Commonwealth Cardinals

Early history (1912–1924)

The University of Louisville began playing football in 1912 where the Cardinals went 3–1. Louisville had played several years at club level and teams were mostly composed of medical students. Beginning in 1914 the Cardinals joined the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) and they would participate in Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC). Louisville did not field a team in the 1917–1921 seasons.

When the Cardinals did rejoin football they came back into the SIAA which was going through reorganization losing most major state schools and thus became a small college conference. The Cardinals would face mostly Kentucky state schools such as Eastern Kentucky, Murray State, Western Kentucky, and Morehead State, along with private state schools like Centre, Transylvania, Kentucky Wesleyan, and Georgetown College.

Tom King era (1925–1930)

Tom King was the first coach to attempt to build a program at Louisville. King played college football at Notre Dame (1915–1916) under Coach Palmer and Knute Rockne. King was an undersized end for the Irish who became well regarded at Notre Dame for his determination and speed. Before he came to the football team for punt returns he was on the track team and basketball team, where he was named captain in 1916. His experience at Notre Dame gave him ideas on developing a spread wing offense so his undersized players could be better utilized.

His first standout was Fred Koster. Koster drew national attention to Louisville in 1926 by racking up 68 points in his first 2 games of the season. In six games, Koster scored 18 touchdowns, 10 extra points, and 2 field goals and went on to finish second in scoring in college football with 124 points. Koster was an all-around athlete and was a letterman 16 times, 4 times each in baseball, basketball, football, and track. Koster was a standout forward for the basketball team, leading the team in scoring two years. In baseball, Koster played professionally for 10 years for the Philadelphia Phillies (one season) as well as the minor league teams Louisville Colonels and St. Paul Saints in the American Association.

Tom King had the program going in the right direction until he decided to play Detroit for $10,000. Rockne, who was head coach at Notre Dame and a fellow graduate, called King and asked if he would take the Detroit game because Rockne felt his team was not up to it. When King asked what was in it for Louisville Rockne replied $10,000, which was a substantial sum of money in 1928 for an athletics department. Louisville started the season with a 72–0 win over Eastern Kentucky but when they traveled to Detroit they were hammered with injuries and did not win another game or score for the rest of the season, as Detroit went undefeated and claimed a share of the national title.

King served as head football coach for two more years but he also served as track, baseball, basketball and athletic director during his tenure at Louisville. Louisville athletics took a step back when Dr. Raymond Kent was announced as the new president of Louisville. Dr. Kent began reducing the budget in the athletics department, making it difficult for teams to travel and outfit themselves. King, on the advice of his friend Rockne, moved on, and in 1933 became assistant coach at Michigan State.

Laurie Apitz Era (1936–1942)

Following years of instability in the Louisville program after Tom King's departure and three coaches in the span of five seasons, the university hired Lawrence E. Apitz. Apitz came from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California where he coached basketball there from 1933 to 1936. He played football at the University of Chicago from 1926 to 1927 where he was a third-team selection to the 1926 All-Big Ten Conference football team. Apitz was the head coach at Louisville for seven seasons, he had an overall record of 22–29–3. He only produced one winning season which was the 1939 season posting a 5–3–1 overall record and a 1–1–1 record in conference play which was tied for 14th place in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. When Apitz got hired it was the height of the great depression and due to budget constraints, he coached the basketball and track teams along with the football team. When World War 2 caused football to be suspended at the university Apitz was reassigned to the physical education program for the hundreds of Navy cadets on campus. This was Apitz's last assignment at the university as he left shortly after. The Louisville football team did not start back up until 1946.

Frank Camp era (1946–1968)

Frank Camp revived the Cardinal Program in 1946 after World War II. Camp was collegiate player at Transylvania University in both football and basketball went on to accumulate a 102–35–04 record as a high school coach before he was tabbed for the head job at Louisville. Camp was responsible for moving away from the traditional KIAC competition and moving towards a more competitive schedule including match ups against some powerhouse traditional teams. Camp would see success early after going 7–0–1 in his second year and was accredited for being able to gel current players with the new recruits returning from war.

Camp, like King, would see another president pull resources and scholarships in the early 1950s, and would see both Otto Knop, who at the time was being recruited by Bear Bryant of Kentucky, and Johnny Unitas, who was being recruited by Indiana, elect to stay at Louisville and play for Camp. Louisville did see a lot of talent leave and they went into a slump from 1950 to 1954. Camp would only suffer two losing seasons for the rest of his career. The loss of the scholarships saw a loss talent on the team. So when scholarships were again available Camp would start to recruit black players and integrate the sports program at Louisville. Camp's legacy is tied to three players he brought to Louisville: Johnny Unitas, Lenny Lyles and Otto Knop.

The most enduring legacy Camp left behind was pioneering integration in southern athletics. Camp's first African-American player was Lawrence "Bumpy" Simmons, a local product from Central High School. He only played one year in 1952 and left the team on good terms. Camp would bring in Andy Walker, George Cain and Lenny Lyles in 1954 and they would become the first black scholarship players at Louisville. Once the university was integrated in 1951, Camp and his assistant coach, Wood, sought out potential recruits. Coach Wood would be integral in bringing in Lyles who was also a track star. All three players would go on to become starters and Lyles and Cain would become a dangerous tandem in the backfield.