Longest time as Cardinal fan

[jmt]

This fall will be my 52nd season as a Cards fan.

Me too! At least that long. My dad was a Chicago Cardinal fan and I've been following them ever since the move to St. Louis - maybe before that but I don't remember. What I do remember is seeing them beat the Bears in preseason in 1960 at Soldiers Field. I've been afflicted ever since.

 

[PACardsFan]

I keep wanting to say 1971 black and white Tv with rabbit ears Monday Night against the Redskins?? was my first game. I would have been 5. Might have been 1973. Think it was 1971 because really followed the Cardinal BB team and Joe Torre that year. I am just having a senior moment....it will come to me. First live game 1975....good times.I remember Bill and Stormy standing in the endzone in there trench coats looked like gangsters

71 was an INCREDIBLE year for Joe Torre. He hit .363, roughly 25 hr's, and drove in 137 runs. What was incredible was that he couldn't have had 5 infield hits all year. He had no speed whatsoever, so all he did was hit frozen ropes all year. I remember he lost a ton of weight & moved to catcher to 3rd base that year. I still think that was one of the greatest seasons anyone ever had as a Cardinal. He was also NL MVP.

 

[Buckybird]

This fall will be my 52nd season as a Cards fan. I believe Jeff Gollin and Johnh have been fans longer and of course 40yearfan followed the team when they played in Eden. So who among ASFN posters has been a fan the longest?

Just think if you started following the Cardiac Cards you've been a fan for almost 40 years.

Sorry for these nostalgia threads its NJCardsfan's fault for posting the link to the 38-0 Cowboys game from 1970.

I've been a fan since 1947, when the Cards (with the million dollar backfield) defeated the Eagles. The Eagles returned the favor the next year, and I'm still waiting for another championship. Although living in NY all my life, I've been a lifelong Cardinal fan. MY love for the Cardinals started in 1946 with the baseball Cardinals and Stan the Man. And while we haven't won, "We've Come A Long Way Baby", since UOP stadium opened. It will happen sooner rather than later, and I hope I'm still around to see it.

November 24, 1963: Cardinals versus Giants at Yankee Stadium, my first pro football game as an 8 year old kid. I fell in love with Larry Wilson and the red Cardinals on the milk white helmets.

I trump that by only 2 or 3 years - Before I learned how to read (which would be about 1945), I was already a StL Cardinal bb fan but was starting to bug my Dad each week: "Did the (football) Cardinals win today?" Unlike the Cardinals of Stan Musial, Enos Slaughter, Harry the Cat Brecheen and Howie Pollet, the football Cardinals at the time were "0 & a Gazillion." 1947 was my first feel-good year as a Chicago Cardinal rooter.

(Note - But Garth and I share another common history. I grew up in Scarsdale, NY - where Garth still lives & we can share memories of the Garth Road apartments, the waterfall behind the train station, former Scarsdale HS football coaches etc.)

Awesome!!! You old goats

I became in fan in 1974, fell in luv with the redbird logo & their fantastic comeback victories!!! Me & my dad would fight every Sunday when Bill Bidwill made the Boys wear blue at Busch Stadium. I would run thru the house with my old Cards pennant (I still have) with each score.That beating eye sooo reminds of Don Coryell.

 

[Duckjake]

Since 1960, I was a St. Louis kid that remember John David Crow, Sonny Randle, and Sportsman Park. Loyalty is lifetime.

Don't forget this guy. My favorite player when I was a kid. My brothers gave me no end of grief because he was an Aggie.

Bobby Joe Conrad intercepted four passes for the Chicago Cardinals as a rookie, but was less successful as a placekicker than he had been in the All-Star Game, succeeding on just 6 of 17 field goal attempts in ’58. He shifted to offensive halfback in 1959 and later starred at flanker, leading the NFL with 73 catches in 1963 and grabbing a total of 422 passes for 5902 yards and 38 touchdowns over 12 years (all with the Cardinals except the last, in 1969, with Dallas).

http://fs64sports.blogspot.com/2011/08/1958-college-all-stars-use-big-2nd.html

 

[WildBB]

Since they were the AZ

 

[RonF]

1960 while working at IDL in NYC. Most of the guys I worked with were Giant fans and always bugging me about who I was rooting for in next Sunday's game. I became a Cards fan when the New York Giants lost at home to St. Louis, 20–13. That loss shut them up, at least for awhile.


I can remember reading the box scores of Sunday's game every Monday morning. And on a good day, I could pick up some of the game from KOMX in St. Louis sitting in my 56 Chevvy. I loved every moment of it.

 

[Russ Smith]

37 years for me since 75.

 

[Lifer]

Almost 50 years

My dad tried to make me a Giants fan and every year for my birthday we went in to the city to Yankee Stadium for a Giants game. I never really liked the Giants and one cold October day in the early 1960's at about age 10 I made the break. A drunken fan spilled a 200 ounce beer down the back of my parka but my dad told me to tough it out until we got home. They were playing (and hammering) a team with nice red uniforms that day and the decision was made on the spot. I'm not one to change loyalties so, as with so many of you, the draft has been the highlight of my football year most years since (Air Coryell and the last few years excepted). I never lived anywhere near St Louis or Arizona so until the dawn of the internet age I never knew that there were other Cardinal fans out there. Thanks to all of you for the information and the moral support. All time favorites - Larry Stallings, Jackie Smith, O-line with Tom Banks and Connie Dobler, Aneas, and Fitz.

 

[gmabel830]

My dad tried to make me a Giants fan and every year for my birthday we went in to the city to Yankee Stadium for a Giants game. I never really liked the Giants and one cold October day in the early 1960's at about age 10 I made the break. A drunken fan spilled a 200 ounce beer down the back of my parka but my dad told me to tough it out until we got home. They were playing (and hammering) a team with nice red uniforms that day and the decision was made on the spot. I'm not one to change loyalties so, as with so many of you, the draft has been the highlight of my football year most years since (Air Coryell and the last few years excepted). I never lived anywhere near St Louis or Arizona so until the dawn of the internet age I never knew that there were other Cardinal fans out there. Thanks to all of you for the information and the moral support. All time favorites - Larry Stallings, Jackie Smith, O-line with Tom Banks and Connie Dobler, Aneas, and Fitz.

Man, someone's been holding out!! All that knowledge, and we only get a post once every 3 years?!

 

[Lloydian]

Oh, golly, did I ever hate the Cardinals in the '70s. I grew up in Dallas, and as any Dallas native will tell you, loving the Cowboys was compulsory. But even worse, when new neighbors (great people, by the way) moved in from St. Louis, they were talking trash about their Cardinals a lot. And it coincided with the Coryell years, so I just had to take it.

But I moved to Arizona in 1980, and when the Cardinals moved to town, I knew that it was my duty to support the team in my community. I jumped on the bandwagon in 1988 and haven't looked back. So 15 years of Cowboys devotion followed by 25+ years of Cardinals devotion. The current one is awfully well set in, though, so I better not move.

 

[Buckybird]

1968. Was playing for the Dallas Blackhawks in the Central league and attended a game with a diehard Cowboy fan. Left the game a Cards fan forever.

No way! I probably saw you play as a youngster CC. Me & my dad used to attend alot of those games at Fair Park...crazy world.

 

[Cards Czar]

71 was an INCREDIBLE year for Joe Torre. He hit .363, roughly 25 hr's, and drove in 137 runs. What was incredible was that he couldn't have had 5 infield hits all year. He had no speed whatsoever, so all he did was hit frozen ropes all year. I remember he lost a ton of weight & moved to catcher to 3rd base that year. I still think that was one of the greatest seasons anyone ever had as a Cardinal. He was also NL MVP.

Go and look up Stan Musial's 1948 stats.

376 - 39HR - 230 hits- 131 RBI - 689AB and struck out only 38 times.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/musiast01-bat.shtml

 

[Duckjake]

Go and look up Stan Musial's 1948 stats.

376 - 39HR - 230 hits- 131 RBI - 689AB and struck out only 38 times.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/musiast01-bat.shtml

Rogers Hornsby 1922: .401 Avg 42HR 152RBI and 46 doubles

He is the only player to hit 40 home runs and bat .400 in the same year (1922)

 

[ajcardfan]

"me love you long time Cardinals...."

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[Osbern61]

I first became aware of them in the late 60's when they blew out the Eagles and put my father in a rare good move. Saw the first quarter of the 38-0 MNF win over Dallas in 1970 and picked them to be 'my team' but then forgot about football until 1972 when I followed every Cardinal game religiously.
Back then opportunities to see them play were rare; Usually a Cowboys game and the Eagles game played at St Louis as the Eagles game here at Philly was usually blacked out.

 

[artp]

I remember QB Charlie Johnson had been drafted and could only play Sundays game. No practice. Can you imagine that today? I think it was '62 or '63?
Who played opposite WR Sonny Randle? I seem to remember he was pretty good too.

 

[Darkside]

And I thought I was an old-timer for following them since 79-80'. I was 10 at the time. I'm a young whippersnapper. (For anyone who doesn't know the actual definition of whippersnapper: an unimportant but offensively presumptuous person, especially a young one.)

 

[JeffGollin]

I remember QB Charlie Johnson had been drafted and could only play Sundays game. No practice. Can you imagine that today? I think it was '62 or '63?
Who played opposite WR Sonny Randle? I seem to remember he was pretty good too.

Bobby Joe Conrad?

 

[BigRedArk]

1966 for me.

I was born and lived in Oklahoma for the first 13 years of my life.

I came out of the crib rooting for the Oklahoma Sooners. OU football had been down for about 3 yrs. after Bud Wilkinson left as HC and ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate in Oklahoma.

IIRC in 1966 the Sooners started to re-emerge and I got caught up in enthusiasm and really got excited about this.

Except one game on Sunday wasn't enough. I needed an NFL team to root for. About this time the Dallas Cowboys were starting to come into their own as a franchise team and the local sports segment on the news each evening this would be touted ad nauseam. To me as a devoted Sooner fan this was deeply troubling.

I was in the 5th grade and 2 things I knew about Sooner football was that the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma State Cowboys were our arch enemies! How could they be touting the Dallas Cowboys on the local sports report when they were 1. in Texas and 2. the Cowboys???? Blasphemy I tell ya!

So I turn on the TV one Sunday afternoon and lo and behold there is a team in Red jerseys playing those hated Cowboys. Hey..."I like those jerseys...just like the Sooners-Red! They're from St. Louis too!"

In comes my dad and he sits down and starts watching the game with me. I tell him I'm really starting to like this team in Red..the Cardinals.

Before too long in comes a player for the Cardinals named Prentice Gautt. My dad says "Prentice Gautt. He played for the Sooners!" I said what??? He did?? "Yep he sure did" he says.

Now I'm REALLY starting to like this team! Fast forward about 3 months or so. My mom taught 8th grade English at a Jr. High in the OKC school district (we lived right outside of OKC). One day she comes home from school and I'm laying on the floor watching a Leave It To Beaver episode as was my daily routine. She says "get up and go check your suit and make sure it is clean and ready to go because Prentice Gautt is coming to our church this Sunday to give a talk to our Fellowship of Christian Athletes group and then afterwards he's coming to our house. You need to be looking sharp for this!"

I raised up from the floor and said "Prentice Gautt is NOT coming to our church or our house this Sunday. You don't even KNOW Prentice Gautt!!!"

She glared at me and said "what did you just say?" I then foolishly repeated it and she quickly informed me that I was indeed wrong and this was going to happen!

Long story I know. You don't expect your mom to come home and tell you that a pro football player you saw on TV a few months earlier is coming to your house to pay you a visit! I thought she was playing me!

My mom knew Prentice Gautt as a teacher and I believe he was friends with a coach at her school and their paths crossed and they became friends.

Wow what a day that was! After church he and I rode in his car to my house! I was so excited! I asked him a hundred questions about Larry Wilson, Charley Johnson, John David Crow, Pat Fischer, Sonny Randle, Bobby Joe Conrad and on and on. He was such a great and kind man..he answered all of my questions and smiled the whole time!

Prentice later went on to become Asst. Commissioner of the Big 8 conference. I believe he got his Masters from University of Missouri too.

He passed away a few years ago and I was reading about him and it turns out Bud Wilkinson was like a father to him. Gautt was the 1st African-American football player to get a scholarship to OU. Back then that took a lot of courage for Wilkinson to sign him to a letter of intent and to give him a scholarship. His freshman year was 1955 shortly after Brown vs Topeka. I think there is a study center at OU named after him too.

I always wondered (I asked my Mom to ask him this but she didn't get a chance to) if Prentice had anything to do with Bud Wilkinson being named HC of the St. Louis Football Cardinals in 1978.

He was a great man.

 

[gnomepete]

I mostly lurk (in reality, I don't have the time to put into this that many seem to have so I read and LEARN here), but . . .

I've been a fan since the Cards moved to StL in 1960, so this is my 53rd year coming up.

Pete

 

[desertdawg]

I was a complete and full on Bears fan before the Cards came to the valley. Still gotta soft spot in my heart for da Bears but I've been Cardinal every since. Funny how both teams lead the NFL in sacks allowed the last 2 years.

 

[NJCardFan]

This fall will be my 52nd season as a Cards fan. I believe Jeff Gollin and Johnh have been fans longer and of course 40yearfan followed the team when they played in Eden. So who among ASFN posters has been a fan the longest?

Just think if you started following the Cardiac Cards you've been a fan for almost 40 years.

Sorry for these nostalgia threads its NJCardsfan's fault for posting the link to the 38-0 Cowboys game from 1970.

Wow, you guys are so old that at your first birthday you couldn't blow out the candles on your birthday cake because they didn't HAVE fire yet.

 

[Duckjake]

Wow, you guys are so old that at your first birthday you couldn't blow out the candles on your birthday cake because they didn't HAVE fire yet.

Yessir. I'm the guy that discovered how to make fire using flint. 40year had done it earlier by rubbing two sticks together.

 

[Darkside]

1966 for me.

I was born and lived in Oklahoma for the first 13 years of my life.

I came out of the crib rooting for the Oklahoma Sooners. OU football had been down for about 3 yrs. after Bud Wilkinson left as HC and ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate in Oklahoma.

IIRC in 1966 the Sooners started to re-emerge and I got caught up in enthusiasm and really got excited about this.

Except one game on Sunday wasn't enough. I needed an NFL team to root for. About this time the Dallas Cowboys were starting to come into their own as a franchise team and the local sports segment on the news each evening this would be touted ad nauseam. To me as a devoted Sooner fan this was deeply troubling.

I was in the 5th grade and 2 things I knew about Sooner football was that the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma State Cowboys were our arch enemies! How could they be touting the Dallas Cowboys on the local sports report when they were 1. in Texas and 2. the Cowboys???? Blasphemy I tell ya!

So I turn on the TV one Sunday afternoon and lo and behold there is a team in Red jerseys playing those hated Cowboys. Hey..."I like those jerseys...just like the Sooners-Red! They're from St. Louis too!"

In comes my dad and he sits down and starts watching the game with me. I tell him I'm really starting to like this team in Red..the Cardinals.

Before too long in comes a player for the Cardinals named Prentice Gautt. My dad says "Prentice Gautt. He played for the Sooners!" I said what??? He did?? "Yep he sure did" he says.

Now I'm REALLY starting to like this team! Fast forward about 3 months or so. My mom taught 8th grade English at a Jr. High in the OKC school district (we lived right outside of OKC). One day she comes home from school and I'm laying on the floor watching a Leave It To Beaver episode as was my daily routine. She says "get up and go check your suit and make sure it is clean and ready to go because Prentice Gautt is coming to our church this Sunday to give a talk to our Fellowship of Christian Athletes group and then afterwards he's coming to our house. You need to be looking sharp for this!"

I raised up from the floor and said "Prentice Gautt is NOT coming to our church or our house this Sunday. You don't even KNOW Prentice Gautt!!!"

She glared at me and said "what did you just say?" I then foolishly repeated it and she quickly informed me that I was indeed wrong and this was going to happen!

Long story I know. You don't expect your mom to come home and tell you that a pro football player you saw on TV a few months earlier is coming to your house to pay you a visit! I thought she was playing me!

My mom knew Prentice Gautt as a teacher and I believe he was friends with a coach at her school and their paths crossed and they became friends.

Wow what a day that was! After church he and I rode in his car to my house! I was so excited! I asked him a hundred questions about Larry Wilson, Charley Johnson, John David Crow, Pat Fischer, Sonny Randle, Bobby Joe Conrad and on and on. He was such a great and kind man..he answered all of my questions and smiled the whole time!

Prentice later went on to become Asst. Commissioner of the Big 8 conference. I believe he got his Masters from University of Missouri too.

He passed away a few years ago and I was reading about him and it turns out Bud Wilkinson was like a father to him. Gautt was the 1st African-American football player to get a scholarship to OU. Back then that took a lot of courage for Wilkinson to sign him to a letter of intent and to give him a scholarship. His freshman year was 1955 shortly after Brown vs Topeka. I think there is a study center at OU named after him too.

I always wondered (I asked my Mom to ask him this but she didn't get a chance to) if Prentice had anything to do with Bud Wilkinson being named HC of the St. Louis Football Cardinals in 1978.

He was a great man.

This was a great story man.

 

[Darkside]

Wow, you guys are so old that at your first birthday you couldn't blow out the candles on your birthday cake because they didn't HAVE fire yet.

They didn't even have cakes man back then, they were more worried about getting eaten by wild animals.

We're talking before computers, in some cases before TV. They played toy soldiers, not Xbox. Back then Slinky's were made out of steel and could hurt a **** (especially when you stretch that thing amongst friends). "Go play outside" meant go out out into the wilderness and get lost youngin', just make sure you're back before dinner.