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Bidding on Hockey

05/18/2015, 9:30am MDT
By Jessi Pierce

Donor profile with Charles Bidwill III

Football is in Charlie Bidwill III’s blood. It’s been a family heirloom since his grandfather, Charles W. Bidwill, purchased the National Football League’s Chicago Cardinals in 1933. The team, now in Arizona, remains in the family with Bidwill’s uncle, Bill.

With football carrying the family name, Bidwill admits it’s a part of him. But in his heart there’s hockey, a sport he’s loved since he was a kid. Only one thing ever held the Wilmette, Ill., native back from picking up a stick. 

“I couldn’t skate worth a lick,” chuckled Bidwill, who currently owns Stormy’s Tavern and Grille near his hometown in Northfield, Ill.  

Despite his lack of hockey ability, Bidwill’s passion for the sport thrived. As a ball-boy for the NFL’s St. Louis Cardinals (the professional football team in St. Louis from 1960-1987; now the Arizona Cardinals) he traveled the country with his father, never missing an opportunity to see a hockey game. “If we ever hit a town that had a hockey team, I would just beg and beg my poor dad for tickets to go watch.”

When Bidwill’s son, Chad, began skating at the age of 5, his appetite for hockey grew even more. He helped behind the scenes and supported Chad in any way he could. For Bidwill, hockey represented the team-first mentality unlike any other sport.

“Football, baseball, they’re all fine team sports, but hockey is so close knit,” he explains. “You really have to focus on that team effort and you really have to work together. I love to see the growth these kids have as they come along and grasp that concept of team effort. The attitude that it’s not about me, it’s all about the team and working together. I really love that aspect of hockey most.”

That aspect is part of what drives Bidwill to give back to The USA Hockey Foundation. For the past two years he has been a member of the Circle of Champions, which recognizes donors who give $1,000 or more annually. To Bidwill, it’s a donation that makes sense to help grow the game that grew on him.

“USA Hockey does such a great job with everything,” he says. “I always try and support things that I’m interested in and organizations that I feel are doing a good job. I feel USA Hockey does a very good job and I’m happy to help in anyway I can.”

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