How about that sports fans, The Great Number sixty two been with the Bengals since almost their inception, has never left except to join Donald Trump's the Jersey Generals. Now in the Ring of honor the Great Dave Lapham. Dave, welcome again to the Bill Cunningham Show. First of all, Dave, how you are you notified about such things? Did it happen last night or this morning? How is someone notified about this?
Yeah?
I was notified today by the by the the Brown Blackburn family and different different people reached out at different times. Elizabeth Blackburn and then Mike Brown. Obviously we had a we had a conversation that was very very nice. I mean, Mike Brown obviously has been a big, a big factor, a big figure in my lifetime.
There's no question about that.
He is uh provided me with an avenue to just take care of my family for hopefully multiple generations, honestly, and as a player for ten seasons, and then the broadcast booth for forty which is quite a stretch. I mean, that's the pre remarkable him this next season, I mean forty years to broadcast booth, and I just I can't believe it.
On the days really I'm just wondering, while it's time.
Ain't that's the truth? Looking back, Is there one game of the one thousand you've been involved in that kind of stands out good or bad?
I'd say the Freezer Ball.
The Freezer Ball was a It was a challenge.
I mean it was.
It was a game that probably will never ever have another game played in those conditions. I don't think the league would allow it. In fact, they almost didn't allow it back then. It barely was allowed to happen, and we thought we were told that it was it was in dire straits, that there was a good chance of we're going to.
Be able to play the football game.
But then the NFL decided to go ahead and do it, and the Freezer Bowl happened and was born, and it turned out to be a hell of a football game, very competitive considering the environments. And you know, the temperatures nine below fifty nine below wind chills. That's cruel of unusual punishment to the normal man, There's no doubt about that. And I've never been colder in my life and never want to be cold like that again in my lifetime.
Growing up in Massachusetts and attending Syracuse what was your thoughts? And maybe your senioror Syracuse you lettered in a bunch of sports. You were a team captain, you played in the East West Shrine Game of nineteen seventy three. What were your thoughts if somebody would interview a young, mean, aggressive Dave Lapham in January February seventy seventy four and you were going to be told you're going to be a Bengal, what were your thoughts.
Yeah, my thoughts were, I can't believe I have an opportunity to play for a legend, Paul Brown. Paul Brown, basically, in my estimation, I was kind of raised on the fact that he was the father of football, particularly at the professional level. I mean, the National Football League would not be what it is today if Paul Brown hadn't been part of it back in the day. And to play for Paul Brown was a dream come true. It was an experience of a lifetime. He was everything I
thought he would be. Incredibly gifted, very talented man. I
think could have been anything. He could have been President of the United States in my opinion, if he'd gone into the political world, could have run any company in the world, including like a Procter and Gamble here in Cincinnati, but he decided to come to Ohio and the Cleveland Browns built them into a juggernaut, and then moved to the southern part of the state here into Cincinnati and put together another franchise of fifty eight years that is
as good as any in the National Football League. Three super Bowl appearances, multiple Playoff victories, unbelievable quarterbacks Paul Brown has done at all.
And as far as being a third round draft pick, you're the sixty first pick overall, you come to Cincinnati, and what are your first impressions about Wilmington.
Yeah, Wilmington was It was a kind of shock, really. I mean I thought, then training camp in an NFL franchise, and I wonder where we're going to be, Probably some hot shot place like some kind of a I don't know, a resort or something. I mean it would probably be you know, on fields that the resort has. That would be another little added added plus for the people that are staying there. I know.
It wasn't a resport.
It was tidy Wilmington College up in Wilmington, Ohio, with you know, the bear essentials for facility and equipment and everything else that I was with it. The Bengals brought their own equipment up there, basically as an NFL franchise, But Wilmington College was uh, you know, it's Quaker and it was the people. The people were very uh you know,
very humble, very nice people. There wasn't there wasn't a whole lot of Shenanigans going on hot as Paul Brown would say, no Shenanigans, Yeah right, There wasn't a whole lot of cocktail. Uh cocktails being served, are alcohol being absorbed? It was. It was quite a place, it really was. And I was up there for a good number of years. There's no question about that. I spent uh had it all up. I spent multiple years up there in Wilmington, and and uh.
I can't say that I'm happy that I did, but I was proud that I did because it was up there for uh the sole purpose is getting ready to play in an NFL season with an NFL franchise, and a good one at that.
In the Cincinnati Bengals, right.
And the preseason, how many you had two no air conditioning, had of bringing a fan, you all shared one toilet. It was, it was, it was hotter than the hinges of hell. You had two a days. Then, how many preseason games did you play in seventy four?
In seventy four it was six? I think it was seventy four. Seventy five we played seven. We played in the Hall of Fame game. One of those two preseasons. I'm cramping on which one it was, brain cramp, but it was, you know, seven preseason games, seven full games against you know, viable NFL opponents that were playing for keeps. Now, it wasn't the preseason games a little different back then? Guys played, I mean the starters played. Guys played seven
of them. That didn't mean a thing and nothing squads, nil, zip, not a nothing on your schedule. I mean it was just seven practice games that were officiated by NFL officials, played by NFL players that had no bearing whatsoever on the schedule.
As that started to unfold in the regular season.
And it hurt, I mean, it wasn't. It wasn't like it is today. Well you can practice a little bit and walk around make your fifty million dollars. It was work and you got hurt, and you said, well, just you're fine, get out there and.
Play exactly exactly you know, rub some dirt on sun.
Yeah, mar Mark, Paul is our training Mark, get over there, taker's ass up. Back in there, Yeah, back in there. We can't afford to have him missed. These snaps, these reps are valuable. God damn, get him in there.
At the conclusion, at the conclusion of your ten years with the Bengals, you were then hired by Donald Trump, I think on a ten year personal services contract. When you told Paul Brown and Mike Brown you're leaving the Bengals at that point, was that a problem for those two years? Uh?
Yeah, it was. It was.
It was interesting that they, you know, obviously weren't happy about it.
You know that they they knew the rival league. This one was going to stick around.
There were a few others that came and went sprung up and and died a quick death, but this one had some pretty significant financial backers, including Donald Trump and yeah he It was a two year personal services contract. I had two full seasons guaranteed. Regular season salvage were fully guaranteed, just like the signing bonus and every other form of payment that that that contract provided. So you know,
it was it was guaranteed money. Whether I you know, made the team, didn't make the team, get hurt, didn't get hurt, you know, uh passed away. But it was it was guaranteed for every condition that it possibly could be guaranteed for, which I looked at us after ten years in the National Football League as an annuity that came due to the for the benefit of my family. So it was very, very difficult to pass up that
kind of guaranteed money. And they just they weren't doing it in the National Football the particularly for you know, offensive linemen.
It's like, are you kidding me, No way, we're doing that well.
And of course when you were and that was done, you came back to the Bengals and the show. They
don't hold a grudge. I think Phil Samp was Uh could be difficult at times, and you were you were, you were with him, and you had little or no broadcasting experience, but they they thought about enough about you as a man to say, you know what, let's hook him up as the color analyst with Phil Samp And that was like and what was that in eighty eighty four, eighty five something like that, Right, and you've been eighty five, you're about to celebrate your fortieth season and uh and
in football, can you compare Phil Samp to Dan Horde as far as the differentials.
Yeah, that's uh, that's like trying to looks like trying to say salt and pepper seeing food the same way. You know, It's like, yeah, it's not hy. They had much different personalities. Yeah, but they they did. Their approach to the game was similar in that they you know, they obviously took it very very the Dan takes it and Phil took it very very seriously.
And I will say though that.
That Dan Horde, without a without a doubt, is as prepared a person and professionals I've ever worked with. I mean, that dude does his homework. Man, there's nothing that's going to slip by Dan Hord. He is ready for anything,
and he'll make the necessary adjustments. Accordingly, Phil Simp was really he was really pretty good to me, you know, he he he realized pretty early on that I did understand what was going on on the football field from the football standpoint, and honestly, when he found out that the Syracuse I went to the New House School of Communications, which put out the likes of Bob Costas and others that you know that he had, Well, this guy's got a basic understanding of what's what goes on in the
broadcast area of the broadcast world. So he uh, he accepted me, I think pretty quickly, and we kind of hit it off pretty well. Phil was Phil was something man. That voice. I mean, you would give everything that you had for that, for those for that dulcic tone of Phil Sapman.
He was amazing.
Does Mike Brown get a bad rap now and then? Because he suffers quite a bit of criticisms, doesn't give interviews except one time? Is Mike Brown the public perception the reality of Mike Brown?
No, No way, Mike.
I think I think John Q public most of John Q public as would be shocked to know that Mike Brown is very very different than the way he's portrayed in the media.
And you know, some of it's his own doing.
Like you said, he's very selective in what he does and how he does it from an interview standpoint, but I'm telling you, this guy is a good man, a family man. You know, he's got you know, he was brought up right. The Ten Commandments mean something to Mike Brown. You know, he's honest as the day is long. He's just a good human being, a good somebody that you know, if you were fortunate enough to have him as a friend and able to call him a good friend, you'd
be a lucky man. And that's the way his good friends feel about him. Mike Brown is a very, very solid individual, assault of the earth kind of guy. And I don't think the masses out there, the Bengals fans, have that perception or that understanding of what what Mike Brown is really like.
As part of the Trey Hendrickson has signed a contract this year. He's got a written contract signed by the team and by Trey Henderson. He's going to play football this year for the Bengals. And part of Mike Brown's philosophies or life is when you sign a contract, dammit, you'll honor it. Is that going to be hard for Mike Brown to say, you know, Trey Hendrickson, well, we're going to ignore the contract you sign and give you more money.
Yeah. I mean, I don't think that he's necessarily going to do that.
I think he's going to say to Trey Henderson, Tree, get get the training camp. You're under contract, year left in your contract. We both signed it in good faith honor your contract. Now, if you come to training camp, I'll talk to you about an extension. But you know you're not gonna strong arm me and say, you know, I want all this money. I want an extension. It's not you don't give it to me. I'm not coming to camp. And that's not the way. That's not the
way this works. Sign the deal's backwards. Yeah, you signed the deal.
You know.
It's like you're you're I've got the leverage. I've got you under contract. You're trying to create leverage, but it's not gonna work because I've got you under contract. And I believe in contracts. I believe you know, in the word uh of people that sign their contract, they're given their word, So you know, I I think he feels that Trey Henderson will report to training camp at some point in time, hopefully sooner rather than later. There's only a week before camp opens up.
Uh.
But if he doesn't, it's a very short stay out of training camp, because you know what you want to see. Even a veteran player that understands all the nuances of the game and has performed and succeeded at a very high level, you still want to go through training camp and get your body right. You don't want to go into training camp not quite ready to play the game of football at the level that others that have gone through a training camp are able to go physically.
You don't want to put yourself in jeopardy that way.
Lastly, Dave Lapham, you're one of twelve. There's been thousands have come through the Bengals over the last fifty five years. What do you want to say as a man, as a person, to the fans, to the season ticket holders, to the suite holders that voted you into the Ring of Honor? What do you want to say to them?
Man, Willie? I mean, I just can't thank them enough. I'll be forever indebted to them my entire life. I mean, for them to think enough for me, as a player and as a broadcaster to get their vote for the Ring of Honor, which is something that I never ever ever considered as being in the realm of possibility. For them to do that for me is something that is
incomp hencible. I'll never be able to repay them. I mean, I think you know, I thank them for coming to all the games, spending their good, hard earned money to go to an NFL game. Sometimes that's not as easy as the towns for some of the fans, but they're die hard. They love the football team, they love everything about the NFL, and they're glad to have a team
here in Cincinnati competing in the National Football League. They know football, I will tell you that, Willie that in terms of when you go around the NFL, Cincinnati Bengal fans are as educated as any fans in the league in terms of what the hell's going on in the football field with respect to the rules of football. It is a very very sharp, intelligent crowd, and I think it's respectful to the game of football. I can't say enough good things about the fans, and I just I'm
forever indebted to them. It just it just boggles my mind that they voted me in to the Ring of Honor. I mean, it's an honor that I just I just can't put my arms around it, you know, on my mind around it. It's it's almost incomprehensible for me to grasp. You know, I first started playing football. My grandfathers were you know, would say, you know, uh, you know, work hard, Uh, listen to the coaches, do what the coaches say, the
coaches know what's going on. So I tried to do that and tried to take my grandfather's advice all the way through.
And they were right. You know, coaches know what's going on.
Coaches know the game of football, and you can learn from home and you can learn every year from them. And I learned from my teammates how to play, what techniques and fundamentals to to use, and others that you learn along the way that might take the places. Some that you learned early on and just grew and developed
as a player. And that was due to the the abilities in the in the kindness of my teammates and coaches, assistant coaches had great teammates, high caliber people, tremendous players, coaches, high caliber coaches, tremendous people, and uh, the organization was top shelf. Paul Brown is one of one. Paul Brown's the father of football. In my mind, when I think NFL, I think Paul Brown.
Well, Dave Lapham, thanks for coming on this afternoon, and we've been blessed to have you with the Bengals and Joe knucksall with the Reds. I say, this is a great affection. You're the Joe knucks All of the Bengals, or maybe Joe Knucksall is the Dave Lapham of the Cincinnati Reds. But may you live long and prosper, and may God give you another forty years behind the mic.
Oh Man, Willie, that would be something with that, oh man, I'd take I'll take five. I'd like to I'd like to run five. Well, that'd be great. I know the feeling feel good. Yeah, I know the feel I feel good. I feel like James Brown. I feel good. Yeah, I feel good. Yeah. Willie, you feel good, you look good. You can communicate. You're going another decade, Willie. There's no question about it. Well, it's doubt in my mind.
We'll see what happens. But Dave, we'll talk quickly in the next few months as the Bengals march to the super Bowl and maybe beyond. Dave Lapham, you're a great American and thanks for coming on the Bill Cunningham Show.
Dave. Thank you. I hear that, Willie super Bowl or bust my man.
Let's go, Willie, Let's go, Dave, thank you. Let's continue with more. Bill Cunningham with the Legend Dave Lapham on News Radio seven hundred WLW