicago, the Cardinals had won just 2 NFL Championships: In 1925, before the era of Championship Games, and that one disputed by the Pottsville Maroons; and in 1947, beating the Eagles at a frigid Comiskey. And they reached the Championship Game again the next season, losing to the Eagles. Even this brief run of glory came after the Bears had won 4 titles in 6 years, and the Cardinals were never going to be the more popular team in town. They were doomed from the get-go.
In the off-season, team owner Violet Bidwill Wolfner moved them to St. Louis -- and kept the team name, even though the baseball team was already named the St. Louis Cardinals. They shared Sportsman's Park with the baseball Cardinals from 1960 to 1965. In 1966, Busch Memorial Stadium opened. After the 1987 season, Violet's son, Billy Bidwill, moved the team to the Phoenix area, where they became known as the Arizona Cardinals.
The Arizona Cardinals have established a Ring of Honor. It includes all Chicago Cardinals in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio: John "Paddy" Driscoll, Ernie Nevers, Charlie Trippi, Marshall "Biggie" Goldberg, Dick "Night Train" Laine, Ollie Matson, 1947 NFL Championship coach Jimmy Conzelman, and team owner Charles Bidwill.
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November 29, 1959 was, of course, a Sunday. These other NFL games were played:
* The New York Giants beat the Washington Redskins, 45-14 at Yankee Stadium.
* The Baltimore Colts beat the Los Angeles Rams, 35-21 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.
* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat their cross-State rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles, 31-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.
* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Cleveland Browns, 21-20 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.
* And, 3 days earlier, on Thanksgiving Day, the Green Bay Packers beat the Detroit Lions, 24-17 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.
There were 2 games played in the NBA. The New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia Warriors, 127-126 at the Philadelphia Civic Center. Rookie sensation Wilt Chamberlain had 33 points and 34 rebounds. Willie Naulls led the Knicks with 30. And the Boston Celtics beat the Minneapolis Lakers, 109-93 at the St. Paul Auditorium in St. Paul, Minnesota.
And the NHL's entire "Original Six" were in action:
* The New York Rangers and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a tie, 2-2 at the old Madison Square Garden.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 4-2 at the Boston Garden.
* And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
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