Bengals Booth Podcast: Good Old Days

your Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since anything your kid makes for you on Father's Day. In addition to giving me a nice gift, my son Sam made me a Father's Day card. He didn't need to get me the gift. If you're a parent, you know there's nothing better than receiving something that your child makes specifically for you. When I was still a base ball broadcaster and went on long road trips, my then four year old son asked my wife Peg the following question.

If I wrote Daddy a note, could we send it to him on the road. She said sure, and I received it at my hotel on the final day of the team's road trip. At that point, Sam hadn't quite grasped the concept of writing and sentences, so the note basically looked like a long strand of letters. I grabbed a pen and paper and was able to decipher it. It read as follows, Hey Daddy, I am sending a note to you. Do you know how many years old yoda is? I will tell you nine hundred? Love Sam,

how is your trip? May you bring me a surprise? That note is prominently displayed above my desk at home, and if her house ever caught on fire, it might be the first thing I would try to save. Like I said, there's nothing better than getting something homemade from your kids. Now, let's get to this week's feature. Four years ago, I started doing a weekly segment on the radio during the baseball season called ten Teammates and a Hat. I quickly realized I had stumbled into radio gold. Here's

how it works. I go through a player's bio and write down the name of one teammate from every season of his career on a little slip of paper. I put those slips of paper in a baseball hat and ask my guests to randomly select ten. He then shares

memories about each former teammate he draws. The segment works best with players who have had long careers in a wide variety of teammates, and my guests have included Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Joey Vado, and Dusty Baker, among others, and they seem to enjoy it as much as I do. Now it's time to bring the ten teammates feature to football.

Since NFL careers don't typically last as long as Major League Baseball careers, I've decided to go through a player's bio and write down the names of two teammates from each season he played up First a Bengal from nineteen seventy four through nineteen eighty three and a member of the New Jersey Generals for two seasons after that. Time to play ten teammates in a hat with a great storyteller,

my broadcast partner, Dave Lappham. You played pro football for twelve years, ten in the NFL, two in the USFL, and I've written down the names of two teammates from each of your twelve teams on little slips of paper and put them in a baseball hat. You are going to randomly pick out ten and share some stories. Are you ready to play ten teammates in a hat? Ready

to rock and roll? Dan? Here we go, all right, Here comes teammate number one with Dave Lappham Teammate number one nineteen eighty Bengal Jim Breach, the all time leading scorer for the Cincinnati Bengals. Kicker extraordinaire got him from the Raiders. And the thing I remember most about Jim Breach is all around athlete. I mean, this guy when we played basketball in the wintertime and we'd go to various high schools and we'd have a Bengal team that

would play faculty members or whatever. Breach was a stud. Now he could play. He was a point guard in basketball in high school. He played shortstop in baseball, and he played quarterback in football. So Jim Breach wasn't your you know, I had been exposed to horse movement from Germany. Who you know, soccer, not football, American football. He played soccer and uh, I mean he was just a kicker. Really didn't understand that much about football. Jim Breach could

have coached. I mean, Jim Breech knew the game and he was a great teammate that way. And also when we would do look teams, you know, people to line up against the first team defense. You want to rest your wide receivers. Jim Breech go out there and run some routes, you know, and and and take his turn in the in the in the look team against the

Bengals first team defense, getting ready for games. So, I mean, Jim Breach was a very very valuable member of the football team, no question about it, as well as Clotchman. I mean, overtime nine for nine, never missed an overtime kick. Breach was money in the bank. We'll have to make sure Jim Breach here's this segment because I think he would like that description of his playing days. We move on to teammate number two with Dave Lappin teammate number two,

it would be the seventy seven Bengals. Pat mcinnelly, Oh my goodness, Where do I begin With Pat mcinelley. All I can say is Pat mcinnelley and I used to sit in my room or his room at training camp, whoever had the better air conditioner, and just try and kind of solve the world's problems. I mean, talk about anything in everything but football. Because he always, you know, got after me and made fun of me for not

going to Harvard. I get accepted and didn't go, and of course Pat mcinally went and got himself a heck of a degree and uh and he's still the only guy that scored a perfect score on the Wonderlick test. So Pat mcinally was just so intelligent. I mean, he could, he could carry on a high level conversation about anything. Anything. I think he should take Alex Trebeck's place, and I think he'd be great on Jeffrey him and there's there's not a category he would not be able to run

the table on. It's one of those kind of guys. And the other thing, I mean, he'd sit in his room and he wanted to learn how to play the guitar, self taught, and he just starts strumming a guitar and all of a sudden, you know, from the beginning of training camp to the end of training camp, he's writing songs. I mean, you know, that's how quick a study the

guy is on just about everything and anything. And the thing about Pat mcinally, you know, like Jim Breech, he was a great punter, Pro Bowl punter, but he was an All American wide receiver at Harvard, and the story obviously sticks out in my mind about him was when Darden put the hit on him. Cleveland Browns We're playing at the end of the season and he takes it, catches the ball over the middle and Tom Darden just

puts a shot on him and lays him out. And it's one of those deals where the Darrel Stanley incident was not that far away, so we thought, man, we're looking at another one of those kind of deals. And he had traumatized and bruised his spinal column, so he wasn't moving and we thought, oh, man, So they take him off the field on a stretcher and he's in the locker room. The doctors are examining him, and he starts to get his sensation and feeling back. It's almost

like when your arm falls asleep. He had, you know, like he had that bruising which kind of pinched nerves and he had no feeling. But then it starts coming back and he starts getting everything back, and he comes back out in the field and Forest looks at him and says, can you still punt? He goes I think, So he goes out there and punts. We have an

injury at receiver, can you play? He catches a touchdown passed in that game that is an unbelievable you know, full layout catch, rolls over the body of a Cleveland Brown to stay off the ground and scores a touchdown a pass from Jack Thompson. Was like, oh my gosh. And at that point Forrest greg was all in on Pat mcinelly, all in when he was busting your chops about not going to Harvard. Did you ever come back and say, hey, the partying was much better at Syracuse?

I told him I went to the Harvard in New York, you know, and uh yeah. But you know, his whole thing was bop him the connections, thea lums and when he started his column, of course that the column that he turned into a book, but it syndicated column. You know, Pat mcinelle's advice to kids. Every every newspaper that he went to, there was a Harvard connection somewhere. He said, it was unbelievable how big a net is cast by the by the Harvard of lums and just about every business,

not just the United States, but internationally. And that's what his big thing was. You dummy. You know, you could have hooked yourself up big time, but it all works out. Everybody. Everybody has their own story and the wrong way of getting there. Yeah, you may have blown that, but we're proud to have you as part of the Syracuse Mafia. Let's move on to former teammate number three with lap. Former teammate number three eighty one Bengals Chris Collinsworth. Chris Collinsworth,

Oh man, where do I begin with this guy? You know, he comes in as a rookie, the second round pick, the first round pick, David Verser wide receiver, double down and go wide receiver in the second round as well, and it ends up being Chris Collinsworth, who has an unbelievably you know, stellar career, and he came to Cincinnati and he was a golly shocks lge, you know kind of guy. And Forrest greg had a great line about him. He goes, Chris Collinsworth, country, you kidding me? The only

cotton he's picked us out of his navel. He goes, Chris Collinsworth knows exactly what's going on and and exactly what you're all about. And he said, this guy sees it all and knows it all. I mean, Forrest Greg had him, had him figured out pretty quickly, but just an unbelievable personality. Um. And you know the thing about Chris is he was he was a you know, state champion sprinter and the track team, and when you watched him run, it was all arms and legs and and

kind of frenzied. You know. It kind of looked like kikobob Crane running a hundred yard dash or something. And I remember Kenny Riley talking about it. He goes, Man, I'm telling you lab, he goes. Collinsworth came came out of his out of his two point stance at the receiver position, and man, there's there's like appendages going everywhere. He said. Next thing I know, he was right up on my toes, he goes. I couldn't believe how fast he was, you know, it was it was like the

steving how fast, how quickly closed space on me? And once he got up in my toes, it was over. Man. And I can't tell you how many defensive backs in his rookie year. No way, this guy's that fast. You know, they'd see it on film, but it was like looking at him in the fields like I can't believe it. And they would always, you know, not give him enough credit for how quickly he could close space on defensive backs. And uh, and he beat everybody deep. I mean Pro

Bowl is deep, beat everybody deep. And he was he was physically tough too. You know you'd never think it, but I mean Chris collins would have put up three hundred fifteen pounds in the Brench bench press, you know, and looking at him, be like, no way, but he was. He was strong. Um, you know, really good athlete. His dad played on the Kentucky basketball team Reps Runts. Um. He was. He was a gifted athlete and uh, you know, obviously understood people. He had a great way with people.

I mean, he just had just understood how to treat people. And very very popular teammate and of course has gone on to be leon a legendary well after the game of football was over, and again another guy all these people were talking about, Paul Brown was always what are you going to do for your life's work when football's done?

And these guys that were mentioning here and Chris Collinsworth in particular, I know Paul Brown would be like, Wow, that's what I'm talking about, you know, I want to see you guys succeed just well more success after they were playing days than they actually generated during their playing days. That's what he was looking for. Three down, seven to go. We move on to former teammate number four, as we played ten teammates in a hat with lap number four

the seventy six Bengals Bob Johnson. Bob Johnson was the original Bengal. Bob Johnson jersey number fifty four is the only one that's retired in Cincinnati Bengals history, and he was the very first draft pick. And Paul Brown said that besides the quarterback he handles the football every single

play the center quarterback. He believed in building a battery in the center of quarterback positions were vitally important to Paul Brown, and he wanted wanted to build it that way and build his team kind of from the inside out. So he, uh, he went and got the All American out of Tennessee, Bob Johnson, who was, you know, just

a heck of a football player. And another case of looking at Bob Johnson captain, you know, played at a high level of football, unbelievable leader on and off the football field, huge locker room presence respect around the National Football League, not just by the Bengals, but all players around the National Football League. And then he's gone into

the business world. And I worked with him when I was a player in the off season and Imperial lead heases and he purchased imperiallydhases from from Bob sticks at us Shoe and put together an investment group in purchased that and then built it and sold it, and his bought and sold companies. Bob Johnson is an unbelievably successful entrepreneurial businessman. And now his daughter's doing the same type of thing. Bob's involved with his daughter as well in

companies and and it's it's an unbelievable story. Bob, Bob is a very very astute businessman, and I think he probably took a lot of the football practicality, you know, the discipline and teamwork and all the concepts from the football field of the business world. And I know he did in a very very effective manner. Bob Johnson was definitely a very very wise choice, a very successful choice to start the franchise by Paul Brown, who obviously knew

what he was doing. No doubt about that time to reach into the hat for former teammate number five seventy eight Bengals Ken Anderson. Oh boy, what can I say about my man ka? We roomed together for like eight years and the most accurate pastor I've ever seen. And the game against the Oilers when he completed twenty straight it was that game comes to mind because you know, it's almost like when a pitcher's pitching a no hitter, you don't talk to him about it. You don't say

I don't think he's throwing an incompletion. I mean, guys were like thinking and looking and no one was talking to him. But you know, you just didn't want to be the one to bring it up. But Isaac Curtis made an unbelievable catch to keep the streak alive. And you know, at that time, Kenny had the record twenty straight completely in the same game, twenty straight completions in

the same game. But he would just remember at football camps when he would just work out and you'd tell me, you know, ball right shoulder, ball navals, I mean just from like thirty yards he'd pinpointed like that. He was amazing, unbelievable and it's it's basically a tragedy, I think, a travesty. But he's not in the Hall of Fame. He's won back to back passing titles in two different decades with two different offensive coordinators, two different schemes. I mean, it's

it's amazing. No other quarterback in NFL history could say that. So when you do something like that, I think you know, that's that's Hall of Fame worthy. And uh and Ken Anderson was just amazing. He and Isaac Curtis looked up on some of the most beautiful deep ball I think I've ever seen in my life. To this day, they're about as pretty as anything you want to see. And yeah, he was special. There's there's no question about it. And

people you can't underrate his athleticism. Mean, he ran a four to six I mean year we went to the Super Bowl the first time Super Bowl sixteen or second leading rusher with like over four hudred yards rushing was Ken Anderson high three something like that was around four hundred yards rushing. And we just used to run a naked bootleg and he'd have a run pass option off the thing, and boy, when he saw the opportunity, he tucked it and ran, and he could run. Kenny was

a great athlete. He went to Augustana on a basketball scholarship, grew up with Danissell and they played basketball together in high school. And obviously Kenny was a very very accomplished basketball player. So that's what you find is a lot of these great athletes, you know, obviously played more than one sport well. But could go on and on about my man k number fourteen in year program, number one in your heart. All right, five down, five to go.

Here's former teammate number six with Dave Lappot eighty three Bengals, Stanley Wilson. Wow, this one is ah, this is probably the biggest tragedy that I you know, that I can remember being a part of with respect to the Cincinnati Bengals. And that's a Stanley Wilson. Because here's a guy that came out of Oklahoma, had a great collegiate career, but that's where his dependency on drugs started, you know, with Barry Switzer and teammates at Oklahoma and that playing career.

But this guy, he was he was a great football player.

I mean he could he could do it all. You talk about complete running back, could run the ball, very very good catch of the football, and he would block and that that was the big thing, you know with Stanley Wilson, as well as playing special teams and uh, you know, obviously the thing that comes to mind first and foremost is in the Super Bowl eighty Super Bowl twenty three in nineteen eighty eight, when you know, Sam White and police Chief Whalen, who was working security for

the Bengals in that Super Bowl week, went into his room and caught him in a you know, in a drug and du stooper in the bathtub and and he just you know, ran away and ended up getting suspended, couldn't play in that football game, and sad the most important game, you know, the biggest game of his life was when he had the biggest problem trying to deal with all the emotions of it and relapsed badly into a huge stupor um. But and they missed him in

that football game. You know, he talked about it, the injury to Tim Crumrye and there's a lot of things, but that, the Stanley Wilson suspension mentally, you know, had an impact on the football team. And then physically he was a great blocker for Ikey Woods and they missed him, you know, and he was a he was a great special teams guy, you know, field position, dictating field position and and things like that. So um, that was I do remember when when he was having his battle. I

remember it was after the New England Patriots. The Bengal started six and oh one season and they lost the Patriots. And I remember the only available scene in the bus was next to Stanley Wilson. When I sat down next to him, I said, you okay, and he kind of looked at me, and because I thought, you know that might be when you think about, well, the winning streets over, you know, any reason that you might laughs, you know,

you're looking for patterns or whatever. And he looked at me and water in his eyes, and he looked at me and he said, it's the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning. It's what I think about all day long, before my wife and kids. It's the last thing I think about when I go to bed at night. And just tears come start coming out of his eyes. And I thought, boy, you know

that's that's obviously not good. And then that year ends with him getting suspended in the Super Bowl just a tragedy. Let's move on to former teammate number seven with lap. Teammate number seven, seventy four Bengals, Mike Reid. Lord, have mercy. There's never been a quickie human being. I mean, this guy was so explosive, just unbelievable. He'd get in this really odd looking frog type stance, you know, with a lot of his weight back, and would just explode out

of the thing. It was like, Oh, I mean, unbelievable, how much short space quickness this guy had. And man, and just as a rookie, I'm trying to learn how to pass protect and that's before you could use your hands, extend your arms and use your hands. You had to keep your hands in by your chest and and it's it's like, I'm like, I don't know if I'm going to be able to block this guy. And every time I made contact with him, I felt like I hate

Nolan Ryan's fastball. He was like, man, this is unbelievable. But he was like that with Everybody would have a brutal time blocking him. I remember against the Kansas City Chiefs, a Hall of Famer Jim Tier who was playing guard at the time, and Mike Red had five sacks against them and could have had more. I was like just beating him like a drum and I'm thinking, oh, man, I know exactly what's going through your mind right now.

He was just unbelievably he had. He was not overpowering in terms of like not a big body mask He's maybe two hundred and fifty pounds, but man, just generates such an explosive movement. Man, he was just so gifted that way and the quickness. Um plus you know, such a talented guy. Concert pianist who played in the Cincinnati Symphony.

I mean, I mean you'd go into uh, we'd be in a hotel and if there was a piano around the area where we'd be going for pregame meal or snacks or whatever, he'd sit down and start banging out like almost a private concert at the piano. It's unbelievably talented dude, and now has written hit songs for you know, a lot of different artists, well known artists, and he's a he's a Hall of famer, you know down in Nashville.

It's it's incredible what he's done. Another case of Paul Brown saying this this guy, you know, football was only part of his first phase of his working life. And he retired young. I mean, he retired early, and Paul Brown didn't bat an eye. You know, Paul knew he loved music, and he obviously you know, he didn't want him to retire, but he didn't try to talk him out of it. And Mike red knew what he was doing. But Mike, Mike was not a big fan of practice.

My rookie year. I had to go against him every day and practice, and Tiger Johnson the only one a you're gonna get better of his working against a guy like this. Come on, now, this is a game for you. And you know I'd be going at a lot higher rate of speed than Mike wanted to go. And man, he hated me my rookie year. I know he did. He'd be like, I'll be like Mike, I gotta do what Tiger says. He'll cut me. I gotta I want to stay on this football team. Oh, you know, he'd

start chewing on me. And he hated practice. But boy, games he was iverson before iverson practice, We're not talking about a game, but man, is he something else in games? Boy, he was. We have not had a New Jersey general. Yet we'll see if that changes. Three former teammates to go in. Ten teammates in a hat. Here we go, eighty four Bengals Bob Trumpy. Excuse me seven, I was gonna say he's retired. Seventy four Bengals, Bob Trumpy. And

that was my rookie year, nineteen seventy four. And Trump was at his at his peak Pro Bowl tight end. You know, they talk about these tight ends today that the coaches will disengage and users wide receivers. Bill Walsh was doing that with Bob Trumpy back in the seventies, early seventies, well before nineteen seventy four. I mean Trumpy a couple of seasons he averaged seventeen eighteen yards to catch. I mean he would stretch the field, just an unbelievably

gifted athlete. Big tall, I mean his shoulders look like coat hangers. I mean broad shoulders and more than adequate blocker. I know Jack Hamm, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Trump, he had immense amount of respect for each other because Trump could Trump could block on the edge, you know, and that he was really really gifted as a receiver down the football field, and before Kellen Winslow in the eighties and you know all these receivers that we're talking about

in today's football. Bob Trump, he was doing a lot of this stuff in the way back machine. So another guy that's a very gifted player college basketball, could have played basketball in Illinois and just a very very very

sharp guy. And then of course, obviously everything he did in the broadcast world, the father of sports stock radio, godfather of Sportstok radio here in Cincinnati, and then all his work in NBC covering not just football but the Olympics and every sport, just like Chris Collins, were followed. And those footsteps that that Trump he paved. So very very talented guy, very gifted guy as well. And the

one thing about Bob Trump, he is Glenn Cameron. Bob Trump and I would would be on the plane just to pass time and pick a topic and have a debate, and it was it was great, man. It was unbelievable how what guys would end up thinking about and taking an opposite perspective, and you know, would trade and then finish, finish the subject, and then everybody take the opposite side of it or something different than was talked about and hit it again, and that made the time go by

pretty fast on the planes. Two smart guys, and I really really enjoyed doing that kind of thing with those guys. I'd love to have a tape of that time to reach into the hatch for former teammate number nine, number nine, nineteen eighty. Anthony Munio's quite simply the best athlete over two hundred and fifty pounds I've seen in my life. I mean that guy. He was best show in every

sense of the word. You know. All he did was playing a National championship baseball team at USC third base relief picture and then perennial pro bowler told him buy a condo out in Hawaii. He going there every year, he might as well, might as well go enjoy it. He was just just incredible gifted. And I remember when he first got drafted. He had big hair at the time, you know, a big, big afro type hair doing and just a massive man, just over three hundred pounds at

that point in time, and filled up the doorway. Man. He eclipsed the sun. There wasn't any day like coming around it. And then we went out on the field to practice the first time it's like he's moving like a two hundred and five pounds safety. You know, I'm like, come, this guy is different now, just incredibly gifted. When he rolled his hips and snapped his hips, oh my gosh, man, it was like a force of nature. He would just he was an incredible guy. And just call him the Eraser.

Jim Nally said, you know, we got the ar and now we'll figure out what we do with everybody else. And everybody else is going to get some help because the Erasi doesn't need any was. It was just such a weapon to have. And as everybody knows, as great a football player, he's even a better human being, which is almost impossible to define, you know, because he's such a high level and just he's interested in doing everything

he can to make his fellow man better. And his foundation just celebrated the twentieth year what he's done to help kids and educate kids. And that's that's Anthony Minels to a t. He's just just a one of a kind. He's all I can think of if I had to pick one word, and it's almost impossible, but I think I'd pick special because you can take it so many ways, so many different directions. But he's a guy that you can learn a lot from and first and foremost how

to treat fellow human beings because he is. He is the most consistently good hearted person I've ever met in my life. I've never heard him degrade anybody, you know, take the dark side on anything. He's an amazing guy, he really is. We started out with twenty four slips of paper in the baseball hat. You've selected nine one to go as we wrap up ten teammates in a hat. This is fun, Dan, It's fun for me, trust me, all right. Seventy seven Bengals. Pete Johnson man, Oh h,

that's what I think when I think about Pete Johnson. Boy, that guy just a genetic freak six feet maybe and would play at two eighty. I mean he'd play. He was he'd weigh more than most of the offensive and defensive lineman. But we play Bengal basketball and he'd stand under the basket and dunk without without a start, drill, just stand under and flush it ridiculous, ridiculous. He was

just amazing. And uh, he's such a powerful runner. He was our guy in Super Bowl sixteen and as an offensive lineman, you wanted to make sure that you move people, because if you didn't, Pete was gonna run right up your backside and he'd put a hole that where you don't want a hole in your backside. I mean, he'd literally gorge you. But the thing is, with that size, the athletic ability to explose them. And I talked about with him being able to dunk a basketball, he could catch.

He ran good rousts out of the back, very very easy, catch you over both shoulders, catch with his hands. You know, he could he could block one asked too. He was. He was an unbelievably gifted athlete. But yeah, Pete Johnson was. I think Forrest Gregg loved Pete Johnson and we felt like he gave us a huge edge whenever it got you know, nasty weather. Who the hell wants to tackle

that beast? We and we knew in the AFC Championship game, the San Diego Chargers at that time, the San Diego Chargers did not want any part of tackling that behemoth. I mean literally, you know, wrap your arms and take him. You can't. You couldn't wrap around this big old dude. I mean, his trunk was massive and he ran with you know, like six feet tall, ran with a good low pad level. And Pete was a unbelievably talented football player and great teammate, a great sense of humor, big laugh,

kept the locker room loose. But it was an interesting dynamic because Archie and Pete were on that team together. Archie was the two time Heisman Trophy winning superstar and Pete block for him at Ohio State and then come to the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL. Pete took the limelight and Archie was more of a you know, a more backstage and both of them handled each other the situation, you know, all the potential repercussions of it, as good as it could possibly be handled. I admire both of

them for that. Archie Griffin was among the names you did not pick out of the hat, along with greats like Tim Krumery, Herschel Walker, Doug Flutie and many others. But that was a great list and your stories were fantastic. Thank you for the time. I tell you then it is when that's one thing when I sit back and think about all the guys I played with, you know, not just watched play, but played with over the years

It's unbelievable, really is. I mean, I can't. I gotta pinch myself, you know, and say I actually was a teammate of that guy. That's unreal. That's unreal when I think about it. Really is talking about dreams do come true. That's going to do it. For this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by bud Light, Seltzer refreshed the game. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe and if you have a minute, give it a rating or share a comment. Ad helps more Bengals fans

find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thank you for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast