December 10, 1947: The Big Sneeze

As you may recall from our previous episode in this new mini-series that chronicles the 1947 Chicago Cardinals championship run, the Cards had nearly blown their opportunity to contend for the 1947 NFL title.

After compiling a 7-1 record and facing two dreary opponents, the Cardinals shocked the NFL world by dropping two straight to fall behind the Chicago Bears in the western division race. But then, the Cards managed to dispatch the Eagles 45-21 on December 7, 1947 while the Bears were surprised by the Rams.

We now move to December 10, 1947 with both teams deadlocked with 8-3 records and with just one game remaining on the schedule…against each other!

Of course, nothing would be sweeter for the Cardinals than to eclipse the Bears in that final regular season outing, with the winner grabbing first place in the west and thus qualifying for the upcoming NFL championship game.

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Big Tackle Lost For Season

It would be a long week of practice for both clubs prior to the game scheduled at Wrigley Field, the home of the Bears, on Sunday, December 14. The winning effort over the Eagles had raised some concern for the Cardinals in the injury department.

When the team departed Philadelphia after the big win over the Eagles, tackle Caleb Martin was complaining of abdominal pain. The pain became so severe, that the train stopped in Altoona, PA, and Martin was quickly moved to the local hospital while the rest of the squad resumed its trip to Chicago.

X-rays revealed no fractures and assistant coach Phil Handler told reporters on Monday, December 8 that Martin was “much improved” and was expected to make a rapid recovery. Then, on December 10, the Cardinals announced that Martin’s injury, which was still not identified, was bad enough that he would miss the rest of the season.

The Big Sneeze!

It was just another in a recent series of puzzling injuries, none of which matched the uniqueness of an injury that befell gifted end Billy Dewell…which had nothing to do with a football game. Instead, Dewell suffered one of the most unusual injuries in the history of the NFL when he—sneezed!

On that recent trip to Washington, Dewell sneezed so powerfully that he endured a sacroiliac strain and missed the next game. Later, Dewell explained the situation by stating: “I was waiting for quarterback Paul Christman to go to breakfast on the train. I was all slouched down and then got this sudden sneeze. It took me about five minutes to get out of the chair, because the sneeze kicked a vertebra right out of place!”

Back in Chicago, Cardinals’ coach Jimmy Conzelman was silently planning ahead. Although the Cards had defeated the Bears 31-7 earlier in the season, he knew that the Bears were rapidly improving and would be a significant challenge under coach George Halas.

His mind raced as he studied game film and looked for anything that might provide the Cardinals with an advantage. And then—there it was! A possible soft spot in the Bears’ defense that might be exploited only once and likely that would need to occur early in the game before Halas could make any adjustments.

Conelman Closes Practices

Conzelman was so excited about this possibility that he ordered his team to practice on Monday, December 8, which was usually a day off for the players, especially after just completing a long train ride back to the Windy City. In addition, Conzelman, usually very open with the media, closed off all access to his practices.

The Chicago Daily Herald reported on this sudden change of policy: “The south side armory that houses the Cardinals’ secrets is patrolled by policemen keeping newspapermen, casual interlopers and Bear spies from previewing the weapons in store for George Halas and company.”

Conzelman later explained his need for secrecy in an interview given a few years later to Sports Illustrated. Conzelman said: “We were scheduled to meet the Chicago Bears for the Western Division championship. They were stronger than we were. So, we studied our scouting reports, and they showed that one of the Bears’ linebackers was not as fast as the others.

We decided to devise a play that would run our fastest halfback—Babe Dimancheff—at such an angle that this particular linebacker on the Bears would have to cover him. We designed a pass play, taking into account the defense our scouts said that the Bears would use deep in our territory. Now ideally, we would use this play right at the start—and that meant we were hoping to win the coin toss and elect to receive.”

On Tuesday, December 9 and Wednesday, December 10, Conzelman and his coaching staff began preparing his team and the star of the proposed show—Babe Dimancheff—by introducing the elements of the new play that the Cardinals hoped would provide a quick advantage in the upcoming Bears’ game.

Where Is The Babe?

But there was only one problem. By Wednesday, December 10—75 years ago today—Babe Dimancheff had not shown up for practice.

Please join us on December 13 when we continue our look back at the Chicago Cardinals’ championship season in 1947 as our search for the Babe continues…

Listen To All 1947 Championship Run Bonus Episodes

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.