Go West Young Man: The Chicago Cardinals First Extended Road Trip

In the early days of the National Football League, it was not uncommon for pro teams to take on non-league teams from anywhere or at any time. If a local club could offer a decent financial proposal, it could almost guarantee that the pros would show up for a bit of cash and hopefully an easy victory.

And if that same pro team could string together one or more games in a particular geographic area, they might call it a tour and then take their chances against several local clubs without the benefit of scouting reports or specific game-related information.

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Most Famous Pro Tour

Perhaps the most famous of the early “tours” were the two trips taken by the Chicago Bears to conclude the 1925 season. This was when the infamous Red Grange bolted from the University of Illinois immediately after his final college game and signed with the Bears.

With Grange in tow, the Bears headed east to finish up the 1925 schedule, and then initiated a second tour to the south and the west to grab as much exposure—and cash—with the widely heralded Grange on the roster. These two trips may have saved the struggling NFL as Grange and the Bears attracted record crowds for many of the games. For the first time, NFL teams regularly played in front of sold-out stadiums.

It took the cross-town Chicago Cardinals a few years to duplicate that type of gridiron rendezvous. The Cardinals finished the 1934 NFL campaign with a 5-6 record (9-6 overall) despite playing eight league games on the road and employing mostly rookies at a majority of the positions throughout the season. In an effort to build on the late-season success of the team, and to provide more training for the young club, owner Charles Bidwill scheduled an extensive postseason tour immediately after the completion of the NFL season.

Your Office Is On FIre!

The squad, along with assorted coaches and assistants, headed west with the first game scheduled in Kansas City on December 2, 1934. The largest crowd (thirty-five hundred) to watch a pro game in Kansas that year was on hand as the Cards knocked off the Kansas City Blues, champions of the American League, 13-7, thanks to a pair of interception returns for touchdowns by Bob Neuman.

The highlight of the game was not on the field, but in the stands, according to the Kansas City Star, when the frigid fans were greeted by a PA announcement which stated: “’Mr. Alf Lafferty, your office is on fire!’ Cheers and laughter broke out in the crowd. ‘Bring some of the fire down here,’ one fan shouted. ‘We need it more than the office,’ another volunteered.”

Wackiest Play In NFL History?

Forgetting the heat, or lack thereof, on December 5, the Cardinals moved over to Oklahoma and defeated the Tulsa Oilers 20-7. Shifting further west, the Cards next devoured the Stanford Braves 37-2 in Los Angeles before twelve thousand fans on Sunday, December 9.

The only two points scored by the losers came on one of the wackiest plays in Cardinals’ history as described by the Los Angeles Illustrated Daily News (bear with us on this one!): “Shortly afterward came the goofiest play ever seen on the southland gridiron. Forbes of the Braves punted to Sorboe on the Cards 35.

Sorboe lateraled far across the field to Russell, who in turn lateraled to Tipton. The latter lateraled back to Russell and Russell lateraled to Sorboe, the originator of the play, who was standing inside his own five-yard line. Sorboe, in slinging still another lateral all the way across the field back to Russell, grounded the ball in the end zone and gave the Braves a safety.” Whew!

Big Bill Mowed Em' Down

Then, on December 16, the Cardinals stifled the Southern California Maroons 41-7 behind Dough Russell’s three scores before 16,000 in Los Angeles. While the Cardinals’ offense was efficient, the Daily News was excited over the blocking of lineman Bill Volok: “Aspit came over to cover the runner, but a large gentleman by the name of Bill Volok mowed him down with considerable eclat. Volok played a smashing game all afternoon. How he smacked ‘em!”

The Cardinals remained in Los Angeles and disposed of the UCLA alumni team 17-7 on December 20 before heading north and tripping the California Giants 21-0 on December 23 in San Francisco.

The game program for the final contest in San Francisco noted the success of the Cardinals’ stay in Los Angeles and marveled at the tenacity of Schissler’s group: “There’s one thing about this Chicago bunch. They don’t give up or give any quarter at all during the course of the game. In this respect, they are just like a college team, in that they have plenty of spirit and lots of drive. Given sixty minutes in which to perform they do their job and do it thoroughly.”

The tour was scheduled to conclude in San Francisco but another game was set with the San Joaquin All-Stars for New Year’s Day in Fresno, California. When the promoter was unable to provide the Cardinals with the requisite advance, the players voted not to participate, which later earned the team a lawsuit from promoter Jim Mellen. Instead, a lucrative game was scheduled on January 13 with the formidable Chicago Bears (on their own West Coast tour), who had just been defeated for the NFL title by the New York Giants.

The Bears were heavily favored to defeat the Giants for the title and led 10-3 at halftime on an extremely icy field. New York returned for the second half with the players wearing gym shoes instead of cleats, and the improved traction helped the Giants claim the championship with a surprising 30-13 victory. This became known as the famous “Sneakers” game and still holds a lofty position in NFL lore.

Bears, Cardinals, Renew Rivalry In California

The warm Southern California setting for another meeting between the rival Bears and Cardinals seemed ironic. Here were two bitter foes, accustomed to seeing each other in cold, winter conditions, now preparing for this exhibition game as if it was for the NFL championship.

Both teams also hoped to engage the touring NFL champion Giants before heading back to Chicago. The Bears-Cardinals game began drawing nationwide interest and the Chicago Tribune’s George Shaffer reported from Los Angeles that both squads had compelling reasons for wanting to prevail in this game:

“The Bears want to demonstrate that it was a mistake in New York last month when the Giants overcame the Chicago team’s commanding early lead and romped off with the National Pro Football League championship by defeating Halas’ team, 30-13. In the meantime, the Chicago Cardinals are looking for a little revenge

of their own. Their coach, Paul Schissler, thinks the Cardinals now

muster a strength considerably over their playing performances during the pro league campaign of last autumn, and what the Bears hope and fondly expect to do to the Giants, Schissler and his young, new team, hope they can do to the Bears.”

While the Bears cranked up the emotion in practice the week before the game in an attempt to recapture their midseason form, Schissler eased up on the Cardinals and reverted to light drills and plenty of pep talks. Harvey Woodruff wrote in the Tribune:

“Thoroughly acclimated and in good condition from nearly six weeks on the Pacific coast, where they overwhelmed all local and pro-opposition, the Cardinals regard this game as their great chance to even up old scores. In fact, they remained here two weeks for just this chance.”

Indeed, the Cardinals had lost twice to the Bears during the 1934 season and were eager for some post-season revenge.

What A Fight It Was!

Prior to the game, the two teams haggled over both officials as well as recent player additions to both squads. The squads finally met on Sunday, January 13, at Gilmore Stadium in Los Angeles. With fifteen thousand in the stands and pro golfer Walter Hagen and comedian Joe E. Brown watching from the Bear’s bench, the Cardinals slipped away with a 13-9 victory.

Halfback Homer Griffith did the most damage with an eighty-yard run in the first quarter while quarterback Paul Pardonner drop-kicked two field goals for the Cardinals. The Tribune explained more about the atmosphere of the contest: “Because of the larger number of former coast performers on the

Cardinals, the crowd rooted for them and booed the officials generously, although the penalties for unnecessary roughness were divided. Several times the boys appeared overzealous, but no fisticuffs developed. Coast critics called it the roughest game of the season here.”

The Hollywood Citizen added: “What a fight it was, that ball game, and what a banging match that at one time looked as though it would end up in fisticuffs. But the players calmed down and naught came of the approach to fisticuffs when the melee was bitterest.”

The shocking win over the Bears and the success of the overall tour left the young Cardinals with both confidence and experience.

Although the team had just completed a rugged twenty-one-game schedule with a decent 15-6 record, everyone was anxious for the 1935 season to begin. The offense was running smoothly and the defense remained solid.

Pro football itself was booming. Nearly one million fans witnessed the fifty-eight NFL games in 1934 and the Associated Press announced that its annual poll of sports editors indicated that the growth of pro football was the most noticeable of all sports.

There Have Been No Profits...

The glowing future of the Chicago Cardinals dimmed just a month later when Coach Paul Schissler suddenly resigned on February 7.

Citing financial considerations, Schissler explained the reasons for his decision: “When I signed a contract with Dr. David Jones in 1933, I was hired for a rather nominal salary. However, I was supposed to receive a percentage of the profits. This arrangement was satisfactory except that there have been no profits. I can’t afford to continue coaching the Cardinals for the present salary.”

Overall, the Cardinals captured seven straight wins on the tour, which followed a season-ending 6-0 decision over the Green Bay Packers. The team then began the 1935 season, including exhibitions, with four victories and a tie meaning that the Cards ran off a combined 13 straight games without defeat in 1934 and 1935.

Of course, the majority of those successful outings were procured against non-NFL opponents, but it is the longest undefeated streak in team history. Did the 1934-35 tour help the 1935 Cardinals? Maybe. The team never scored more than 14 points in any league game in 1935, but still finished with an acceptable 6-4-2 record for the year.

Thank you for joining us for this episode of “When Football Was Football.” We hope you’ll join us next time for a look at the amusing story of a man who might have been the best quarterback in the history of the Chicago Bears, but who was also the shortest—and it was not Doug Flutie! Best wishes for the New Year from all of us at the Sports History Network!

Author and Host - Joe Ziemba

Joe Ziemba is the host of this show, and he is an author of early football history in the city of Chicago. Here, you can learn more about Joe and When Football Was Football, including all of the episodes of the podcast.