Why Are the Arizona Cardinals Called the Cardinals?

The Arizona Cardinals are called the Cardinals because of the color of secondhand jerseys bought for their early Chicago team. The club's account dates the purchase to 1901: founder Chris O'Brien obtained used University of Chicago jerseys and described their faded maroon shade as cardinal red. That color supplied the team's name. The familiar bird imagery became part of the identity later, so the quickest way to understand the nickname is to begin with the clothing.

The story starts before either Arizona or the NFL enters the picture. The franchise traces its beginnings to the Morgan Athletic Club, formed in Chicago in 1898. According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, O'Brien's team played at 61st and Racine Street and became known as the Racine Street Cardinals. That street reference helps place the name in its original setting. Today's combination of a Southwestern location and a bird emblem can make the Chicago connection easy to miss.

The jersey purchase explains how a practical object became a lasting identity. The team already needed something to wear; the distinctive description of that clothing supplied something people could call it. In the club's retelling, O'Brien defended the color by calling it cardinal red. The important historical connection is the one between the uniforms and the nickname. Reading the story that way avoids treating a modern logo as evidence that the earliest players first selected a bird as their symbol.

The bird nevertheless became an enduring part of the team's appearance. In its account of uniform development, the Cardinals identify 1960 as the first season a cardinal bird logo was painted on the side of the helmet. That is decades after the jersey story. A name and a visual emblem can develop at different moments: once a team is called the Cardinals, a recognizable red bird offers a natural way to depict the word. The emblem makes sense without being the original reason for the name.

Other changes show how much a uniform can evolve while retaining a central color. The same club history records stripes on the sweaters in 1922 and numbers added to the jersey fronts in 1931. An Arizona state flag appeared on the sleeves in 1994. These details belong to different stages of the team's life. They help explain why preserving a tradition does not require every generation of players to wear an identical outfit. Red connects the designs even as their construction and symbols change.

The team's location changed as well. The Hall of Fame records a move from Chicago to St. Louis in 1960 and another move to Phoenix in 1988. The Cardinals name survived both relocations. That continuity matters when reading older football records: Chicago Cardinals, St. Louis Cardinals and Phoenix Cardinals refer to chapters of the same franchise. A city name identifies where the organization belonged at a particular time; the nickname helps readers follow it across those moves.

Even arriving in Arizona and adopting Arizona as the official name were separate steps. The Hall of Fame dates the move to Phoenix to 1988 and the change to Arizona Cardinals to 1994. Neither event created the Cardinals nickname. There is a similar distinction at the beginning of the timeline: the organization traces its roots to 1898, while its first league season was 1920, when the American Professional Football Association, the NFL's direct predecessor, began play. Each date answers a different question about the club.

For a viewer encountering the team today, those layers provide a useful way into its history. The state name points to its present home, the bird provides the recognizable image, and the red jersey carries the connection to the nickname's origin. Following those pieces backward leads from Arizona through two earlier cities to a Chicago team buying used uniforms. A small decision about what to call a faded color became the part of the identity that traveled with the franchise.