FROM CHICAGO TO THE DESERT
Long before there was an Arizona Cardinals football team, long before State Farm Stadium rose out of the desert in Glendale, and even before the National Football League existed, there was a small football club playing on the South Side of Chicago. The franchise traces its beginning to 1898, when it was known as the Morgan Athletic Club. That makes the Cardinals the oldest continuously operating professional football franchise in America. Even the name “Cardinals” didn’t originally come from the bird. Early owner Chris O’Brien acquired used jerseys from the University of Chicago that someone described as faded red. O’Brien disagreed. He reportedly declared that they weren’t faded red—they were cardinal red. The name stayed. When the organization that eventually became the NFL began play in 1920, the Chicago Cardinals were there as a charter member. Professional football looked nothing like today’s billion-dollar spectacle. Players competed on rough fields before relatively small crowds, helmets were primitive, salaries were modest, and nobody could have imagined what the NFL would someday become. But the Cardinals were already there.
CHAMPIONS IN CHICAGO
The Cardinals won an NFL championship in 1925, but their greatest early era came after owner Charles Bidwill assembled what became known as the “Dream Backfield.” Players such as Charley Trippi, Paul Christman, Pat Harder, Marshall Goldberg and Elmer Angsman helped transform the Cardinals into a championship team. In 1947, the Chicago Cardinals defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 28–21 to win the NFL Championship. It remains the franchise’s most recent league championship. They returned to the championship game against Philadelphia the following season but lost. Nobody standing there in 1947 could have imagined how long the wait for another championship opportunity would become. Decades would pass. Cities would change. Generations of players and fans would come and go. The Cardinals would survive all of it.
FROM CHICAGO TO ST. LOUIS
After the 1959 season, the franchise left Chicago and moved to St. Louis in 1960. The St. Louis Cardinals produced great players and memorable teams, but sustained postseason success remained difficult. During the 1970s, coach Don Coryell built one of the NFL’s most exciting offenses. Quarterback Jim Hart helped lead teams that became known for dramatic finishes, and the Cardinals captured consecutive NFC East championships in 1974 and 1975. But both seasons ended in the first round of the playoffs. Once again, there were flashes of greatness without the championship ending everyone wanted. Stadium issues eventually became part of the franchise’s future, and after the 1987 season owner Bill Bidwill made the decision that would permanently connect the Cardinals with the desert.
THE CARDINALS COME TO ARIZONA
In 1988, the Cardinals moved to Arizona and began playing at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe as the Phoenix Cardinals. Arizona finally had an NFL team of its own. That first season gave fans an unforgettable glimpse of what professional football could feel like in the Valley. In one remarkable game, the Cardinals fell behind the eventual Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers 23–0, then came roaring back to win 24–23. Quarterback Neil Lomax and receiver Roy Green helped make the new team exciting, and at one point Arizona stood 7–4 and in first place in the NFC East. Then injuries caught up with Lomax, whose hip problems ultimately ended his career, and the Cardinals lost their final five games. It was almost a perfect beginning in Arizona—and instead became another chapter in a franchise seemingly accustomed to getting close enough to hope before having that hope taken away. In 1994, the Phoenix Cardinals officially became the Arizona Cardinals, representing the entire state.
THE DESERT FINALLY GOT A PLAYOFF WIN
For years, winning remained difficult. Then came an Arizona kid who seemed almost made for the moment: quarterback Jake “The Snake” Plummer. In the 1998 season, Plummer helped lead Arizona into the playoffs, where the Cardinals traveled to Dallas and stunned the Cowboys. It was the franchise’s first playoff victory in 51 years. Think about that number. Fifty-one years between postseason victories. Generations of Cardinals fans had lived their entire lives without seeing one. For a franchise accustomed to being overlooked, that victory meant something more than simply advancing in the playoffs. It was proof that even after decades of disappointment, history could still change.
PAT TILLMAN — BIGGER THAN FOOTBALL
Then came a Cardinal whose legacy would reach far beyond the game. Pat Tillman played college football at Arizona State before becoming a Cardinals safety. He wasn’t the biggest player on the field, but he played with intelligence, intensity and fearlessness. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Tillman’s view of his future changed. In 2002, he walked away from professional football and enlisted in the United States Army with his brother Kevin. Tillman eventually became an Army Ranger. On April 22, 2004, he was killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire. The circumstances surrounding his death and the government’s initial inaccurate account of what happened became controversial, but none of that changes the magnitude of the decision Tillman himself made: he voluntarily walked away from an NFL career to serve his country. The Cardinals later retired his No. 40, and his name became permanently tied not simply to football in Arizona, but to sacrifice. The Pro Football Hall of Fame lists No. 40 among the Cardinals’ retired numbers.
THEN CAME LARRY FITZGERALD
In the 2004 NFL Draft, Arizona selected wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, and eventually it became almost impossible to tell the story of the Arizona Cardinals without telling his. Fitzgerald wasn’t simply great—he became the face of the franchise for a generation. His preparation, hands, toughness and professionalism earned respect throughout football. By the end of his career, Fitzgerald had accumulated 1,432 receptions, the most in Cardinals history and second-most in NFL history at the time of his retirement from playing. But statistics alone don’t explain why Arizona loved him. Fitzgerald stayed through losing seasons. He represented the organization with class. He became part of the community. And when the Cardinals finally made their greatest run in Arizona history, Fitzgerald became nearly unstoppable.
KURT WARNER AND THE IMPOSSIBLE RUN
Quarterback Kurt Warner arrived in Arizona in 2005 with people wondering whether his best football was behind him. He had already experienced one of the most unlikely careers in NFL history, going from stocking grocery shelves and playing Arena Football to becoming an NFL MVP and Super Bowl champion with the St. Louis Rams. But in Arizona, Warner had to prove himself again. By 2008, with Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and a talented group around him, something began happening that Cardinals fans had waited generations to see. Arizona won the NFC West. Then the playoffs began. They defeated Atlanta 30–24. They went to Carolina and dominated the Panthers 33–13. Then came the NFC Championship Game against Philadelphia in Arizona. The Cardinals won 32–25. Confetti fell. Players celebrated. Fans screamed. And after decades of frustration, the Arizona Cardinals were going to the Super Bowl.
ONE OF THE MOST HEARTBREAKING SUPER BOWLS EVER
On February 1, 2009, the Cardinals faced the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII. Arizona fell behind, and just before halftime Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison intercepted a pass and returned it 100 yards for a touchdown, one of the most famous plays in Super Bowl history. Yet Arizona refused to die. Late in the fourth quarter, Kurt Warner found Larry Fitzgerald, who exploded through the middle of the field for a 64-yard touchdown. Suddenly the Cardinals led 23–20. After everything this franchise had endured—from Chicago to St. Louis to Arizona, from 1947 through decades without another championship appearance—they were minutes away from becoming Super Bowl champions. Then Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger drove the Steelers down the field. With 35 seconds remaining, Santonio Holmes made an extraordinary touchdown catch in the corner of the end zone. Pittsburgh won 27–23. Arizona had come within inches and seconds of completing one of the greatest underdog championship stories in NFL history. Instead, Cardinals fans were left staring at how painfully thin the distance between victory and heartbreak can be.
THE DESERT HAD BECOME THEIR HOME
By then, Arizona was no longer simply somewhere the Cardinals had moved. It was home. The franchise had left Sun Devil Stadium and opened its new Glendale stadium in 2006, the building now known as State Farm Stadium. More successful seasons followed, including another NFC West title in 2009 and a powerful 2015 team that reached the NFC Championship Game. Players such as Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Adrian Wilson, Aeneas Williams, Carson Palmer and others became part of Arizona football history. The franchise that once seemed temporary in the desert had planted roots.
RESTORED LIFE AFTER
There is something strangely human about the history of the Arizona Cardinals.
They have moved.
They have lost.
They have been forgotten.
They have been laughed at.
They have watched promising seasons collapse.
They have waited decades for moments other franchises experience regularly.
And yet they’re still here.
From a small football club in Chicago in 1898, to St. Louis, to scorching afternoons at Sun Devil Stadium, to a packed stadium in Glendale, the Cardinals survived more than a century of professional football.
That’s why their story isn’t only about championships.
It’s about endurance.
Sometimes life doesn’t give you the ending you wanted.
Sometimes you do everything you can and still watch the ball land in someone else’s hands.
Sometimes you get within seconds of the dream you’ve spent your entire life chasing—and still lose.
Then morning comes.
And you have a decision to make.
Stay down…
or come back for another season.
The Arizona Cardinals have been doing that for more than a century.
1898. Chicago. St. Louis. Arizona.
Different cities.
Different players.
Different generations.
Same bird. Still flying.
And maybe that’s the lesson.
Your story isn’t over simply because you haven’t won yet.
RESTORED LIFE AFTER