Bill Bidwill

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William Vogel "Bill" Bidwill (born July 31, 1931 in Chicago , Illinois , † October 2, 2019 in Phoenix , Arizona ) was an American entrepreneur and owner of the NFL team Arizona Cardinals .

Life

Bill Bidwill was shortly after his birth, as his brother Charles "Stormy" Bidwill Jr., of Charles Bidwill and Violet Bidwill adopted . Charles Bidwill owned the Chicago Cardinals NFL team. Bill Bidwill first attended Georgetown Preparatory School (High School) until 1949 . He then studied medieval history at Georgetown University . He successfully completed his studies in 1953 with a bachelor's degree. He then went to the United States Navy until 1956 .

In 1947 his father Charles Bidwill died and his mother married Walter HS Wolfner two years later. He took control of the mother's business. In 1951, his brother Charles was appointed President and Bill Vice-President of the Cardinals, while Wolfner acted as General Manager and thus controlled the entire operational business. From 1960, Bidwill got actively involved in the franchise business. Violet Bidwill died on January 29, 1962. In her will, she bequeathed almost all of her property to her two sons. Wolfner then sued the will. As part of this legal battle, he also announces the adoption of Charles and Bill. The courts decided in favor of the sons. In May 1962, the brothers took over responsibility for the franchise and fired Wolfner.

While Charles took over the Sportsmen's Park racecourse in Cicero and the dog tracks in Florida, both shared responsibility for the St. Louis Cardinals NFL team. The two brothers with different characters could not agree on a common line in running the franchise. So in 1972 they decided that Bill would take over the NFL team entirely and pay his brother $ 6 million for the shares.

The public-shy Bidwill ran the franchise with little financial outlay. This was also reflected in the rather moderate sporting successes. On the other hand, he was one of the first franchise owners to give minorities a senior position in franchise management. His second oldest son, Michael Bidwill, was involved in team management as early as 1996 . In 2007 he took over the position of President and from that point on was responsible for the entire operational business. Since the death of his father, he has been chairman of the board of directors and owner of the NFL franchise as an estate administrator.

Bill Bidwill was married to Nancy Jeanne Lavezzorio (1932-2016) since 1960 and had five children (Michael, Bill Jr., Patrick, Timothy and Nancy).

In 2017 he was inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ken Belson: Bill Bidwill, Dynastic Owner of NFL's Cardinals, Dies at 88. In: The New York Times , October 2, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  2. ^ 3 Sep 1972, 89 - Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com. Retrieved June 23, 2020 (English).


personal data
SURNAME Bidwill, Bill
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bidwill, William V. (real name); Bidwill, William Vogel (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois , United States
DATE OF DEATH 2nd October 2019
Place of death Phoenix , Arizona