known that Bidwill would have much preferred to buy the Bears, but George Halas refused to sell. As the owner In 1940 he tried but failed to buy the Detroit Lions. He then hired Jimmy Conzelman as coach, who later quit as coach to work for the St. Louis Browns. World War II years In 1944, due to World War II, many players were serving in the United States military, leaving a league-wide shortage of players. As a result, the Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers merged their teams for the season. The team's name Card-Pitt was quickly dubbed the "Carpets" by detractors, as "every team in the league walks over them". The team lost ten straight to post an 0–10 record. The AAFC After the war the AAFC placed a team in Chicago, the Rockets, which publicly pushed for the Cardinals to leave town. In 1947 Bidwill outbid the Rockets for the rights to All-American Charley Trippi, signing him to a then record $100,000 contract. Trippi was the final piece of what Bidwill called his "Dream Backfield" of Paul Christman, Pat Harder, Marshall Goldberg, Elmer Angsman, and Trippi. They led the Cardinals to their first (and, to date, only) undisputed NFL championship in 1947. Death and legacy He died of pneumonia in April 1947, shortly after signing Trippi. His widow Violet inherited the team and operated it until her death in early 1962. During her tenure as the Cardinals owner, she and her husband Walter Wolfner relocated the franchise to St. Louis in 1960. Following her death, she left the team to her adopted sons from her first marriage, Charles Jr. and Bill. He is a member of the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967. Bill Bidwill bought his elder brother's share in 1972. During Bill's time as owner, the team relocated once more, to Phoenix, Arizona, in 1988, and since 1994 have been known as the Arizona Cardinals. He remained sole owner until his death in 2019. His son Michael Bidwill, who had been team president and operating head of the franchise since 2007, inherited the team. Only the Bears (owned by Halas and his descendants since 1921) and the New York Giants (owned by the Mara family since their founding in 1925) have been in the hands of one family longer than the Cardinals. References External links