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The Life And Career Of Jim Hart (Story)

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St Louis Cardinals quarterback Jim Hart avoids the grasp of a Chicago Bears defensive
Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Daniel /Allsport

 

The saying goes that opportunity only knocks once.

When opportunity knocked on Jim Hart’s door in 1966, he answered and proceeded to play in the NFL for 19 years.

In college, Hart had modest stats while quarterbacking the Southern Illinois Salukis for three years.

He wasn’t selected in the 1966 NFL Draft, but a former coach invited Hart to try out for the St. Louis Cardinals and he made the team.

Hart was a leader for the Cardinals for nearly two decades including some exciting years in the mid-1970s when the “Cardiac Cards” thrilled St. Louis fans.

After retiring in 1985, Hart opened a restaurant and began a second career as an athletic director for his alma mater.

This is the story of Jim Hart.

 

Growing Up in Skokie

James “Jim” Warren Hart was born on April 29, 1944, in Evanston, Illinois.

Hart’s future career in sports may not have materialized if it wasn’t for the unfortunate death of his father when he was seven.

His mother remarried sometime later and Hart’s stepfather encouraged him to play sports.

“He saw something in me and instilled in me the drive to go after it,” said Hart. “He was athletic and we played catch a lot with a baseball.”

At one point, Hart’s stepfather nearly dragged Jim to a local punt, pass, and kick competition.

After settling his nerves, Hart won the competition for his age group.

By the time he was 13, Hart was already playing baseball when he decided to try his hand at playing football.

It was during his freshman year at Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois, that Hart’s coach encouraged him to play quarterback.

“My freshman year the football coach lived nearby and every once in a while he would give me a ride to pre-season practice. One day we were talking and he said that someone told him that I was a pitcher in little league and so he thought it would be a natural for me to go out for the quarterback position. ‘Stay with it and let’s see how that develops,’ he said. Well, it developed nicely and as they say, I never looked back,” said Hart.

 

Multi-Sport Prep Star

While Hart blossomed on the gridiron, he continued to play baseball as well as basketball for the Wolves.

Hart lettered in basketball three years in a row and felt that it was his favorite sport to play.

Unfortunately, when he stopped growing at 6’1”, Hart knew his future wouldn’t be in hoops.

“You could say that I was better than most of the kids I played against but I knew it [basketball] wasn’t my forte,” said Hart. “I knew it would be football or baseball that would carry me on into college.”

By the time high school graduation arrived, Hart had interest from several big-name colleges that were interested in his football skills.

After speaking with coaches from Iowa, Arizona, Illinois, and Northwestern, Hart decided to stick closer to home and took a scholarship with the University of Illinois-Carbondale.

Not only was Carbondale close enough that his parents could watch him play, Hart felt he could get a chance to start sooner.

“There wasn’t like six quarterbacks trying out for the team so I knew I would have a better opportunity to play and that was important,” recalled Hart in 2008.

 

Hart Starts for the Salukis

When Hart arrived in Carbondale, he hoped to play both football and baseball for the Salukis.

It just so happened that the quarterback who was penciled in as the starter also played baseball and missed significant practice time with the football team.

The Saluki football coaches weren’t pleased with their proposed starter committing most of his time to baseball and essentially buried him on the depth chart.

Hart was then elevated to the starting quarterback position and also expressed his desire to play baseball.

“So the next year when I wanted to go out for the baseball team, I told the football coach and he looked at me and said, ‘How did you get your job?’ That was his way of saying forget about baseball. I don’t really look back at it as a bad thing. Actually, it probably was the best thing that happened,” Hart said.

Now that he was focused only on football, Hart led the Salukis to a 4-5 record in 1963 while passing for 1,041 yards, 14 touchdowns, and nine interceptions.

Under new head coach Don Shroyer in 1964, Southern Illinois went 2-8.

Hart experienced the brunt of those eight losses when he was picked off 22 times while throwing for nearly 1,600 passing yards and 13 touchdowns.

Then, as a senior in 1965, Hart and the Salukis continued to struggle.

As the team could only get wins in the first and last games of the year, Hart threw even more interceptions (23) against just 1,144 yards and seven touchdowns.

 

Opportunity Knocks

Hart ended his time at Southern Illinois with an unimpressive 8-21 record.

He did become the program leader in career passing yards with 3,779, but a career in the NFL was not likely.

There were some pro clubs that contacted Hart and he even received letters from San Francisco, the LA Rams, and Dallas, although that didn’t necessarily mean anything.

“The Cowboys sent letters to everyone,” joked Hart.

Still, Hart watched the 1966 NFL Draft hoping some team would take a chance on him.

Instead, he went undrafted.

“I was really let down,” he said in 1967. “Several teams had contacted me and told me not to worry, that they were going to take me. The Rams seemed really interested, but then they already had Billy Anderson, the quarterback at Tulsa, as a future. He’s not around now.”

Just when it seemed like his hopes of an NFL future were lost, his college coach, Shroyer, unexpectedly came into the picture.

Shroyer stepped down from his job at Southern Illinois after two years and returned to coach with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Shroyer had previously coached the Cards as an assistant before being hired to coach the Salukis in 1964.

The coach then extended Hart a lifeline.

“He asked me if I wanted him to set up a tryout for me with the Cardinals,” recalled Hart in 2008. “Of course, I said yes.”

The coach then called St. Louis and did his part to sell Hart to the team.

“I called and said that Jimmy was one great prospect, with a great arm and a good mind,” Shroyer said, “and told them to sign him before someone else got lucky. He may not have had those great statistics that other college quarterbacks had, but I started 10 sophomores with him during his last year and every time he passed he did it while he was on his back.”

During the tryout in front of new Cardinals coach Charley Winner and his staff, Hart impressed the coaches well enough that he was offered a contract.

 

Hart Quickly Moves Up the Depth Chart

When Hart reported for duty before the 1966 season, he found himself as the lowest man on the totem pole.

There were six quarterbacks on the Cardinals roster and Hart was the sixth man on the list.

However, by the end of training camp, two of the signal callers were cut and another was called to active duty in the Army.

That propelled Hart to third string.

He then spent his rookie year primarily on the taxi squad until the last five games of the season when starter Charley Johnson was injured and backup Terry Nofsinger took over.

With Johnson out, Hart was promoted to the active roster as the second-string quarterback.

In the final contest of the year against Cleveland, the Browns were cruising, and Hart was inserted in the fourth quarter to get some playing experience.

The result was four completions and 29 yards.

“The only positive thing there was that I got in a vested year toward my pension,” Hart said.

 

Starter by Default

Just before the start of training camp in 1967, Johnson was called away by the Army for active duty and Nofsinger was traded to the Atlanta Falcons.

Suddenly, Hart was the top dog of the Cardinals’ offense.

After a Week 5 win against Washington put St. Louis at 5-3, Hart was in the groove, but careful not to let success get the best of him.

“This all worries me, being the No. 1 quarterback,” he said after the Redskin game. “This could go to your head, you know, and you could change your whole personality. I try to convince myself every day that I’ll always be the type of person I am now and I was last year. I’m going to work at not getting a big head. It could ruin you.”

Although the Cards ended the second half of the season 1-4-1 to finish 6-7-1 overall, the St. Louis veterans liked what they saw in the second-year quarterback.

“He’s a cocky kid when he puts on that uniform, but not that kind of cocky,” said Cardinals guard Ken Gray. “I mean, he’s confident, and he’s the boss.”

As the year progressed, Hart was candid, and comical, when he shared how stressed he would get in the days before a game.

“I play the game over [in his head] at least three times,” he said, “deciding what I’ll call. I wake up tossing and turning, and one night I was awakened by my wife screaming. She said I was squeezing her head and holding it like a football. Really weird.”

Hart ended the 1967 season with 14 starts, 3,008 passing yards, 19 touchdowns, and a league-leading 30 interceptions.

He also rushed for 36 yards and three more scores.

 

Ups and Downs as a Starter

The late comedian Rodney Dangerfield used to joke that he “got no respect.”

For the next few years, Hart truly got no respect as an NFL starting quarterback.

In 1967, Coach Winner was quoted in Sports Illustrated about his thoughts on Hart.

“You could see that someday he would be a good quarterback,” said Winner, “because he did everything a good quarterback does. I was with the Colts when Unitas took over, and although Jimmy is not a Unitas—there’ll never be another Unitas, not in our time—he certainly was the best young quarterback I had seen.”

Winner’s assessment of Hart proved accurate that year when the quarterback passed for over 3,000 yards.

In 1968, Johnson was excused from his Army duties on the weekends and Winner started him for two games while Hart started 12.

Hart passed for over 2,000 yards and 15 touchdowns and rushed for a career-best six touchdowns.

Even though St. Louis won nine games that season, Winner rotated quarterbacks in 1969.

Unable to stick with a signal-caller, Winner started Johnson for nine contests and Hart for five.

The indecision cost the Cards and the team won just four games.

After the ‘69 season, Johnson was traded to Houston for Oilers quarterback Pete Beathard.

Hart kept Beathard at bay in 1970 and started all 14 games, resulting in 2,575 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 18 interceptions.

Sure enough, St. Louis bounced back with an 8-5 record.

Coach Winner was fired after 1970 and new coach Bob Hollway started Beathard for most of 1971.

When the Cards wrapped ‘71 with four wins, the organization brought in former Vikings and Baltimore Colts quarterback Gary Cuozzo to be the “savior” in 1972.

St. Louis won four games with Cuozzo and Hollway admitted to Hart that he had made a mistake.

“After the last game of the ‘72 season Coach Hollway came to me and told me it was a mistake to bring in Cuozzo to start over me,” said Hart. “That night Hollway was fired.”

 

Don Coryell Arrives

Don Coryell
(Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)

 

By 1973, Hart had outlasted all the quarterbacks brought in to replace him.

The experience taught him to always be ready.

“When these things cropped up, it was pretty evident that I better not be so complacent that I thought I had it made,” he said. “I didn’t think management was on my side. So, I thought I had to work extra hard at it at all times to make sure I didn’t get bumped.”

Before the 1973 season, St. Louis hired former San Diego State coach Don Coryell.

The coach was known for his high-flying offense and the Aztecs had been voted the top small college program in the nation three times.

As soon as Coryell arrived, he named Hart his starter.

St. Louis ended the season 4-9-1 for the third year in a row, but Hart passed for over 2,200 yards, 15 touchdowns, and 10 picks.

“Coryell was a good guy, a good coach and a good organizer,” said Hart. “He was innovative and fun to play for. He knew the game, he knew how to coach it, and he was good to his players. You wanted to play for him.”

Unfortunately, near the end of the ‘73 season, Hart seriously injured his throwing elbow.

When the injury continued to linger months later, Coryell sent Cards receiver Ahmad Rashad to Buffalo in exchange for Bills quarterback Dennis Shaw.

Shaw was Coryell’s signal-caller at San Diego State and, therefore, familiar with the coach’s “Air Coryell” offense.

Thankfully, by the start of training camp in 1974, Hart’s elbow had healed and he was named the starter over Shaw.

 

“The Cardiac Cardinals”

Arizona Cardinals helmets
(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

 

At long last, St. Louis began turning around their fortunes under Coryell in 1974.

Hart started every game and ran Air Coryell to perfection.

“The system he had was such an easy offense,” Hart said. “It was a numbering system as far as the passing game. There was not a lot of verbiage. All the guys had to remember was the passing tree (where routes were numbered 1-9). And it was easy (for the coaches) to signal plays in (from the sideline). I can’t remember us having a delay of game penalty because of our signaling system.”

That season, the quarterback led the NFL in passing attempts with 388 and threw for 2,411 yards, 20 touchdowns (second in the league), and eight picks.

His interception percentage of 2.1 also led the NFL and Hart was selected as a second-team All-Pro, voted to his first Pro Bowl, and named the UPI NFC Offensive Player of the Year.

St. Louis went 10-4 and won their division for the first time since 1948, though the Cards lost in the Divisional round to Minnesota.

In 1975 the Cardinals kept opponents, and their fans, on their toes with no less than eight games decided in the final minute.

The team won seven of those contests and were dubbed the “Cardiac Cardinals” for their last second heroics.

“It was Don Coryell’s leadership that did it for us,” Hart said. “He was always so positive on the sideline, never getting down on any of us. We’d get behind and he would go up and down, talking to players, saying, ‘Who’s going to intercept a pass? Who’s going to knock one down? Who’s going to score a touchdown?’ He was talking to anybody and everybody. We got it in our minds that we were going to do it—and we did. It was incredible how things evolved that way. It was electric.”

Hart returned to the Pro Bowl after passing for over 2,500 yards and 19 touchdowns and the Cards won the NFC East for the second year in a row with an 11-3 record.

Once again, the season ended with a loss in the Divisional round of the playoffs.

St. Louis won 10 games in 1976, but failed to reach the playoffs, the only 10-win NFC team not to reach the postseason in a 14-game schedule.

Hart went to another Pro Bowl after nearly 3,000 passing yards and 18 touchdowns.

 

Coryell Leaves the Cards

In 1977, the Cardinals began the year with a 7-3 record.

Then, the wheels fell off during a Week 11 beat down at the hands of the Miami Dolphins, 55-14.

St. Louis lost the rest of its games and ended 1977 with a disappointing 7-7 record.

Hart went to his fourth consecutive Pro Bowl after passing for 2,542 yards, 13 touchdowns, and 20 picks.

However, Coryell had become increasingly irritated with Cardinals management and the inability to sign, or keep, the players he wanted.

After the ‘77 season, Coryell had enough and left St. Louis to coach the San Diego Chargers.

He was replaced by former Oklahoma coach Bud Wilkinson in 1978 and was himself fired after a 3-10 start in 1979.

Despite Wilkinson’s short Cardinals’ tenure, Hart thrived in ‘78 by passing for 3,121 yards, a career-best.

He also had a career-high 477 passing attempts.

 

The Beginning of the End

After St. Louis went from six wins in 1978 to five in 1979, Jim Hanifan was hired as coach in 1980.

Hart remained the starter that year and passed for 2,946 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 20 interceptions as the team went 5-11.

Then, with the 33rd pick in the second round of the 1981 NFL Draft, the Cards selected Portland State quarterback Neil Lomax.

Although it was Hart’s 16th year in the league, he kept the rookie on the bench in ‘81 by starting nine times.

However, the writing seemed to be on the wall and Lomax started the final month of the season.

In 1982 and 1983 combined, Hart started just three times, although he was fine being Lomax’s backup.

“I don’t remember that being so bad,” Hart said. “By that time in my career, each year I was anticipating being asked to call it a day.”

 

St. Louis Releases Hart

view of the Arizona Cardinals helmet
(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

 

Shortly after the 1983 season concluded, Hanifan did ask Hart to call it a day and the team released their long-time quarterback.

“He [Hanifan] said he didn’t think I could handle being the backup,” said Hart. “I said, ‘This is a heckuva time to be talking about it. You didn’t talk to me about it before you made up your mind (in ’81).’”

Hart was about to hang up his cleats for good when Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs reached out.

Gibbs had been an assistant coach under Don Coryell and had maintained a friendship with Hart.

Hart backed up Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann for the 1984 season and saw just seven pass attempts for 26 yards.

Once the ‘84 season ended, Hart called it a career.

In 19 years, Hart had 34,665 passing yards, 209 touchdowns, 247 interceptions, 207 rushing yards, and 16 rushing scores.

Several of his stats are still Cardinals records.

Hart was a one-time All-Pro, four-time Pro Bowler, UPI NFC Offensive Player of the Year once, and was named the “Whizzer” White NFL Man of the Year in 1975 for his community work.

When he retired, Hart’s career passing yards were third all-time behind Fran Tarkenton and Johnny Unitas.

In 2017, despite leaving St. Louis on disappointing terms, the team inducted Hart into its Ring of Honor.

 

Life Since Retirement

After 19 years as an NFL quarterback, Hart stayed close to the game in retirement.

For a few years, he called Chicago Bears games on WGN with former Bears great Dick Butkus.

Hart also opened a restaurant with former Cardinals teammate Dan Dierdorf, which remained in operation for over 30 years.

In 1989, Hart became the athletic director for his alma mater, SIU-Carbondale, and held the position until 1999.

As of 2022, Hart and his wife, Mary, live in Naples, Florida, and the couple have three children and four grandchildren.

 

References

https://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/redskins-fan-forum/2008/jul/11/whatever-happened-to-jim-hart/?page=all

https://vault.si.com/vault/1967/11/27/peach-fuzz-with-a-difference

https://fox2now.com/news/fox-files/catching-up-with-big-red-quarterback-jim-hart/

www.stlshof.com

https://siusalukis.com/honors/saluki-hall-of-fame/jim-hart/99

thebigredzone.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Hart_(American_football)

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/H/HartJi00.htm

About Ben Donahue

Over 25 years of experience in sports including coach, athletic director, game day operations, media relations, football operations, and scout. He is the author of The Rise of Washington State University Football: The Erickson and Price years.

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