In Tribute: Local restaurant’s namesake, Stormy Bidwill was true sportsman

Figuratively speaking, it is a requiem for a heavyweight in the realm of 20th century sports.

Visitation will be from 3-8 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at Donnellan Family Funeral home in Skokie for Stormy Bidwill, who died at age 97 on Nov. 3 at his home in Northfield.

A requiem Mass for the former co-owner of the NFL’s Cardinals from 1962-72 (when they were in St. Louis after moving from Chicago) and the co-owner and president of thoroughbred racing at Sportsman’s Park from 1967-95 will be offered at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 20, at Faith, Hope and Charity in Winnetka, followed by a graveside service at 11:30 a.m. at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Northbrook.

Bidwill, whose given name was Charles Bidwill Jr., and his wife of 67 years, Patricia, who died in 2016, raised their family in Winnetka and Kenilworth before moving to Northfield.

While he was making a name for himself as a sports owner, the longtime North Shore resident won great respect from the people he dealt with.

“I’ve met a lot of nice people in racing but nobody nicer than Stormy,” the late Gov. Jim Edgar, an owner and breeder of thoroughbreds and standardbreds, once told the Chicago Tribune.

“Stormy was a wonderful track owner,” said Dee Poulos, widow of Ernie Poulos, who trained North America’s 1990 Horse of the Year Black Tie Affair (whose first stakes race victories came a year earlier at Sportsman’s). “He made it a point to know the trainers and owners and make each of them feel welcome. I feel very fortunate to have known Stormy and experienced that era of racing.”

Born in Chicago on June 9, 1928, Bidwill graduated from St. Ignatius High School in the city and went on to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he earned bachelor’s and law degrees. He passed the bar in both Illinois and the District of Columbia but never practiced law.

His parents gave him his nickname as a toddler when his uncle, State Sen. Arthur Bidwill, heard him causing a commotion and said: “This is the stormiest character I have ever seen.”

But those storms soon subsided.

“You hear ‘Stormy’ and you would think he was constantly creating an uproar or something (but) nothing could be further from the truth,” said the late Gov. Edgar.

Stormy inherited his love of sports from his colorful father, Charles Sr., who died of bronchial pneumonia on April 19, 1947, at age 51, and his diversified sports portfolio from his mother, Violet, who died in a physician’s office on Jan. 29, 1962, after a violent reaction to a penicillin shot.

Charles Sr. bought the Cardinals in 1933 from a Chicago dentist for $50,000. At the time he also had Bears’ stock that he received from George Halas for occasionally helping the Bears’ owner make payroll.

Stormy had fond memories of the Chicago Bluebirds women’s professional softball team his father owned during World War II and of the Cardinals’ 28-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 28, 1947, for the NFL championship in the era preceding the inauguration of the Super Bowl.

Years later the team — spearheaded by what was called the “Dream Backfield” of quarterback Paul Christman, halfbacks Charlie Trippi and Elmer Angsman, and fullback Pat Harder — would hold reunions at Sportsman’s.

The widow Violet married St. Louis businessman Walter Wolfner in 1949 and two years later he was named managing director of the team. Stormy was named president and brother Bill, who was three years younger, became vice president but neither was involved with running the team that Wolfner moved to St. Louis in 1960.

When Violet died she left all of the sports properties she inherited from Charles Sr. to Stormy and Bill and five Oklahoma oil wells to Wolfner.

Wolfner sued, asserting in court that the brothers were illegally adopted as infants. Until that day in court, the sons never knew they were adopted.

Stormy and Bill emerged from the courtroom victorious.

In addition to the Cardinals, they inherited co-ownership of Sportsman’s and four greyhound tracks in Florida. Both thoroughbred racing and dog racing (which now is banned in Florida) were very popular at the time.

Co-ownership of the Cardinals didn’t work out. In 1972 Stormy sold his half of the team to Bill for a reported $6 million. In return, Stormy gained sole control of the family’s majority interest in Sportsman’s.

Their rift never played out in public. The brothers called one another occasionally, and Stormy rooted for the Cardinals, who moved to Arizona in 1998. Bill died at age 88 on Oct. 2, 2019, after turning over the team to his son, Michael, in 2007.

Stormy was an exemplary track owner at Sportsman’s. He spent $4 million renovating the stable area, $1 million renovating the grandstand, and $3.6 million to resurface the racetrack and expand it from five-eighths of a mile to seven-eighths, giving it North America’s longest homestretch, 1,436 feet.

Sportsman’s traditionally led off the Chicago thoroughbred season and its graded stakes races — the Illinois Derby for 3-year-olds, the National Jockey Club Handicap for older horses, and the Sixty Sails for fillies and mares — lured outstanding horses from across the country.

The Cicero track wasn’t the only track with which Bidwill was involved. At one point in the 1990s he was the largest individual shareholder in Churchill Downs Inc. and a member of the board of directors.

All the while Bidwill was quietly engaging in philanthropic endeavors.

He helped in the establishment of Cristo Rey in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood in 1995 and was instrumental in its expansion to a national network of high schools that serve low-income students with a rigorous academic experience and a clear path to college.

“Stormy and (daughter) Patti were/are unconditional fans of Cristo Rey,” said Rev. John Foley, a founding father who now is chair emeritus of the network.

“(In 1995) I had just returned (to run Cristo Rey) from Peru where I had lived most of my Jesuit life. At the start Stormy totally intimidated me until I realized he was one of the nicest, most generous people I had ever met.”

Another noteworthy charitable endeavor is the Charles W. and Patricia Bidwill Foundation, established by Stormy and his since deceased wife in 2006. It has a two-fold purpose: providing quality education for young men and women who otherwise wouldn’t have access to it and providing educational support to children with physical and mental special needs. Patti is the foundation’s chairman.

Since the mid-1990s Stormy had been keeping a low profile in sports and focusing on charitable endeavors.

His son and assistant, Charles III, known as C3, succeeded him as president of the track in 1995 and ran it thereafter, until 2003 when the track shut down.

But on the North Shore, grandson Chad has kept Stormy’s name in the public eye by owning and operating Stormy’s Tavern and Grill in Northfield, a popular local hangout, especially for Loyola Academy and New Trier supporters.

In addition to Patti and C3, Stormy is survived by another son, Brian, daughters Mary Christine and Shauna (Danny) Valenzuela and many grandchildren and great grandchildren.

The family is asking that donations honoring his memory be sent to the Big Shoulders Fund and Momentum Pediatric Therapy Network (designating memorials to Pediatrics).

Father Foley of Cristo Rey provided a fitting epitaph in the funeral home’s legacy comments section.

“Rest in peace, Stormy,” he wrote. “Thank you for making our world a better place.”

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