A couple of years ago the football world was shocked when the Arizona Cardinals made it to the Super Bowl, almost won it too. The Cardinals have rarely been very good, and they have been doing it for a very long time. The Bears and the Cardinals are the only surviving teams from the NFL's first season. The Cardinals have taken their poor play to a few places, calling Chicago, St. Louis and Arizona home at various times. In 1948, the Chicago Cardinals were the NFL champions. They were led by an interesting coach.
Jimmy Conzelman did a little bit of everything-football player, football coach, team owner, pro baseball player, major league baseball executive, newspaper publisher, playwright, author, orator and actor. Conzelman's commencement address at the University of Dayton in 1942 made quite an impact. Titled, "The Young Man's Mental and Physical Approach to War", it became required reading at West Point, featured as text at Purdue and Minnesota, and was twice read into the congressional record. He was a success at most endeavors, but probably most successful as a football coach.
Conzelman was a versatile halfback at Washington University in St. Louis, and a team mate of George Halas and Paddy Driscoll (all 3 were inducted into the Hall of Fame) on the Great Lakes Naval Training team that played in the 1919 Rose Bowl. Halas recruited Conzelman for his Decatur Staley's professional team, the original Chicago Bears, in 1920. Conzelman jumped to the Rock Island Independents as player-coach in 1921 and then to the Milwaukee Badgers. Offered an NFL franchise in Detroit for $100 in 1925, Conzelman became an owner of the Panthers. The team saw some success, 8-2-2 in '25, but little support from Detroit. He returned the franchise to the league. He joined the Providence Steam Roller as a player-coach in 1927. Quarterback Conzelman suffered a knee injury in '28, but coach Conzelman led his team to 8-1-2 record and the NFL championship.
Conzelman turned to his other interests after 1930. He returned to the pro game in 1940 to coach the Chicago Cardinals. He helped the team to stay strong during the early years of World War II before leaving to work for the St. Louis Browns baseball team. He returned to the Cardinals in 1946 and would find his and the Cardinals greatest success. Conzelman had strong players in QB Paul Christman, fullback Pat Harder and halfback Elmer Angsman. When he added Charley Trippi in 1947, Conzelman had put together the "Dream Backfield", and would power to the 1947 NFL Championship. Conzelman's second title came nearly two decades after his first. Conzelman did a fantastic job of keeping the team focused in 1948. Stan Mauldin, as fine a tackle as the game had seen, collapsed and died of a heart attack after the first game. Still the team lost only one regular season game before losing the championship game to the Eagles 7-0 in a blizzard in Philadelphia. After the game, Conzelman retired for good from pro coaching.
In an era of such single minded coaches as Bill Belichick and Jon Gruden, it is refreshing to hear of a coach interested and involved in so many other things, so able to step away from football successfully. Conzelman showed that you can have success without being possessed.
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