In 1925 - the Pottsville Maroons beat the Cardinals - then in Chicago - for the NFL Championship. A week later Pottsville played Notre Dame and the league gave the trophy to the Cardinals as a penalty. At the time - the Cards refused the trophy saying that Pottsville won the title on the field - 21- 7.
Years later - in 1935 - when the Bidwell family bought the Cardinals - they claimed the title rightfully won by Pottsville. The Pottsville Maroons moved to Boston - and the folklore of coal region football faded into history.
The Cardinals moved from Chicago to Saint Louis to Phoenix - they are now called the Arizona Cardinals. The NFL has considered turning the 1925 trophy back to Pottsville - a once proud city that now is a ghost of what it once was. Once the queen city of the Anthracite Coal Regions - Pottsville is now content with being the county seat of Schuylkill County.
The people of Pottsville still meet every Sunday to watch the Eagles and Steelers represent Pennsylvania in the NFL. They claim to have placed a curse on the Cardinals. So far - it seems to have worked - the Cardinals have not won a Super Bowl since.
I am sure it is all in fun - but as I watched the Steelers marched down the field - I'll bet the Cards fans wish they returned that old trophy.
2 comments:
Harry, Harry, Harry:
How can it be a "curse" if Chicago won the 1947 NFL Title 28-21 over the Eagles incidentally (at Comiskey Park)?
The curse was not put on the Cardinals until after 1948 when I was born. :-)
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