The

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

season was the team's 42nd season in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) and their second in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. The team improved on their previous year's 6–5–1 record, winning seven games.1961 St. Louis Cardinals
/ref> Despite the improvement, they finished fourth in the seven-team Eastern Conference and failed to qualify for the playoffs (NFL title game) for the thirteenth consecutive season. The Cardinals were led by fourth-year head coach

Pop Ivy Lee Frank "Pop" Ivy (January 25, 1916 – May 17, 2003) was a football player and coach who was the only person to serve as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL), the American Football League (AFL) and the Western Interprovincial ...

, who was replaced after a 5–7 start by the tandem of Chuck Drulis, Ray Prochaska, and Ray Willsey. This was the final season of ownership by

Violet Bidwill Wolfner Violet Fults Bidwill Wolfner (; January 10, 1900 – January 29, 1962) was the owner of the Chicago / St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) for over 14 years, from 1947 until her death in early 1962. She inherited the team in A ...

, who died in January 1962 at age 62.

Roster

Schedule

Game Summaries

Week 1 at NY Giants

the Cardinals, supposedly crippled beyond repair, came roaring through with a fine display of offensive firepower to upset the New York Giants. The Cards razzle-dazzle offense was on display despite losing John David Crow and Joe Childress. But Sam Etcheverry, another cripple, cranked up Frank Ivy's offense and sent fullback Mal Hammack on a 28-yard touchdown run that overcame a 10-7 Giants lead, then fired a five-yard screen pass to another fullback Frank Mestnik, for another score. The Cards defense also was effective. The Giants' "new look" offense was badly frustrated and surrendered the first St. Louis Cardinals touchdown when halfback

Bob Gaiters Robert James Gaiters (born February 26, 1938) is an American former National Football League player. Gaiters attended Santa Ana Junior College, and transferred to New Mexico State University in 1959. He was a star player on its Aggies football t ...

fumbled in the end zone and Willie West recovered for a touchdown. The Giants only scoring was a 44-yard field goal by

Pat Summerall George Allen "Pat" Summerall (May 10, 1930 – April 16, 2013) was an American football player and television sportscaster who worked for CBS, Fox, and ESPN. In addition to football, he announced major golf and tennis events. Summerall announ ...

and a Larry Hayes return of a block punt for a touchdown.

Standings

References

External links

1961 St. Louis Cardinals
at

Pro-Football-Reference.com Pro-Football-Reference.com is a website providing a variety of statistics for American football. It is one of the few sites that provides information on both active and retired players. The site provides statistics for teams dating back to 1920. ...

1961 St. Louis Cardinals Football Highlights
at

youtube.com YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most vis ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:1961 St. Louis Cardinals (Nfl) Season

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...