John Cardinal

John N. Cardinal was born in Floydada, Texas on January 14, 1926. He graduated from Floydada High School in 1943 and joined the United States Navy that same year. He was deployed to the South Pacific during World War II and was part of the first task force to enter Japan. Following his discharge from the Navy, he enrolled in West Texas State College in 1946. When the football coach observed him playing intramural football, he was offered and accepted a full football scholarship.

He married Kathleen Grady in 1948, and they had three children – Kathy, Cindy and Tony. John graduated from West Texas State armed with two degrees: a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and a Master’s in Education Administration. He then began a career as a coach at the high school level. He was an assistant football coach at Snyder, Texas in 1950. He became head coach at Springlake-Earth from 1951-52.’ The following year he moved to Canadian Texas and was the head coach there. He then accepted the position of high school principal in Canadian from 1956-1959.

In 1959, John decided to end his tenure as principal and become a part of the sporting goods business at Buck’s Sporting Goods in Amarillo. For ten years he traveled to schools throughout the west Texas territory, and a became a successful salesman, making many enduring friendships along the way. In 1969 John took advantage of an opportunity to purchase a sporting goods store of his own in Lubbock. Cardinal’s Sport Center, Inc. has currently grown to include four locations … three in Lubbock and one in Plainview. Cardinal’s recently celebrated its 50th year of business in Lubbock. With John’s leadership, direction, integrity in business, and love of athletics, Cardinal’s Sport Center continues to be a successful business that is still family owned and operated – a fact of which he is very proud.

John resides in lubbock with his wife of tour years, Betty. He is back to traveling again, only now he and Betty put many miles and smiles on their RV as they go around the country.