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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 31, 1988)
Thursday, March 31, 1988AThe Battalion/Page 13 row recalls pro ball days, ^laments Cardinals move By Tim Stanfield Reporter [though 23 years have passed s Texas A&M Assistant Athletic ctor John David Crow donned a ouis Cardinal uniform, the for- All-Pro halfback noted with re- that his former team is now the jnenix Cardinals. JWhen I heard that (club owner) dtohiiiijU Bidwell had announced the id fori®) was definitely moving, many stolememories popped into my inadkBd,” Crow said recently. “Though : en thtj gCanasj namt! d a ed. ime, the ji® >b in o was u oldmej and (scout) Larry Wilson are the | men currently associated with (Cardinals who were there when ere, Carolyn (Crow’s wife) and I have close friends that we made ng our five years there. "I played two years for the Cardi- ij in Chicago, but the move to St. didn’t bother me because we fti’t established any roots. Now I k 1 know how some of the older Jers felt then because we did feel home in St. Louis.” ipion<f®he Cardinals also drafted an- phast mer Aggie in 1958, Bobby Joe Con- ■ Conrad played 1 1 seasons for itt anciteii before finishing his pro career jilf)69 with the Dallas Cowboys, visifcr!»'j hate to see them move,” Con- oand ad paid on March 16. “While I don’t mow all the facts, I do know that r. Bidwell went through proper Bedures in order for the NFL to ipprove the move.” Tonrad pointed out that Bidwell was the previous NFL owner to low such procedure when the Jninals moved from Chicago. “(Robert) Irsay moved the Colts ■i Baltimore to Indianapolis lout asking the league’s permis- 1 a few years ago,” Conrad con- - Larptued. “And A1 Davis left Oakland |Los Angeles shortly after win- the Super Bowl in 1980.” JFL owners approved the move a 26-0-2 vote with Davis as one of two who abstained. The primary )n Bidwell sought to leave St. s was Busch Stadium’s small ea rn Oacijy (50,000, the least of any sta ck to itim in the league). For the past sev- lird .'fif years the Cardinals have well gsteraged less than 50,000 per game, urthc. Citv officials tried in vain to get i one. wwell to await for financing a new il by adium, but his patience ran out Jim uritig this past season. 89 willjCuriously enough, the Cardinals hit tvenjto St. Louis from Chicago after i, biil. : tfl959 season for similar reasons. >oints,!®ieir rdCOrd during the 1950s iipleteaBthe worst among the 12 NFL ad.iutfnchises, with many of their home I7tojo|iies played before small crowds at lode:; linisky Park in 1958 and Soldier pointsifeld in 1959. and liine NFL founder, George Halas, Reached the Chicago Bears, who mts audited their home games before loston fgecrowds at Wrigley Field. imebiiRow, who was the first pick of the thtiifi 1958 NFL draft, recalled his first game in Chicago with mixed feel- ings. “The very first time I touched the ball as a pro, I was fortunate to run for an 83-yard touchdown,” Crow said. “While I was happy to do well as a player, the day was marred when several of the players’ wives, including Carolyn, had a little alter cation with some men outside our dressing room. “Now I don’t want to say anything negative about Chicago or the peo ple who live there, but that upset me. I went to the team offices the next day about it, and the wives were moved to a secured area close to where we were.” Crow said that many of the play ers lived in hotel apartments near the stadium, which wasn’t a good family environment. When the club moved to St. Louis, Crow, who is from Springhill, La., and other Southerners on the squad were delighted. Not only were they closer to home, but tbe city was much smaller and housing was avail able to them in which their wives and children were more comfortable. “Along with getting better players in the draft, I think that was a major reason the team improved,” Crow said. “Carolyn and I even rented a house our last two seasons.” Professionally, Crow’s five years in St. Louis were his best, as he twice rushed for more than 1,000 yards and was the first St. Louis Cardinal to make the Pro Bowl. In 1960 he gained a club-record 1,071 yards rushing and led the NFL with a 5.9-yard per carry. He also broke the club one-game rushing re cord with 203 yards on 24 carries in the final game of the season against the Pittsburgh Steelers. “That was probably the highlight season of my pro career,” Crow said. “Losing 10 games in 1959 was more than all the high school and college teams that I played on lost com bined. I never liked losing at all, so our team improvement was special to me. “My average per carry led the league, which was quite an honor with a guy like (Cleveland Browns’ running back) Jim Brown in the league. And I was named to the first- team all-pro along with Brown.” Conrad set an NFL record for most consecutive games in which he caught at least one pass (93), surpas sing the old mark (78) held by for mer Green Bay Packer star wide re ceiver Don Hutson. He, too, played in a Pro Bowl. Both men were positive links be tween the Chicago and St. Louis Cardinal franchises. When Pitts burgh defeated Chicago 35-20 in December 1959, Crow scored the Cardinals’ final touchdown with 1:05 to play in the fourth quarter on a 9-yard pass from former Rice quar terback King Hill. Conrad kicked the extra-point, ce menting the Aggie stamp on the game. “I didn’t realize that I scored the final Chicago Cardinal point,” Con rad said. The St. Louis Cardinals opened the 1960 season on Sept. 23 at the Los Angeles Coliseum against the L.A. Rams. Conrad scored the fran chise’s first points, which came on a 12-yard field goal in the second quarter. But it was left to Crow to put his initials on the first St. Louis touch down, which came shortly after Con rad’s first field goal on an 18-yard pass from Hill. Crow came right back to score the Cardinals’ second touchdown catch ing a 52-yard touchdown pass from former SMU quarterback John Roach in the third quarter. Though Crow recalled a lot from his early pro seasons, he wasn’t aware of his place in Cardinal his tory. “I didn’t know that,” he said. “But I do recall that we had several play ers from Texas, including Don Gillis (Rice), Charley Jackson (SMU), Joe Robb (TCU) and two other Aggies, Ken Beck and John Tracy.” Crow was traded to the San Fran cisco 49ers after St. Louis defeated Green Bay in the 1964 Playoff Bowl. He played four seasons with the 49ers, retiring after the 1968 season. “I had heard from another for mer NFL player that everyone in the league shouldn’t play in the same place for more than five years,” Crow said. “Even though I was a Cardinal for seven years, only five of them were in one place.” owboys’ White may miss camp; jury could end lineman’s career 0 ; their.- 1 trol top hebui. 1 t’hen ti] s beeij ■oad ^1 vvani* 1 DALLAS (AP) — Playing a 14th in in the NFL will be more diffi- ihan Randy White had expected ■ completing one of the most ful years of his football career, fhite has a damaged disk in his ck that might cause him to miss of training camp and places his |ej£r in jeopardy. Trainer Don iren said he will suggest to coach K Landry that White not partici- in contact work at training ‘P I If he starts butting heads out :re with (offensie lineman) Nate ton, we might not have him for fcason,” Cochren said. Hie original diagnosis was a ned nerve. White was often in n^tant pain after the third game of sason and said he lost consider able upper body strength because of the neck injury. He was often replaced late in the season by rookie Danny Noonan. Al though be will rarely talk about inju ries, White said his shoulders some times were numb. White hasn’t even lifted weights since the end of the season. One of the strongest players on the team. White has usually been a fanatic weightlifter. “Right now, all I can think about is getting back to 100 percent so I can make a significant contribution to the football team,” said White, the Cowboys’ first-round draft pick in 1975. “Whatever it entails, I will do. If they want me to sit out some of train ing camp then I will do that, too.” No doubt, White will be chal lenged for his starting job by Noo nan, who had a superb first season after missing training camp as a con tract holdout. Laudry said: “I just think that what Randy faces is a timing thing. We will wait and see him work out and hope he gets better. You can have a disk problem and still not be critical. Randy will have to show us his improvement.” Could White skip camp and still participate in the 1988 season? “You wouldn’t miss camp and still play in the season,” Landry said. “He might just practice once a day.” The Cowboys have an age prob lem in the defensive line. White turned 35 in January and Ed Jones, 37, is the oldest player on the team. LECTURE BY: MR. RONALD PERRIN MARKETING EXECUTIVE, AUSTIN MODERATED BY: PROF. LARRY YARAK HISTORY DEPARTMENT, TEXAS A&M THURSDAY MARCH 31,1988 TIME: 7:00PM. PLACE: ROOM 701 RUDDER TOWER TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SPONSORED BY: SAUDI STUDENTS'ASSOCIATION There’s more to Easter than the Easter Bunny. Come See “JESUS A film about the life of Christ. It’S FREE! Friday April 1st 7:30 p.m. Harrington 108 Sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ The J. Wayne Stark Series presents 2 great programs at an affordable price! Composers Spotlight March 31,1988, 8:00 p.m. Rudder Forum $1.50 admission The Texas A&M Symphonic Band April 7, 1988, 8:00 p.m. Rudder Theater $2.00 admission For info, call: 845-1234 ■ r ■ • ■ ■ ■ Ladies we know what kind of impression you want to make on that “special occasion" and we can help you! Come see us today. w\ Ladies & Lords of TOT Dress shown $119.00 Many colors available. (next to A.R. Photography) Hrs: 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Mon.-Sat. 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