Edward "Butch" O'Hare: Capone, Cardinals, and a Chicago Legacy

When Football Was Football

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EPISODE SUMMARY

The episode recounts the story of World War II hero Edward "Butch" O'Hare and his gangster-affiliated father. Butch O'Hare, an American naval aviator, displayed extraordinary courage and skill by single-handedly taking down five enemy bombers threatening his ship, the USS Lexington, an act that earned him the Medal of Honor in 1942.

His father, Edward O'Hare, despite being a lawyer and one of the directors of the Chicago Cardinals football team in the 1930s, was also a partner of infamous gangster Al Capone. Edward was murdered in what appeared to be a mob hit in 1939, but was later revealed to have secretly helped the government convict Capone on tax evasion charges.

Butch O'Hare's untimely death came in 1943 when he was lost in aerial combat. His heroism and legacy are commemorated in the naming of the O'Hare International Airport in Chicago.

Read the entire episode blog post and check out some other cool info regarding this episode here.

WHEN FOOTBALL WAS FOOTBALL BACKGROUND

Each episode takes the listener back to the very early days of the National Football League. Author Joe Ziemba will share a forgotten or lost story from one of the NFL’s two oldest teams: The Bears and the Cardinals. Team championships, individual exploits, or long-buried items of interest from the earliest years of the NFL will be dusted off and resurrected for the listener. Not for the football faint-of-heart since these programs will document when the struggling Bears nearly went out of business or when Cardinals’ players earned $15 a game and were proud of it! It’s NFL history—with a twist!. See Joe's books below.

Cadets, Canons, and Legends: The Football History of Morgan Park Military Academy

When Football Was Football: The Chicago Cardinals and the Birth of the NFL

Music for the episode - https://www.purple-planet.com/

123 episodes

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