Leo High School Hero Bob Hanlon Played for 1948 Chicago Cardinals and 1949 Steelers - Both 2009 Superbowl Teams!

The late Bob Hanlon, long time Leo High School teacher/coach, played for both of today's Superbowl Teams - in 1948 Navy Veteran Bob Hanlon who began his college career at Notre Dame was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals and the next year Hanlon played for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In 1941, Hanlon was star of the Leo High School Kelly Bowl City Championship over public school powerhouse Tilden - Leo would also win the 1942 City Championship with Hanlon again carrying the ball.

95,000 witnesses

Leo stormed to a 39-6 halftime lead and smashed Tilden Tech 46-13 before 95,000 in the 1941 Prep Bowl at Soldier Field. Coach A.L. Cronin's team (11-0) was led by quarterback Babe Baranowski, halfback Ed Hayes, fullback Bob Hanlon and linemen Jim Arneberg, James Gallagher, Larry Forst, Chuck Mehmel and Frank Lauro. Hanlon scored on a 73-yard run.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/preps/highschool/935251,CST-SPT-spot07.article

1948 Chicago Cardinals

1949 1948 1947
11 - 1 (pythagorean: 9 - 3 .831)


Coaching:
Jimmy Conzelman 11 - 1 (playoffs:0 - 1)


1948 Draft
1 (11, 11) - Jim Spavital, Oklahoma State, B
3 (10, 23) - Bill Smith, North Carolina, T
5 (10, 35) - Jay Smith, Southern Mississippi, E
7 (10, 55) - Jim Cason, Louisiana State, B
8 (10, 65) - Jim Camp, North Carolina, B
10 (10, 85) - Carl Weisner, St. Louis, E
11 (10, 95) - Gene Corum, West Virginia, G
12 (10, 105) - Clarence Self, Wisconsin, B
13 (10, 115) - John Hollar, Appalachian State, B
14 (10, 125) - Bob Hanlon, Loras, B *
15 (10, 135) - George Petrovich, Texas, T
16 (10, 145) - Jim Still, Georgia Tech, B
17 (10, 155) - Clay Davis, Oklahoma State, C
18 (10, 165) - Harry Caughron, William & Mary, T
19 (10, 175) - Jerry Davis, Southeastern Louisiana, B
20 (10, 185) - Gene Dwyer, St. Ambrose, E
21 (10, 195) - Harry Waters, Colorado College, B
22 (10, 205) - Dick Monroe, Kansas, C
23 (10, 215) - H.M. (Hindu) Reynolds, Southern Mississippi, E
24 (10, 225) - Dick Wedel, Wake Forest, G
25 (10, 235) - Paul Shoults, Miami (OH), B
26 (10, 245) - Fred Wendt, Texas-El Paso, B
27 (10, 255) - Doug Belden, Florida, B
28 (10, 265) - Ray Stackhouse, Xavier, T
29 (10, 275) - Bernie Reid, Georgia, G
30 (10, 285) - Jim Powell, Tennessee, E
31 (8, 293) - Bob Polidor, Villanova, B
32 (7, 300) - Bill Fischer, Notre Dame, G

*
Bob Hanlon

Height: 6-1 Weight: 195 Deceased

Born: 8/24/1924 Springfield , OH

College: Loras

Experience: 2 Seasons
TCKL
0
SCK
0.0
FF
0
INT
4
Profile
Career Stats
Game Logs


* Tackle data not available before 2001

Career Stats more
Season Team Tackles Interceptions Fumbles
G GS Total Solo Ast Sck SFTY PDef Int Yds Avg Lng TDs FUM Lost
1949 Pittsburgh Steelers 12 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3 29 9.7 -- 0 -- --
1948 Chicago Cardinals 10 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1 25 25.0 -- 0 -- --
TOTAL 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 4 54 -- 0 0 0 0


*

"Hail Chicago Cardinals!" - Thanks New York Times and Vince Banonis!

The hard character on the far-right is Chicago Cardinal Vince Banonis! The Bidwills could pick them!


Hail Chicago Cardinals, crimson and white,

We’ll back you ever, down the field, we’ll fight, fight, fight.

We’ll whip the Green Bay Packers, Rams and the Bears,

We’ll take Detroit and Pittsburgh, and do it fair and square.

Yea, Cardinals!


This John Branch story in today's New York Times is pure Grantland Rice!

The burly old two-way player, a center and linebacker who is now 87, is one of the few people alive to know how it feels to be on the Cardinals and play for a championship.

For Vince Banonis, 60 years and another title tilt with the Eagles were reasons enough to break out the old fight song. He and some teammates recorded it back in another time, another place.

Over the phone from Southfield, Mich., Banonis sang:

Hail Chicago Cardinals, crimson and white,

We’ll back you ever, down the field, we’ll fight, fight, fight.

We’ll whip the Green Bay Packers, Rams and the Bears,

We’ll take Detroit and Pittsburgh, and do it fair and square.

Yea, Cardinals!

Like his surviving Chicago Cardinals teammates, Banonis has long cheered the Arizona Cardinals from afar. Now there is increasing curiosity, even suspense, six decades in the making.

The Cardinals play the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday’s National Football Conference championship game. Millions will watch on television. A handful of viewers will see it differently than anyone else.

“It’s kind of a reminder of the games we had with the Eagles, oh, 60 years ago,” Banonis said.

Before they moved to Arizona, and before they moved to St. Louis, the Cardinals were Chicago’s team — or its other team. They played mostly at Comiskey Park, mostly in the broad shadow of George Halas’s Bears, who played at Wrigley Field.

But for one season, at least, the Cardinals outshined everyone.

“In 1947, we had a good run,” said Charley Trippi, now 86, then a nimble halfback from Georgia in the first year of a Hall of Fame career.

It never occurred to anyone that the Cardinals’ championship victory — a 28-21 defeat of the Eagles on Comiskey’s frozen and slippery field — would be the last that most of the franchise’s coaches, players and fans would live to see. No current N.F.L. franchise has gone longer without a title. The Cardinals have not even played for a league or conference championship since 1948, when they were 11-1 and lost a rematch with the Eagles.

“I didn’t think it would be forever, which it has been,” Jimmy Conzelman Jr said. He was 10, a “locker-room pest,” when his father, a gregarious future Hall of Famer with a shock of silver hair named Jimmy Conzelman, coached the Cardinals to the title.

This is a great story . . .and it is in the New York Times. John Branch is almost as good as Chicago Tribune's Dan McGrath - almost.

Click my post title for the full story.

My Dad, who could not be more happy about the Cardinals and for the Bidwill Family ( 'I knew Old Charley and the two kids, Billy and Stormy, - he was a hell of a nice guy and great to Veterans') called to remind me of the old Bidwill Stadium that served as a great Chicago Women's 12" Softball stadium over east in the South Shore neighborhood which brought me to this great South Shore Neighborhood Site - Shouth Shore Newspsot:

http://bradwell66.org/SouthShoreNewsSpot/NewsSpots/2006/November%202006.html


Nota Bene!!!! I deleted e-mail addresses from the excerpts.



BIDWELL UPDATES

Regarding Bidwill Stadium, it was the home stadium for the Bluebirds who were in the Chicago area women's baseball league. They played with a 12" and hard baseball. They had played with somewhat oversized gloves since the 12" ball is larger than the smaller ball used in the major leagues. Jerry Barich Hyde Park HS 1956



Bidwell stadium and it was named after Charlie Bidwell. It was also the home stadium for the Women's fast pitch (12" not 16") league during and immediately following WWII. There was another stadium around 76th St and Loomis called Shewbridge Stadium, another home stadium for the league. I recall one team was the "Bloomer Girls" and the other was the "Blue Jays". My father was part owner of one of the teams (the one that played @ Loomis Ave) but we used to go to Bidwell to see games in the late 40s & early 50s. John McNeal, Asst. Atty. Gen. (ret), originally from 73rd & Luella, Graduate of Mt. Carmel 1960 J



I remember going to Bidwell Stadium to watch DONKEY BASEBALL! Does anyone remember that? Also, I think they used to hold carnivals there. My brother and I and the neighborhood kids used to walk along the railroad tracks to get there. We all lived on East End Avenue between 73rd and 74th Street. Sara Zaremberg



I wrote back to Sara asking her if the donkeys played baseball and here is her reply.



Hi Caryn, your response really made me laugh! The GUYS ran the bases riding on the donkeys and of course, the asses didn't always want to cooperate! I don't remember if the BATTERS were on the ASSES when batting. It was an advertised event if I remember correctly. It was generally used as a softball field. Sara



All of my life I've pronounced the name of the stadium Bid-well and spelled it that way. In fact it's actually Bid-will. Still, nice to know some of the old time memorabilia is of interest to some people. Don Turner



Don Turner's recollection of Bidwell stadium is correct. The "Bluebirds" played there during the early 1940's. The Bluebirds was a woman's baseball team. I saw a baseball game there that was played on donkeys. That was quite a sight. The Bidwell family still owns the Cardinals. They are now the Arizona Cardinals. I would appreciate any pictures of the stadium that you might have. I made a slide-show of Chicago pictures. Any additional pictures would be a welcome addition. My wife, Gail Miller class of 1954, and I, class of 1953 enjoy your newsletter very much. Joel Wolff



I spent a lot of time at Bidwell Stadium growing up. The Bidwell family still owns the Cardinals, the Arizona Cardinals. I will send you some expansion of details on the area bounded by the B&O tracks, Jeffrey and 75th Street. Also some information on the "Stone Factory" in the triangle bounded by the B&O tracks, 77th Street and Chappell. Ronnie and Kennie Sone lived north of the tracks on Chappell. Their father was a doctor or dentist, I believe. Jim Gibbons /blockquote>

Bidwill's Bonanza - Cardinals Carry Charley's South Side Dreams to the Top Floor!

Mario 'Motts' Tonelli Italian American Hall of Fame Member, Bataan Death March Survivor and Chicago Cardinal


The Cardinals are America's oldest Professional Football franchise -founded in 1898 and they are based in Glendale Arizona outside of Phoenix, but the root of Cardinal Mystique is the south side of Chicago. They began as the Morgan Athletic Club and played on Racine Avenue and were owned by Chicago painting contractor Chris O'Brien. In 1932, the Bidwill family bought the Cardinals. Charley 'Blue-Shirt Charley' Bidwill, a former VP for the Chicago Bears, worked to build a Chicago Powerhouse. He did just that by the end of World War II.

Elmer Angsman,Paul Christman, Pat Harder, Marshall Goldberg, and Charlie Trippi were members of the Million Dollar Backfield. They took down the Philadelphia Eagles in 1947. They were brought together by Charley Bidwill after World War II. In 1947 the Cardinals won the NFL Championship and in 1948 a Division Title for the south side football franchise that began as the O'Brien Cardinals playing at what is now Morgan Park Academy in the 1920's. Charley Bidwill died in April of 1947, before his Dream Team coached by the great Jimmy Conzelman could realize their potential.

Charley's sons Charley and Bill took command. The Cardinals moved to St. Louis and eventually to Phoenix. The Bidwill Family retain their ties to Chicago and are powerful but quiet participants in all Chicago Philanthropic initiatives. Stormy Bidwill runs Sportmans Park racing track and helps poor kids at Leo High School get an education.

The Bidwill Family always seemed to take the high road. When Notre Dame running great Mario 'Motts' Tonelli* returned to Chicago from the Japanese Death Camps from Bataan to Japan after being captured in the siege of Bataan, Charley Bidwill, though putting together a Million Dollar backfield, signed the skeletal Tonelli and had him carry the ball against the Green Bay Packers:

Slightly more than one in every three men captured on Bataan returned home. But few did so to recognition of their peculiar ordeal. In the flush of V-J Day, Americans yearned for their antebellum status quo. In just such a spirit Cardinals owner Charley Bidwill** asked Tonelli, home not even a month, to rejoin the team. It was a publicity stunt, but one in which all parties eagerly conspired. War hero Tonelli, The Chicago Sun declared, had been "nursed back to full strength and health." Tonelli played along. "My weight is back up to 183 pounds," he told the papers, though he weighed more like 140. He still had malaria. Since that day his wife, Mary, and his parents had met him at Chicago's Union Station, doctors had twice cut him open to treat his intestines.

Bidwill's gesture was well-intentioned, but football doesn't run on sentiment. Three days after signing in front of the cameras, Tonelli carried twice against the Packers in Green Bay, each time for no gain, and so ended his NFL career. The next morning's Chicago Tribune carried both news of the Cardinals' 33-14 loss and the headline WAR VETERANS RETURN AND GO HOUSE HUNTING.

Click my post title for Toneli's heroic saga.

The Football Chicago Cardinals remain the south side team, along with Charlie Comiskey's White Sox and our Holy Mother's Notre Dame, due to the Bidwill Family. Their franchise might be in Arizona, Missouri, or Lower Slobovia, but so long as they are running the show, the Cardinals are the south side's team.


*Star fullback for Notre Dame who survived the Bataan Death March during WWII. He was best known for a 77-yard run that helped Notre Dame beat the University of Southern California. At the beginning of the death march, a Japanese guard ordered him to remove his Notre Dame graduation ring only to have the ring returned moments later by a Japanese officer who said in perfect English that he had attended the USC game and watched the famous run. He spent 42 months as a POW and saw his weight drop from 212 pounds to only 92 pounds. He is a member of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame.


**

One man Tonelli holds dear to him is Charles Bidwill, the owner of the Chicago Cardinals. Bidwill came to Motts in the hospital after the war and said, "Motts, before you left the Cardinals, you still had a three-year contract. We expect you to honor it." By renewing the contract, he provided Motts with a wonderful opportunity because, under the rules of the NFL, you had to play both before and after the war to get credit for your pension. They both knew it was nearly impossible for Motts to play again but he was determined to do his best. On one Sunday in October of 1945, after a few practices with his coach, Motts earned his pension. Mario "Motts" Tonelli has become a hero on both the battle field and football field.

http://und.cstv.com/sports/monogramclub/spec-rel/122604aaz.html