The 10 Greatest Big Red Games from the 1970s

Posted on by
4

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.’ ”

Continue reading →

The 10 Greatest Big Red Games From the 1960s

Posted on by
12

With NFL training camp upon us let’s take a look at some of the greatest games in Big Red history. Below are my top 10 games from the 1960s. Agree? Disagree? Leave your thoughts in the comment section.

September 23, 1960: St. Louis Cardinals 43, Los Angeles Rams 21

Six months after relocating from Chicago the Big Red played one of their greatest games of the decade when they beat the Los Angeles Rams 43-21 at the L.A. Coliseum. Box Score. John David Crow scored the first touchdown in St. Louis Cardinals history, John Roach passed for four touchdowns, three of them to Sonny Randle, and the Cards defense forced six Rams turnovers, a safety, and had 8 QB sacks in the victory.

“Randle had a phenomenal night,” head coach Pop Ivy said after the game. “It was nice to see Crow going again, too. That was a remarkable run on that screen pass.”

Continue reading →

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

Posted on by
4

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.

Continue reading →

Big red Draft History: 1987 NFL Draft

Posted on by
2

The Big Red Zone concludes its series looking back on each of the 28 St. Louis Cardinals drafts (1960-87). This installment focuses on the 1987 Draft, which was held April 28-29 in New York.

Undeterred by three previous failed attempts at finding an elite quarterback in the first round of the NFL Draft (George Izo, 1960; Joe Namath, 1965; and Steve Pisarkiewicz, 1977) the Cardinals took one more swing in their final draft in St. Louis and selected Kelly Stouffer with their first-round pick in 1987.

In three seasons at Colorado State, Stouffer passed for 7,142 yards and 36 touchdowns. He was a first-team All-Western Athletic Conference pick as a senior. And he was named the most outstanding offensive player in the East-West Shrine All-Star Game. 

Despite that resume, several other quarterbacks had been rated higher than Stouffer, and many NFL scouts were surprised that the Big Red deemed him worthy of the sixth selection overall.

“We wouldn’t have taken him if we didn’t think he was,” said George Boone, the Cardinals’ director of personnel. “He may be even better than that. But time is going to determine that one.”

Continue reading →

Big Red Draft History: 1986 NFL Draft

Posted on by
1

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 1986 Draft, which was held April 29-30 in New York.

Going into the 1986 NFL Draft, Gene Stallings knew defensive end was a priority for the Cardinals.

The team Stallings had inherited after succeeding Jim Hanifan as the team’s head coach had put up some disturbing defensive numbers in 1985: 34 touchdown passes allowed (most in the NFL), 13 interceptions (fewest), and 32 sacks (second to last). Only 13 of those sacks came from defensive ends.

The Big Red selected Michigan LB Anthony Bell and UCLA kicker John Lee with their first two picks in the 1986 NFL Draft.

More concerning was the uncertainty about Curtis Greer, the Big Red’s best pass rusher. Greer, who had started every game but one in the previous four seasons and had led the team with seven sacks in ’85, had undergone surgery immediately after the season for a knee that had bothered him most of the year. There was no guarantee Greer would be ready to go when the ’86 season started. (In fact, after having some cleanup surgery during training camp, he missed the entire season).  

Continue reading →

Big Red Alumni Participate in the 16th Annual Jim Hart Celebrity Classic

Gallery

Posted on by

This gallery contains 28 photos.

The 16th annual Jim Hart Celebrity Golf Classic was held at the beautiful Legends Golf Club in Eureka on Monday, June 26. The tournament benefits Sunnyhill, Inc., a non-profit organization committed to creating the best quality of life for both … Continue reading →

Teammates, Friends and Family Celebrate Johnny Roland’s 80th Birthday

Gallery

Posted on by

This gallery contains 31 photos.

Johnny Roland celebrated his 80th birthday at Sawmill BBQ Pub & Grill in Des Peres, MO on Friday, May 26.

Big Red Draft History: 1985 NFL Draft

Posted on by
Reply

When Luis Sharpe signed a free-agent contract with the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League two weeks before the 1985 NFL Draft, the Cardinals suddenly had a big hole to fill.

A first-round draft pick in 1982, Sharpe had started at left tackle all 41 games in his first three seasons with the Big Red, but now it looked like he had been lost to the upstart USFL. The Cardinals hoped to find his replacement in the Draft.

Trouble was, four of the best tackles were snatched up before it was the Cardinals’ turn to pick in the first round—Lomas Brown (Lions), Ken Ruettgers (Packers), Kevin Allen (Eagles) and Jim Lachey (Chargers)—so the team went to Plan B and selected Mississippi defensive end Freddie Joe Nunn with the 18th overall choice.

A few months earlier, Big Red coach Jim Hanifan and his staff had coached the North team in the Senior Bowl, and Nunn’s performance for the South squad had impressed Hanifan.

“He roared in on us all day long from defensive right end,” Hanifan recalled. “It’s going to be a pleasure having him on the same side of the fence. … He can create havoc for us as a pass rusher right away.”

To mitigate the loss of Sharpe, St. Louis picked Wisconsin’s Scott Bergold in the second round. Bergold had been a defensive tackle in college but Hanifan, who had coached Bergold in the Senior Bowl, said Bergold would be converted to offensive tackle in the NFL. Although that plan didn’t work out, Sharpe re-signed with the Cardinals before the 1985 season and played another 10 years with the team.  

Continue reading →

Big Red Draft History: 1984 NFL Draft

Posted on by
1

The Big Red Zone continues its series looking back on each of the 28 St. Louis Cardinals drafts (1960-87). This installment focuses on the 1984 Draft, which was held May 1-2 in New York.

When the Cardinals selected University of Tennessee wide receiver Clyde Duncan with their first-round pick (17th overall) in the 1984 NFL Draft, no one was more surprised than Duncan himself.

“It was a really a shock. I had no idea I would go in the first round,” said Duncan, who did not make a significant impact as a receiver at Tennessee until his senior season, when he caught 33 passes for 640 yards and six touchdowns.

The Big Red chose Duncan even though they could have taken the more highly rated Louis Lipps, a wide receiver from Southern Mississippi. 

Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill (R) greets 1984 top pick Clyde Duncan.

In his first two seasons in the NFL—his only seasons—Duncan had a combined four receptions for 39 yards and one touchdown. In his first two seasons, Lipps caught 104 passes for 1,994 yards and 21 TDs for Pittsburgh.

There was only one problem with Duncan. He couldn’t catch the football. 

Continue reading →

Big Red Draft History: 1983 NFL Draft

Posted on by
1

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 (17th 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 11th overall by Green Bay) despite having played at Division I-AA McNeese State in the Southland Conference.  

Continue reading →