March 13

In this episode of the Football History Headlines we discuss the Chicago Cardinals anouncement that they were leaving the Windy City, G. McAfee, and the 1938 Blue Devils as well as many more HOF Legendary stories.

March 13, 1960 - NFL's Chicago Cardinals announce the move to St Louis. This was not a total shock to the fans as rumors had been circulating for years. George Halas an the Bears had also been clamouring for the Redbird's owner, Mr. Bidwell to leave the South Side of Chicago so that the Bears could expand their fan base. I defer the rest of this story to the Sports History Network's Joe Ziemba who has a blog page and an entire podcast episode on the subject. Joe as you have heard on his program and his guest spots on many other podcasts, including this one as well as radio and teleivision is the premier authority on the Chicago Cardinals. After all he wrote the book on them, "When Football Was Football: The Chicago Cardinals and the Birth of the NFL."

March 13, 2000 - Miami Dolphins long time record setting Quarterback, Dan Marino officially announced his retirement.

March 13, 1918 - Corbin, Kentucky - Duke University’s play making half back  of 1937 to 1939 George McAfee was born. George played in the NFL for the Chicago Bears. He was inducted into both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. There is much more on McAfee found by clicking his name above.

March 13, 1938 - Winchester, Massachusetts - The swift Navy halfback for the era of 1958 to 1960 Joe Bellino arrived into this world. 

March 13, 1977 - Alvin, South Carolina - Georgia Tech’s quarterback from 1996 through 1999 Joe Hamilton was born. The NFF tells of how Joe became Georgia Tech’s all-time leading passer and how he won the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award his senior season of 1999. That same year Hamilton was also a Consensus First-Team All-American, the  ACC Player of the Year, he was the Heisman Trophy runner-up. Joe holds the Yellow Jacket’s career records of passing yards (8,882), touchdown passes (65) and completion percentage (62.0). Joe got his big shot in the pros when he was picked in the seventh round of the 2000 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Hamilton spent two seasons with the Buccaneers and one with the Indianapolis Colts. Hamilton also played for the Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League for three seasons. The National Football Foundation placed the career of  Joe Hamilton into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.

The picture in the banner above is from the US Library of Congress' collection and was contributed by photographer Jack Delano circa 1941 and is titled " Greenesboro, Green County Football ."