The Cardinals are the oldest existing football club in the United States, beginning as an amateur athletic club team in Chicago. They began to field a pro team even before the founding of the NFL. Located on Racine Avenue in Chicago, they were known for a while as the "Racine Cardinals". They were often confused with Racine, Wisconsin, by fans in other cities. As the "Chicago Racine Cardinals" and then as the "Chicago Cardinals", they entered the NFL and fought with the crosstown rival Chicago Bears for years before moving to St. Louis.
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 "Car-Pitts", or "Carpets".
Between 1960 and 1987, St. Louis was home to the Cardinals, a period when two big-league teams of that name existed in the city. Sports fans and local news coverage got into the habit of calling them "the football Cardinals" or "the baseball Cardinals" to distinguish the two. They left St. Louis when owner Bill Bidwill was unable to convince the city to build a new stadium.
The team has started construction on a new stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale. This stadium, which will feature a retractable roof and a slide-out grass surface, is scheduled to open for the 2006 season.
The Cardinals are the oldest existing football club in the United States, beginning 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.
Cardinal receiver Mel Gray was shoved out of the end zone on an apparent game-winning touchdown route in what appeared to all observers to be obvious interference, but a penalty was not called.
However, the distinction was short lived as the Cardinals fell to the high-powered Minnesota Vikings who possessed a 15-1 record as well as the highest scoring offense in NFL history, the Vikings 41-21 in Minnesota.
The Cardinals return to Chicago this week, the city where the franchise began play in 1898 The ChicagoCardinals became a charter member of the NFL in 1920 and played there until relocating to St. Louis in 1960.
Chicago linebacker Leon Joe was with the Cardinals during part of the 2004 season.
Chicago linebacker Jamar Williams attended Arizona State University from 2002-2005 and was the recipient of the Pat Tillman Valor Award named in honor of the former Cardinals safety who was killed in Afghanistan in 2004 while serving in the Army Rangers.
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