Charles W. "Stormy" Bidwill, Jr. obit

Charles W. "Stormy" Bidwill, Jr.

June 9, 1928  -  November 3, 2025 

He was not on the list.

Charles “Stormy” Bidwill Jr. passed away on November 3. He was 97 years old.

Charles Jr. and his younger brother Bill were adopted by Charles and Violet Bidwill, owners of the Chicago Cardinals. He went on to attend Georgetown University, where he earned his law degree.

Prior to the 1960 NFL season, Violet Bidwill, who inherited the team after Charles Sr.’s death in 1947, moved the Cardinals from Chicago to St. Louis. The brothers assumed control of the team after their mother’s sudden passing in 1962.

The Cardinals saw immediate success on the field after the boys took over, winning 18 games over the next two seasons and coming within half a game of hosting the 1964 NFL Championship. However, tensions between the two grew in the years that followed.

As his nickname implied, Stormy was emotional and outspoken, while Bill was quiet and reserved—the two couldn’t have been more different. For the most part, however, they kept their differences private and out of the public eye.

Bill lived in St. Louis, serving as the team’s resident manager, while Stormy remained in Chicago overseeing the family’s horse racing business at Sportsman’s Park. Yet, as Jeff Meyers noted in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “the gap between them (Stormy and Bill) was not only geographic.”

“One of our problems is a lack of communication,” Stormy told Meyers. “He’s very hard to talk to. He’s not an open person.”

By 1972, Stormy worried that the front-office discord was starting to affect the players and their performance on the field. Concerned about the team’s direction, he chose to sell his half of the franchise to Bill.

“We had to do something,” Stormy told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I want to win and we weren’t doing it under the present system. It was better we split. It’s over and I hope everyone forgets the squabble and it clears the air.”

When asked how he was going to feel with life without football, Stormy said, “It’s going to hurt like hell. This (decision) isn’t something you do in 48 hours. It’s taken a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of thinking and a lot of pills for the stomach.”

Although he never returned to football, Stormy went on to successfully operate Sportsman’s Park Race Track in Chicago, later passing it on to his son in 1995. He also owned a beer distributorship and held financial interests in four Florida dog tracks. For many years, he was the largest shareholder in Churchill Downs and served on its board of directors.

Charles “Stormy” Bidwill Jr. lived a long and remarkable life marked by passion, competitiveness, and commitment. Though his time with the Cardinals ended more than fifty years ago, his impact on the franchise’s history remains significant. Beyond the gridiron, Stormy built a legacy in the racing and business worlds that reflected his drive and determination. He will be remembered as a colorful and influential figure whose name remains woven into the fabric of St. Louis and Chicago sports history.