William Vogel Bidwill (July 31, 1931 – October 2, 2019) was an American businessman and the owner of the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He had co-owned the team from

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

for ten seasons with his brother Charles Jr. and had been sole owner from

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

until his death in 2019. The team has been owned by the Bidwill family since 1932. Bill’s father, Charles Sr., purchased the then-Chicago Cardinals for $50K (the equivalent of ~$918K in 2018).

Early life and education

Born in Chicago, Bidwill and his elder brother Charles were adopted by

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

and Violet Bidwill, owners of the then-Chicago Cardinals. Bidwill attended Georgetown Preparatory School, then enlisted in the U.S. Navy until 1956. He went to college at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

, and after his graduation, moved to

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

a few months before the Cardinals moved there.

Professional sports

Chicago Cardinals

Charles Bidwill purchased the team, then known as the

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ca ...

, from David Jones in

1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independen ...

. After his death at age 51 in 1947, his widow authorized business partner Ray Bennigsen to carry on management of the team. Violet Bidwill married St. Louis businessman Walter Wolfner in 1949 and he later became managing director.

St. Louis Cardinals

Prior to the 1960 season, Violet moved the Cardinals to

. Charles Jr. and Bill inherited the team after their mother's death in January 1962, and served as co-owners for ten seasons, until Bill purchased it outright in

. Among NFL franchises, only the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

and

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

have been controlled by one family longer than the Cardinals.

Arizona Cardinals

Bidwill's ownership was marked by little success. In his years as at least part-owner, the Cardinals only made the playoffs eight times (1974, 1975, 1982, 1998, 2008, 2009, 2014, and 2015) and had only nine other winning seasons. He moved the team to

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

prior to the 1988 season after St. Louis refused to build a new stadium to replace

Busch Memorial Stadium Busch Memorial Stadium (Busch Stadium II) was a multi-purpose sports facility in St. Louis, Missouri, that operated for 40 years, from 1966 St. Louis Cardinals season, 1966 through 2005 St. Louis Cardinals season, 2005. Built as Civic Center Bu ...

. Bidwill had also publicly pledged to support a future effort to gain an expansion franchise for St. Louis. Instead, he voted to approve a new franchise in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. However, St. Louis eventually gained a new franchise anyway, the relocated

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

. The Rams returned to Los Angeles in 2016. Bidwill had a reputation for running the Cardinals rather cheaply; the Cardinals had one of the lowest payrolls in the league for many years. Following the move to

State Farm Stadium State Farm Stadium is a multi-purpose retractable roof stadium in Glendale, Arizona, United States, west of Phoenix. It is the home of the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) and the annual Fiesta Bowl. It replaced Sun Devi ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, the team began to spend more money. The increased revenue paid off in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, when the Cardinals won their division for the first time since

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

(when the team was based in St. Louis), hosted a playoff game for only the second time in franchise history (the previous coming in

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

as a Chicago team) and advanced to

Super Bowl XLIII Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champions Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

. They won two more division titles in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

. On September 11, 2022, Bidwill was inducted into the Arizona Cardinals Ring of Honor at a halftime ceremony where he is honored along with his father Charles.

Personal life

Bidwill ceded most day-to-day control over the Cardinals to his sons

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...

and Bill Jr., who serve as team president and vice president, respectively. Bidwill also had two other sons, Patrick and Tim, and a daughter, Nicole. After the death of

Ralph Wilson Ralph Cookerly Wilson Jr. (October 17, 1918 – March 25, 2014) was an American businessman and sports executive. He was best known as the founder and owner of the Buffalo Bills, a team in the National Football League (NFL). He was one of the f ...

in March 2014, Bidwill became the longest-tenured owner in the NFL.

Death

Bidwill died at age 88 on October 2, 2019. At the time of his death, he was the longest tenured owner in the NFL.

Legacy

Following an $8,000,000 donation, his son Michael dedicated a new stadium at his alma mater Georgetown Prep named the William V. Bidwill ’49 Stadium. This 1,508 seat stadium is the new home to the Hoyas football, soccer and lacrosse programs.

References

External links

Arizona Cardinals bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bidwill, Bill 1931 births 2019 deaths Arizona Cardinals owners St. Louis Cardinals (football) owners North American Soccer League (1968–1984) executives Georgetown University alumni Businesspeople from Chicago Military personnel from Illinois Bidwill family Georgetown Preparatory School alumni American adoptees