Former Big Red QB Charley Johnson Passes at 85 Years Old

Posted on September 4, 2024 by Bob Underwood

The first “great” quarterback of the St. Louis Football Cardinals, Dr. Charley Johnson, passed away at the age of 85 on September 3.

Johnson was the Cardinals’ 10th-round selection out of New Mexico State University in the 1960 NFL draft and took over the starting role from Sam Etcheverry during the 1962 season. He threw seven touchdown passes in season-ending victories over Dallas and Philadelphia and would compile a 30-15-3 record from 1963-1966.

The Big Spring, Texas native twice threw 6 touchdown passes in a game and had another one in which he tossed for 5 scores. He earned a trip to the Pro Bowl in 1963 and led the NFL in passing yardage in 1964 when the Cardinals finished only a half-game behind the World Champion Cleveland Browns in the NFL East Division. During this period, he also found time to finish his Doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering while attending Washington University in St. Louis.

In 1966, Johnson led the Big Red to a 7-1-1 record before going down with a season-ending knee injury against the Giants at Yankee Stadium. The next summer, Johnson was drafted into the U.S. Army, handing over the starting quarterback duties to a young Jim Hart.

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The Next Great Quarterback

Posted on July 28, 2024 by Dennis Dillon

Marino, Montana May Have To Make Room For Neil Lomax

(Editor’s Note: This is a reprint of a Dennis Dillon article from the September 23, 1985 edition of The Sporting News)

Over the years, quarterbacks have formed the Ursa Major in the National Football League’s galaxy of stars.

In the 1960s, Johnny Unitas and Bart Starr were the luminaries. Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach and Fran Tarkenton shown as brightly as anyone in the next decade. Thus far in the ‘90s, indelible prints have been left by Joe Montana and Dan Marino.

But a new star is rising. He began his ascent gradually, then shot into the constellation last year.

That star is the St. Louis Cardinals’ Neil Lomax, the latest in the NFL’s lineage of passing princes.

Lomax clearly exhibited credentials last season, throwing for 28 touchdowns and 4,614 yards and compiling the NFL’s fourth-best passer rating (92.5). He was fifth in completion percentage (.616) and sixth in yards per attempt (8.24).

Montana and Marino wound up as the leading men in Super Bowl XIX and, afterward, a Pepsi commercial. Lomax then adjourned to less-than-cosmopolitan West Linn, Oregon, where he spent a predominantly quiet off-season clutching golf clubs and fishing rods.

And there’s the disparity. Montana and Marino have become celebrities off the field. Lomax’s star? After the season, it sets rather inconspicuously in the Pacific Northwest.

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The 10 Greatest Big Red Games from the 1980s

Posted on August 13, 2023 by Bob Underwood

With NFL training camp upon us, let’s look at some of the greatest games in Big Red history. Below are my top 10 games from the 1980s (sorted by year). Agree? Disagree? Leave your thoughts in the comment section.

September 28, 1980: St. Louis Cardinals 24, Philadelphia Eagles 14

O.J. Anderson rushed for 151 yards and scored two touchdowns as the Cards knocked off previously unbeaten Philadelphia 24-14 at Busch Stadium. Box Score.

It was the Cardinals first win of the season (1-3) and the first in new head coach Jim Hanifan’s career.

“He cried when Dan Dierdorf gave him the game ball,” said Roger Wehrli.

“I was not prepared for an 0-3 start,” said Hanifan. “As a head coach you say, ‘Dammit, there must be something I’m not doing right. There’s something I’ve overlooked.’”

“We’re happy we won, we’re happy for ourselves,” said Dierdorf. “More than that, though, we’re happy for Jim. It hasn’t been easy on him.”

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The 10 Greatest Big Red Games from the 1970s

Posted on July 29, 2023 by Bob Underwood

With NFL training camp upon us, let’s look at some of the greatest games in Big Red history. Below are my top 10 games from the 1970s. Agree? Disagree? Leave your thoughts in the comment section.

November 16,1970: St. Louis Cardinals 38, Dallas Cowboys 0

Perhaps one of the greatest Big Red performances of all time occurred on a Monday at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. Keith Jackson, Don Meredith and Howard Cosell were in town for Monday Night Football and the Cardinals put on a dominating performance with a 38-0 win over the Cowboys. Box Score.

Johnny Roland scored three touchdowns and Roger Wehrli picked off two passes and batted down five others in the victory.

“It was one of the first big games I had as a Cardinal,” said Wehrli, who still has a VHS tape of the contest. “At the end of the game, Meredith is just kind of blabbering all over himself and doesn’t know what to say,” Wehrli said. “Howard Cosell says, ‘Johnny Roland and Roger WEHR-li. From Miss-OURI. The Dallas Cowboys might need to go to Missouri to find some players.’ ”

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How Miller Farr Regained His Confidence After Trade to St. Louis

Posted on July 21, 2023 by Bob Underwood

Miller Farr was a two-time first-team All-Pro cornerback for the Houston Oilers in the late 1960s. But a single play in a 1969 exhibition game shattered the Pro Bowler’s confidence and he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals less than a year later.

Farr passed away on Tuesday at the age of 80.

The Beaumont, Texas native was a high school track and football star and primarily played running back at Wichita State but was selected as a cornerback in the first round of the 1965 AFL redshirt draft by the Denver Broncos. He was released mid-season, signed by San Diego, and then traded to Houston prior to the 1967 season.

Farr blossomed into the one of the finest cornerbacks in the AFL with the Oilers. He led the league with 10 interceptions and scored three touchdowns in 1967 and only surrendered two touchdown passes in three seasons.

Although he earned a trip to the Pro Bowl in 1969, Farr didn’t play as well as he had the previous year, and he blamed getting beat on the last play of the last preseason game against the Baltimore Colts.

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Big Red Draft History: 1983 NFL Draft

Posted on June 9, 2023 by Dennis Dillon

The Big Red Zone continues its series by looking back on each of the 28 St. Louis Cardinals drafts (1960-87). This installment focuses on the 1983 Draft, which was held April 26-27 in New York.

The Cardinals went into the 1983 NFL Draft with some uncertainty about their secondary.

Roger Wehrli had retired after the 1982 season, bringing to an end a 14-year Hall of Fame career. Carl Allen had bolted from the Cardinals and signed with the USFL. And Jeff Griffin was still recovering from a broken arm he suffered during the final game of the ’82 season, a 41-16 playoff loss to Green Bay.

*Leonard Smith was the Cardinals first round pick in the 1983 NFL Draft*

Who was going to start at left cornerback opposite Wayne Smith?

In an effort to answer that question, the Big Red loaded up on defensive backs in the draft, targeting the cornerback position in the first, second, fourth and sixth rounds.

With their first-round pick (17^th overall), the Cardinals took McNeese State’s Leonard Smith, who many scouts had rated as the second-best cornerback in the draft after Tim Lewis (picked 11^th overall by Green Bay) despite having played at Division I-AA McNeese State in the Southland Conference.

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Big Red Draft History: 1977 NFL Draft

Posted on April 20, 2023 by Dennis Dillon

Do As we move closer to the 2023 NFL Draft (April 27-29), The Big Red Zone is looking back on each of the 28 St. Louis Cardinals drafts (1960-87). This installment focuses on the 1977 Draft, which was held May 3-4 in New York.

In March 1977, the Cardinals brought in Steve Pisarkiewicz for a pre-draft visit at Busch Stadium. The former University of Missouri quarterback spent the day being quizzed about defensive coverages, getting a physical evaluation, and throwing passes on the field. The visit wrapped up with a dinner at the stadium club, where Cardinals Director of Operations Joe Sullivan and head coach Don Coryell dined with Zark, his mom, and his McCluer High football coach.

“It was a great day, actually,” Zark recalls in an April 2023 interview with the Big Red Zone. At least until the end.

During dinner, Pisarkiewicz recalls, “Coryell leaned over to me—I’ll never forget—and said, ‘Hey, Steve, I want to thank you for coming in and spending the day with us. I know being from St. Louis you’re probably a longtime Cardinals fan. I just want to wish you luck in your career. We’re not going to go after a quarterback this year, but we wanted to get some information on you and we’re glad you came in. All the best to you.’”

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Former St. Louis Cardinals Linebacker Mark Arneson Dies at the age of 73

Posted on April 14, 2023 by Bob Underwood

Durable… hard-working… aggressive. Those are just some of the words that describe the football career of Mark Arneson who played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1972-1980. The former linebacker passed away this morning at the age of 73.

Arneson was a three-sport star (football, track, and wrestling) at Palo Verde High School in Tucson, AZ, and played college ball at his hometown University of Arizona.

The 6-foot-2 inch, 210-pound linebacker was a 2-time All-Western Athletic Conference performer and became the first Arizona Wildcat to earn first-team All-American honors.

The Big Red selected Arneson with their second pick (#32 overall) in the 1972 NFL draft. He was chosen to play in the College All-Star game later that summer in Chicago and would miss a couple of weeks of his rookie training camp.

“I have mixed feelings about the All-Star Game,” he told Jeff Meyers of the St. Louis Post Dispatch. “On one side it’s a pain in the neck. I should be in camp. That’s the most important place for me.”

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Big Red Draft History: 1973 NFL Draft

Posted on April 7, 2023 by Dennis Dillon

As we move closer to the 2023 NFL Draft (April 27-29), The Big Red Zone is looking back on each of the 28 St. Louis Cardinals drafts (1960-87). This installment focuses on the 1973 Draft, which was held January 30-31 in New York.

After his first draft as head coach of the Cardinals, Don Coryell gave his stamp of approval to the team’s first four picks: Purdue defensive tackle Dave Butz, Texas-El Paso quarterback-punter Gary Keithley, Bowling Green guard Fred Sturt, and Long Beach State running back Terry Metcalf.

“We drafted the great defensive lineman, the young quarterback with super potential, the fine offensive lineman, and the darting-type runner,” Coryell told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Only one of those four players worked out.

Butz played in only 13 games before departing St. Louis over a money issue. Keithley stuck around for just one season. And Sturt never played for the Cardinals.

Metcalf was the exception. An exciting multipurpose player who played five seasons for the Big Red, Metcalf became one of the linchpins of the Cardiac Cards with his ability to run, catch and return kicks.

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Big Red Draft Results: 1962 NFL Draft

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Dennis Dillon

As we move closer to the 2023 NFL Draft (April 27-29), The Big Red Zone is looking back on all of the 28 St. Louis Cardinals drafts (1960-87). This installment focuses on the 1962 Draft, which was held December 4, 1961 in Chicago. Although the Cardinals had 21 picks, it was arguably their least productive selection meeting. Wally Lemm, who was in his first season as the team’s head coach in 1962, summarized it succinctly. “We came up with only one player, Irv Goode, who helped us,” Lemm said in the 1975 book “Big Red,” written by St. Louis Globe-Democrat sports editor Robert L. Burnes.

1961 St. Louis Cardinals Draft