Born in Chicago in 1895, Charles “Blue Shirt Charlie” Bidwill was a successful attorney and businessman with deep roots in the city’s commercial and civic life. He served as president of the Chicago Stadium Operating Company, owned a printing company and a racing stable, and was an early part-owner of the Chicago Bears before turning his attention to the city’s other NFL franchise. In 1933, Bidwill purchased the Chicago Cardinals from Dr. David Jones for $50,000, a transaction reportedly sparked by a casual conversation aboard Bidwill’s private yacht, and set about transforming one of the league’s most struggling franchises into a championship contender.

Bidwill owned the Cardinals for 14 seasons, navigating the lean years of the Great Depression, a forced wartime merger with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1944, and fierce competition from the rival All-America Football Conference. His greatest move came in 1947, when he outbid the AAFC’s Chicago Rockets for the rights to halfback Charley Trippi, signing him to a then-record $100,000 contract, the final piece of what Bidwill called his “Dream Backfield” of Trippi, Paul Christman, Pat Harder, Marshall Goldberg, and Elmer Angsman. That backfield delivered the Cardinals their first, and to date only, undisputed NFL Championship in 1947.

Bidwill did not live to see it. He died of pneumonia in April 1947, just weeks after signing Trippi. His widow Violet inherited the team and operated it until her death in 1962. The franchise he built eventually relocated to St. Louis and later to Arizona, where it continues today as the Arizona Cardinals. Charles Bidwill Sr. was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967 and is a proud member of the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame.