Angular distributions of recoil-proton polarization in elastic ${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}p$ scattering were measured at 864-, 981-, and 1301-MeV incident pion kinetic energy. Polarization measurements were made by observing the azimuthal asymmetry in the subsequent scattering of recoil protons in large carbon-plate spark chambers. The spark chambers proved to be very suitable polarization analyzer detectors. Strong variation of the polarization with backward pion scattering angle was observed.