These are the Arizona Cardinals retired jersey numbers

Stan Mauldin’s short Arizona Cardinals career ended in glory and tragedy

Most Cardinals fans who knew the team when they were in Chicago have probably passed on. Seeing how Stan Mauldin played almost 80 years ago, there’s no shame in not knowing who he is.

Mauldin was a 7th-round draft pick in 1943 but didn’t see the field until 1946. From there, he would be playing for three years and was a part of the Cardinals’ last NFL Championship team in 1947, where they defeated the Philadelphia Eagles.

Mauldin wore #77 and played defensive line (called tackle back then). Unfortunately, how his career ended was in tragedy. A September 25th, 1948 article by the Mount Vernon (Illinois) Register-News shows that Mauldin suffered a heart attack after playing in a game against the Eagles.

The clipping states that Mauldin asked to be subbed out with four minutes to go and then went back in with two minutes left on the clock. The Cardinals won a nail-biter and then headed off to the locker room.

Mauldin had just gotten out of the shower and then collapsed on the Comiskey park locker room floor. CPR was performed for an hour and twenty minutes in an effort to revive him, but unfortunately, Mauldin was gone.

Mauldin’s #77 was retired posthumously.