Charles Bidwill

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Charles W. Bidwill (born September 16, 1895 in Chicago , Illinois , † April 19, 1947 in Chicago) was an American entrepreneur and the owner of the American football team Chicago Cardinals (now the Arizona Cardinals) in the National Football League (NFL ) from 1933 to 1947 .

Life

Charles W. Bidwill was the son of Joseph Edward Bidwill and Mary Anne Sullivan. His paternal grandfather immigrated from Ireland and died at the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War . His father was a councilor in the 9th district. His eldest brother, Joseph Edward Bidwill Jr., works in the Chicago District Court. His younger brother Arthur John Bidwill was a Republican Senator in the Illinois Parliament. He also had a sister Loretta.

Bidwill attended St. Ignatius High School and then studied at Loyola University . After graduating, he began practicing as a lawyer from 1916. During the First World War he was a soldier in Europe. Upon his return, he established a connection with the Mayor of Chicago William Hale Thompson and worked on his team from 1919 to 1924.

One of Bidwill's greatest passions was horse racing and from 1928 he owned a racing stable himself. From the mid-1920s he was active in the management of the operating company (Chicago Business Men's Racing Association) of the Hawthorne Racetrack racecourse . In this capacity, he was secretary of the Illinois Turf Association from late 1926, the association of horse races in Illinois. In early 1937 he acquired further shares in the operating company, so that he got control of the company and became chairman of the board. The lease ended in 1945.

But he also tried to gain a foothold economically in other sports. From 1926 he was for a while on the Chicago American Giants baseball team that played in the Negro National League . In 1931 he took part in George Halas ' NFL team , the Chicago Bears . When Halas took over the shares in Sternaman in 1932 , he helped them with the financing and acquired additional shares for $ 5,000. In 1933, he ran the company that ran the Chicago Stadium sports arena .

At the beginning of the 1930s he was in the management of the Bentley-Murray publishing house, which mainly printed programs, betting slips, etc. This publisher belonged to the group of the Kosher Nostra mobster , Moses Annenberg .

On September 6, 1933, it was announced that he had acquired the Chicago Cardinals NFL team for $ 50,000 from doctor David J. Jones. As a result, he sold his shares in Bears to Halas in October of the same year. The continuously loss-making NFL franchise could only keep Bidwill alive through appropriate grants. During the Second World War , due to a lack of players, he was forced to temporarily merge his team with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1944 season and form the Card-Pitts (officially: Chicago-Pittsburgh Cardinals-Steelers). The same fate overtook the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles a year earlier , who had to form the Steagles (officially: Philadelphia-Pittsburgh Eagles-Steelers) in the 1943 season in order to be able to continue playing.

From 1944 he was co-financier of the National Girls Baseball League and represented there with the Chicago Bluebirds team.

With the founding of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) in 1944 and the start of game operations, the football team in Chicago received further competition with the Chicago Rockets . This AAFC franchise was owned by freight forwarder John L. Keeshin . He was also the operator of the Sportsmen's Park racetrack , which was right next to the Hawthorne Racetrack. The racetrack operators were said to have connections to the Al Capone Syndicate. In order to survive against the competition of the Rockets, Bidwill decided to sign college star Charley Trippi for the then astronomical sum of 100,000 US dollars. This completes his so-called dream backfield.

On October 29, 1946, Charles Bidwill acquired control of the Nation Jockey Club, which operated Sportsmen's Park. Bidwill's partner in this million dollar deal was William H. Johnston. During the Kefauver Hearings , it became known that he belonged to the Capone Syndicate. With Johnston he also ran four dog tracks in Florida.

Charles Bidwill died on April 19, 1947 of viral pneumonia. Shortly before, he had been hospitalized after a cold, where he received artificial oxygen and was in a coma.

Pallbearers at his funeral included George Halas, William H. Johnston, Arch Wolfe, and Ray C. Bennigsen . He was buried in a family grave in the Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois .

Charles Bidwill had been married to Violet since the mid-1920s . The couple adopted two sons, Charles "Stormy" Junior and Willam V. Bidwill . After his death, his wife took control of his property. The Cardinals won the 1947 championship for eight months with Tippi .

In 1967, Bidwill was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Feb 26, 1919, 3 - Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com. Retrieved June 24, 2020 .
  2. ↑ 7 Dec 1926, 29 - Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com. Retrieved June 24, 2020 .
  3. ↑ 29 Jan 1937, 21 - Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com. Retrieved June 24, 2020 .
  4. ↑ 25 Oct 1945, 29 - Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com. Retrieved July 1, 2020 .
  5. ↑ 22 Nov 1931, Page 17 - The Cincinnati Enquirer at Newspapers.com. Retrieved June 24, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Jan 30, 1967, 45 - Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com. Retrieved June 24, 2020 .
  7. ^ 11 Oct 1931, Page 70 - The Courier-Journal at Newspapers.com. Retrieved June 24, 2020 .
  8. ↑ 6 Sep 1933, 13 - The Post-Crescent at Newspapers.com. Retrieved June 24, 2020 .
  9. ↑ 13 Oct 1933, 43 - Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com. Retrieved June 24, 2020 .
  10. ^ Blood Brothers: The 1943 Steagles became an unlikely product of the war years. Retrieved June 24, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Tracy Thibeau: Horses, Trucks and Rockets. In: THE COFFIN CORNER: Vol. 31, No. 1 (2009). Retrieved July 1, 2020 .
  12. ^ 18 Apr 1947, 27 - Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com. Retrieved July 1, 2020 .
  13. ↑ 21 Apr 1947, 29 - Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com. Retrieved July 1, 2020 .
  14. ^ Charles Bidwill (1895-1947) - Find a Grave ... Retrieved July 1, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Years - Hall of Famers | Pro Football Hall of Fame Official Site. Retrieved July 1, 2020 .
Chicago / St. Louis / Phoenix / Arizona Cardinals members in the Pro Football Hall of Fame


Charles Bidwill (1967) | Guy Chamberlin (1965) | Jimmy Conzelman (1964) | Dan Dierdorf (1996) | Paddy Driscoll (1965) | Walt Kiesling (1966) | Curly Lambeau (1963) | Dick Lane (1974) | Ollie Matson (1972) | Don Maynard (1987) | Ernie Nevers (1963) | Emmitt Smith (2010) | Jackie Smith (1998) | Jim Thorpe (1963) | Charley Trippi (1968) | Kurt Warner (2017) | Roger Wehrli (2007) | Aeneas Williams (2014) | Larry Wilson (1978)

personal data
SURNAME Bidwill, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bidwill, Charles W.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American sports entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH April 19, 1947
Place of death Chicago , Illinois