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

<p>When Football Is Football is part of the <a href="https://sportshistorynetwork.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear</a>.</p><p><strong><u>EPISODE SUMMARY</u></strong></p><p>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. </p><p>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. </p><p>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.</p><p>Read the entire episode blog post and check out some other cool info regarding this <a href="https://sportshistorynetwork.com/football/nfl/edward-butch-o'hare" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">episode here</a>.</p><p><strong><u>WHEN FOOTBALL WAS FOOTBALL BACKGROUND</u></strong></p><p>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.<