Speaker 1: I get everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Underdog Underdog addition, as we
Speaker 1: meet an undrafted rookie who ranks among the most freakishly
Speaker 1: athletic players on the Bengals roster, plus a five questions
Speaker 1: chat with third round draft pick McKinley. Jackson, produces a
Speaker 1: candidate for Quote of the Year, and we look at
Speaker 1: the eleven players on the Bengals Ring of Honor ballot
Speaker 1: with team president Mike Brown. The Bengals Booth Podcast is
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Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since
Speaker 1: the Greater's Ice Cream Truck. My son Sam graduated from
Speaker 1: high school last week and we teamed up with the
Speaker 1: parents of his three closest buddies to throw a graduation
Speaker 1: party for the four boys. The party was a rousing success,
Speaker 1: thanks in no small part to our decision to reserve
Speaker 1: the Greater's ice Cream Truck for the occasion. It's basically
Speaker 1: a Greater Scoop shop on wheels with a wide variety
Speaker 1: of flavors, Chip, Wheelie's, sorbet, you name it. So if
Speaker 1: you're looking for something to make a celebration extra special,
Speaker 1: consider renting the Greater's ice Cream Truck. It puts the
Speaker 1: cherry on top of the Sunday. Now let's get to football.
Speaker 1: One of the most intriguing undrafted rookies on the bench
Speaker 1: roster is wide receiver and kick returner Cole Burgess. He
Speaker 1: played at Sunny Cortland. That stands for State University of
Speaker 1: New York at Cortland. It's a small school about thirty
Speaker 1: minutes from Syracuse University. Syracuse is my alma mater, but
Speaker 1: Cortland is the alma mater of a Bengals coach, and
Speaker 1: that helps explain why Cole Burgess is looking to make
Speaker 1: his NFL dream come true in Cincinnati. Call you won
Speaker 1: a Division three National championship last year at Suny Cortland
Speaker 1: and Upstate New York, which happens to be the alma
Speaker 1: mater of the Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher. Did you
Speaker 1: two have much contact prior to winding up with the Bengals.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but not as much as you would expect. He
Speaker 2: called me pre or post prode and just kind of
Speaker 2: like gave me the scoop on what to expect coming up.
Speaker 2: And then I think he reached out one more time
Speaker 2: before the draft, talking about like, hey, we want you
Speaker 2: here if you don't end up getting drafted. And then
Speaker 2: seventh round rolls around and if it wasn't looking like
Speaker 2: I was getting drafted, and they were talking with my
Speaker 2: agent and we had that deal in place for if
Speaker 2: I didn't get drafted. So right after the draft he
Speaker 2: calls me up and says, you're ready to come over it.
Speaker 1: He'd be a bank. Did you know much about him
Speaker 1: playing at Courtland?
Speaker 2: Not knew about him, but I didn't really know in
Speaker 2: much details. I knew he played there. I saw him
Speaker 2: in the record books in a few spots, and I
Speaker 2: knew he was a Bengals coach, and I knew he
Speaker 2: just got promoted the offensive coordinator, but other than that,
Speaker 2: I really didn't know much about him at all.
Speaker 1: Tell us why you signed with Cincinnati.
Speaker 2: I signed with Cincinnati because a few reasons. I've been
Speaker 2: a follower of Cincinnati, not a fan, but I've been
Speaker 2: following the team. I think they got a lot of
Speaker 2: potential here, and I think there's opportunity for a guy
Speaker 2: like me to come in here and make the roster
Speaker 2: and help the team win on special teams, on offense,
Speaker 2: I think this guy's a limit. And also having a
Speaker 2: coach like coach pitcherd be in my corner, Like there's
Speaker 2: not many teams that would have anybody coaching wise that
Speaker 2: would be looking after me, but just has to have
Speaker 2: that little little advantage over in other teams is definitely
Speaker 2: why I came here.
Speaker 1: Did you start following Cincinnati and when did you start
Speaker 1: following Cincinnati?
Speaker 2: Probably one Burrow and Chase guy here. I was following
Speaker 2: them a lot at LSU. That was one of my
Speaker 2: favorite college college teams to watch, So just following their
Speaker 2: career and just watching their fun to watch.
Speaker 1: So Courtland doesn't have a pro day, how did you
Speaker 1: show NFL scouts what you're capable of doing.
Speaker 2: I actually got recommended to go to two pro days
Speaker 2: at Buffalo and Syracuse, so I was able to able
Speaker 2: to just show my skills like the rest of them.
Speaker 1: And you crushed it at those pro days. A four
Speaker 1: four forty, a forty one and a half inch vertical,
Speaker 1: which is insane. You broad jumped more than eleven feet.
Speaker 1: Did interest from NFL teams skyrocket after you posted those numbers?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was when the ball started rolling and teams
Speaker 2: started to show a little bit interest.
Speaker 1: So you've got good size as well. You're six feet tall,
Speaker 1: one hundred and ninety two pounds and obviously a great athlete.
Speaker 1: Why did you attend Courtland?
Speaker 2: I went to a small high school in upstate New
Speaker 2: York and didn't really get much exposure coming out of
Speaker 2: high school. So the three is the only route I had,
Speaker 2: and Courtland was a good opportunity. I played baseball and
Speaker 2: football there my freshman year, and you know, people always
Speaker 2: ask why I did not transfer, But to be honest,
Speaker 2: I thought Courtland was the best spot for me throughout
Speaker 2: the whole time, and we ended up winning that national
Speaker 2: championship there and I was able to showcase my skills
Speaker 2: on the highest level.
Speaker 1: So you're not just a guy that posted great numbers
Speaker 1: at a pro day. Here are some of your stats
Speaker 1: from the last couple of years at Courtland. Twenty seven
Speaker 1: touchdown catches in your career, you averaged nearly eighteen yards
Speaker 1: a catch. You had three kickoff returns for touchdowns. I
Speaker 1: guess the big question now is level of competition. Is
Speaker 1: that what you are looking to show now that you're
Speaker 1: in a Bengals uniform.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm trying to show it to everybody, including myself.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't know what my capability is against
Speaker 2: these guys, but I know that I have the numbers
Speaker 2: to go up against them, so I like my chances.
Speaker 2: I got confidence, and I'm just ready to go out
Speaker 2: there and just keep playing the same game I've been
Speaker 2: playing my whole life.
Speaker 1: Getting that Division III National championship, you caught the game
Speaker 1: winner with less than two minutes to go. Describe that moment.
Speaker 2: Surreal, just catching it and realizing I was going to score,
Speaker 2: looking at myself on the jumbo tron, looking at my
Speaker 2: teammates faces, looking at the crowd. I mean, then they
Speaker 2: went down and scored again, So that didn't last long,
Speaker 2: but we ended up winning that game, and that was
Speaker 2: just the infestment of my life.
Speaker 1: So while you were at Courtland, you got suspended for
Speaker 1: a year, But these were not high crimes and misdemeanors.
Speaker 1: You threw a Halloween party apparently during COVID and they
Speaker 1: suspended you. How did you overcome that?
Speaker 2: Just that whole time, I never let myself get down
Speaker 2: about the situation. I just knew that I was going
Speaker 2: to make the most out of it. I couldn't change
Speaker 2: my situation, so all I could do was just make
Speaker 2: the most of it. So I just was grinding that
Speaker 2: whole time to make myself a better person, a better athletes.
Speaker 2: So when I did step back on the field, I
Speaker 2: was going to be that much better.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't just a football thing too. They suspended
Speaker 1: you from school, is that correct?
Speaker 2: Yeah, the whole campus.
Speaker 1: I couldn't go in for two semesters. Wow, So what'd
Speaker 1: you do? I had a couple of.
Speaker 2: Jobs, but worked out a lot. That was when I
Speaker 2: was my strongest and my biggest, and just mentally I
Speaker 2: grew in. I started, you know, getting in the religion
Speaker 2: and meditating and just just help trying to make myself
Speaker 2: just grow as a person. As well as as a
Speaker 2: as a like a football player.
Speaker 1: So Cole, as you mentioned, you've had an interest in
Speaker 1: the Bengals since Burrow and Chase arrived. How surreal is
Speaker 1: it going to be to catch passes from Joe and
Speaker 1: be in meeting rooms with Jamar.
Speaker 2: I don't know yet. I know it's gonna be crazy,
Speaker 2: but it's not gonna hit me until it hits me,
Speaker 2: you know, every time I walk in the locker room
Speaker 2: or sometimes I just be going it like.
Speaker 1: Oh there, But yeah, it's gonna be cool. I'm excited
Speaker 1: to meet him, so I get working with them, Excited
Speaker 1: to see you do it. Welcome to Cincinnati, best look
Speaker 1: going forward.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: The media was allowed to attend practice on Tuesday, and
Speaker 1: for the first time, we saw the Bengals working on
Speaker 1: the NFL's new kickoff format. It's going to take some
Speaker 1: getting used to. The coverage team lines up at the
Speaker 1: other team's forty yard line. That's twenty five yards ahead
Speaker 1: of the ball. Nine members of the return team are
Speaker 1: lined up between five and ten yards away. They're in
Speaker 1: close proximity in order to cut down on dangerous high
Speaker 1: speed collisions, and those players can't move until the ball
Speaker 1: hits the ground or one of the two kick returners
Speaker 1: who have to line up between the goal line and
Speaker 1: the twenty Cole Burgess was among the players fielding kickoffs
Speaker 1: at practice, along with Chase Brown, Trayveon Williams, Chris Evans,
Speaker 1: and Jermaine Burton. Speaking of Burton, the third round draft
Speaker 1: pick joined me on last week's podcast to answer five
Speaker 1: unusual questions. I've been hitting the rookies with questions that
Speaker 1: they haven't been getting in other interviews. This week, the
Speaker 1: Bengals other third round draft pick might have given me
Speaker 1: the quote of the year. All right, time for five
Speaker 1: questions with rookie McKinley Jackson. Question number one, has anybody
Speaker 1: ever told you that your name sounds like a US
Speaker 1: president McKinley Jackson.
Speaker 4: I get this from a lot of people, Will McKinley
Speaker 4: or introjection. Yeah, so, I mean, I'd be like, Mama,
Speaker 4: just get me a unique name.
Speaker 1: I can't help your So, your first name, McKinley, has
Speaker 1: two ends, which is also a little bit unusual. Is
Speaker 1: there a story behind being named McKinley.
Speaker 4: Yeah, just some uniqueness, you know. I don't feel like
Speaker 4: it hurt the name, but you know, it's just more
Speaker 4: to sign on my signature. So like that's that's better.
Speaker 4: I could practice my curse will little better.
Speaker 1: Oh, the graph seekers would like to see your cursive.
Speaker 1: All right, question number two. You're a big man six, two, three,
Speaker 1: twenty six. At Texas A and M. You did not
Speaker 1: wear a big man number. You were thirty five and
Speaker 1: then you were number three. Why those numbers?
Speaker 4: So thirty five was is you know, a last tar
Speaker 4: number for me? But you know I made most of it.
Speaker 4: I think I put a good name on that number.
Speaker 4: But number three year is a significant to my best
Speaker 4: friend who passed away with my first media college from
Speaker 4: back home, so you know, I awarded to symbolize him.
Speaker 4: I've been waiting off my first men to get the number,
Speaker 4: but you know, I mean I had to wait my
Speaker 4: turn for it, and I think it just holds a
Speaker 4: special media in my heart.
Speaker 1: I don't just you know, it wasn't just to be warned.
Speaker 4: It was more to be you know, signor five for him,
Speaker 4: and you know, just embraced him, and you know, I
Speaker 4: know he's thinking about me.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Had he worn the number three in high school?
Speaker 1: All right, we're doing five questions with McKinley Jackson. Question
Speaker 1: number three, you were one of the top defensive line
Speaker 1: recruits in the country. He basically could have gone anywhere
Speaker 1: out of high school. What coach was it hardest to
Speaker 1: deliver the news to that you weren't coming to his school.
Speaker 4: I don't say them names, but uh, you know, it's
Speaker 4: it's one guy that, like, you know, definitely is especially
Speaker 4: guy in college football. I feel like, you know, I
Speaker 4: made a bus decision for me, but you know, I
Speaker 4: mean I would love to, you know, be coach barn
Speaker 4: but at the end of the day, I had to
Speaker 4: make a decision for me. But you know, how could
Speaker 4: it was to him and his team, and I appreciate
Speaker 4: them for you know, you can give an opportunity, especially
Speaker 4: coming from a small town like I did.
Speaker 1: But you don't want to share any names, all right?
Speaker 1: Fair enough? Question number four, you were mister foot in
Speaker 1: the state of Mississippi. I read somewhere that you are
Speaker 1: like an expert on Mississippi high school football legends. Is
Speaker 1: that true, sir? Uh?
Speaker 4: You know, I just like looking at the history of
Speaker 4: it because I feel like we, uh under the radar
Speaker 4: when it comes to high school football. Talent and especially
Speaker 4: in the NFL nowadays. So you know, I got to like,
Speaker 4: you know, broadcast that up to the world. And I know,
Speaker 4: like we're one of those guys, Like we might have
Speaker 4: produce the most guys, but we produced some real some
Speaker 4: real talent.
Speaker 1: So what do you know about them? Typically their hometown,
Speaker 1: their high school, their achievements, but do you know high school?
Speaker 4: You know, and effect they're FM Misissippi like guys like
Speaker 4: leaning down like a J. Brown, the Mario Davies, so DK,
Speaker 4: Mitchale Woodie, gay guys like that, you know, just represent
Speaker 4: them and let them know, like Mississippi has a lot
Speaker 4: of a lot of powerful talents, to include myself now
Speaker 4: camp makers of you know, the list goes on and on.
Speaker 4: So you know, I'm just I'm glad to be part
Speaker 4: of the part of the list right now.
Speaker 1: All right, where's AJ Brown from?
Speaker 4: He's from Starkville, Chris Jones, Chris Jones, he's from I
Speaker 4: want to say, I ain't gonna say Columbia. He's from
Speaker 4: both the.
Speaker 1: Macon Houston or Houston. I don't know how it's pronounced,
Speaker 1: Mississippi Houston. Yeah, we go back to Walter Payton. I
Speaker 1: say Columbia. Correct, Okay, all right, you know you know
Speaker 1: you're Mississippi legend. Yes you did. All right? Fifth and
Speaker 1: final question, tell me one thing about you that not
Speaker 1: that many people know.
Speaker 4: When it comes with football, I'm a real but I don't.
Speaker 4: I don't play this game really nice at all. You know,
Speaker 4: I have the feel it's all fun. It's fun and
Speaker 4: survivors chier.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: I'm a great teammate, goods to be around, but I'm
Speaker 4: gonna feel I'm gonna pel But like I like to win,
Speaker 4: I hate to lose a little wins, So you know
Speaker 4: I get it. I put that on my teammate. You know,
Speaker 4: stress him a lot right now. I'm trying to earn
Speaker 4: that role of like you know, I've been a leader
Speaker 4: and you know, really standing my power. But you know,
Speaker 4: I want to push it and maximize everyone's a potentially
Speaker 4: each and every day. And I feel like, you know,
Speaker 4: that's how I gotta be Like Jordan did it, Kobe
Speaker 4: did it. It's reason why he howled the ball. It
Speaker 4: wasn't because he was a ball, because he was. You
Speaker 4: want to be a winner, so I got I took
Speaker 4: them in so overn football.
Speaker 1: When it comes to football. I'm a real butthole? Is
Speaker 1: that the quote of the year? According all right, now,
Speaker 1: very presidential from McKinley Jackson, but a great quote. I
Speaker 1: appreciate your time. It's great to have you in Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: Best of luck going forward.
Speaker 4: So thank you appreciation.
Speaker 1: Here's hoping that the guys that try to block McKinley
Speaker 1: this year know exactly what he means by that quote.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
Speaker 1: Proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by
Speaker 1: Alta Fiber, future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business,
Speaker 1: and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health
Speaker 1: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Last week, voting
Speaker 1: got underway for the Bengals twenty twenty four Ring of
Speaker 1: Honor class. There are eleven former players on the ballot,
Speaker 1: and who better to discuss them than team president Mike Brown.
Speaker 1: This is an edited version of an interview I did
Speaker 1: with Mike when the Bengals formed the Ring of Honor
Speaker 1: three years ago. We moved to the all time leading
Speaker 1: scorer in team history and the Bengals kicker for thirteen years,
Speaker 1: wearing that little size five shoe on his kicking foot.
Speaker 1: Jim Breach.
Speaker 3: We came up with Jimmy. He was let go by
Speaker 3: Oakland and I don't know what all befell him out there,
Speaker 3: but he came here and he wasn't long as kickers go,
Speaker 3: but he was a great competitor. You could turn up
Speaker 3: the heat on him and it didn't matter. We'd be
Speaker 3: in a game where we had to have a field
Speaker 3: go to win it, and when he was kicking you
Speaker 3: didn't have much concern about it because he just was
Speaker 3: good for it. He made him all seem that might
Speaker 3: seem to the casual obs is nothing so special. Why
Speaker 3: shouldn't he That's what he's paid to do, they might say, Well,
Speaker 3: believe me, that's not what most of them do do.
Speaker 3: They don't manage to hold up when the pressure's on.
Speaker 3: But Jimmy did for us for a good number of years.
Speaker 3: I think he still has the most points of anyone
Speaker 3: ever with the Bengals.
Speaker 1: Never missed a kick in overtime, a perfect nine for nine.
Speaker 1: Jim Breach. I've heard the next player on the list
Speaker 1: referred to as the toughest player pound for pound in
Speaker 1: team history. Running back James Brooks.
Speaker 3: James was a player we acquired from San Diego. We
Speaker 3: traded Pete Johnson, who was a fine player, and we
Speaker 3: got in return James Brooks. They were opposites. Pete was
Speaker 3: a big power back. James was an offsized, asked quick scooter.
Speaker 3: He could catch the ball, had wonderful hands, great receiver.
Speaker 3: He was excellent running too. You would have misjudged him
Speaker 3: if you looked at him and said, well, he's too
Speaker 3: small to be a great runner. But he was a
Speaker 3: great runner, not just outside but inside as well. And
Speaker 3: he did one other thing that was exceptional. He was
Speaker 3: a terrific pass protector. He was small, but he knew
Speaker 3: how to go about pass protection. He took these rushers on.
Speaker 3: They could be big people, defensive lineman, and he would
Speaker 3: pop right up into him and joke them. He didn't
Speaker 3: back down. He wasn't afraid, and he knew which ones
Speaker 3: to pick up. That too, takes a little bit of skill.
Speaker 3: You have to to mount, and he could and did so.
Speaker 3: He had everything that a back should have. He could
Speaker 3: run the ball, he could pass protect, he could catch
Speaker 3: the ball, and you referred to him as tough. Well,
Speaker 3: I don't know for sure sometimes exactly what tough is,
Speaker 3: but if you're talking about it meaning a football player
Speaker 3: who did everything ask of him, James Brooks was that guy.
Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty one, your top two draft picks were
Speaker 1: wide receivers, the sculpted David Versa out of Kansas in
Speaker 1: round one, and then a skinny, gangly kid out of
Speaker 1: Florida in round two who turned out to pay pretty
Speaker 1: darn good. Chris Collinsworth.
Speaker 3: A story on Chris goes back to when they had
Speaker 3: what was the equivalent of the Combine in those days,
Speaker 3: it was down in Tampa. They weigh and measure players
Speaker 3: and work them out. They did that back then differently,
Speaker 3: but they did it then as they do it today
Speaker 3: over in Indianapolis. When we have the combine. Chris walked
Speaker 3: out on the not the stage as it would be today,
Speaker 3: but he walked out in front of the assembled scouts,
Speaker 3: which were probably twenty some in the room, looking up
Speaker 3: at the scales where the players would be weighed. And
Speaker 3: Chris got on the scales and you could hear the snickers,
Speaker 3: and Chris understood, he knew what was going on in
Speaker 3: their minds, and he, to his credit, laughed and they
Speaker 3: laughed with him. I forgot what he weighed, but it
Speaker 3: certainly wasn't very much. He was tall six or four
Speaker 3: plus and just as skinny as you could draw one up.
Speaker 3: So when it came to the draft, we picked David
Speaker 3: Verser in the first round, who had all the majoraballs
Speaker 3: you could imagine, very fast, good size, very productive and
Speaker 3: a player in college. And then in the second round
Speaker 3: Lindy and Fonte, who was an assistant coach for us,
Speaker 3: the equivalent of the offensive coordinator, if you will. I
Speaker 3: don't think we gave him that title. No one had
Speaker 3: titles back in those days. He argued for Chris and
Speaker 3: my father, who could say yay or nay on the
Speaker 3: draft as to which player we took or didn't take.
Speaker 3: He kept hearing Lindy when we were in the first round,
Speaker 3: and then in the second round he didn't give up.
Speaker 3: He still went on. My father said, oh, will take
Speaker 3: him too. We doubled up on receivers, and what a
Speaker 3: good thing it was for us that we did. When
Speaker 3: Chris came on, I recall being out at Spinnyfield, our
Speaker 3: practice site, and watching and you knew immediately you had
Speaker 3: a special player.
Speaker 4: He was.
Speaker 3: For a big guy, tall guy, quick. He could move
Speaker 3: sideways quickly, and he had acceleration, he had top end speed,
Speaker 3: he could catch everything, and he seemed to have his
Speaker 3: wits about him all the time. You knew right away
Speaker 3: that you had a special player. And occasionally you have
Speaker 3: that experience. You draft the guy, he comes in and
Speaker 3: you just know you have one. And when you get
Speaker 3: the good ones, that's what makes your team special. And
Speaker 3: he was one of those. A great receiver.
Speaker 1: He played the role of country Bumpkin early in his career,
Speaker 1: but went on to get a law degree. He's had
Speaker 1: a great broadcasting career. He's the honor of Pro Football Focus.
Speaker 1: Obviously a guy that's had a tremendous career after football.
Speaker 3: Yes, he's been very successful in his endeavors after football.
Speaker 3: I remember what you were referring to Country Bumpkin. He
Speaker 3: put on an act if you will that aus shucks,
Speaker 3: poor country boy me. How could you expect me to
Speaker 3: know anything? And that's when he was being interviewed by
Speaker 3: the media. But he wasn't that way with the guys
Speaker 3: or anybody else. That was just something that he tried
Speaker 3: out for a while, and to his credit discarded not
Speaker 3: soon enough came his real self, which is all you
Speaker 3: would need to be very successful in a media career.
Speaker 3: And just look at the success he's had.
Speaker 1: We are reminiscing about the Bengals Ring of Honor candidates
Speaker 1: with President Mike Brown. The team's all time leading rusher
Speaker 1: is Corey Dylan, who ran angry for seven years in
Speaker 1: Cincinnati and had two of the best games of all
Speaker 1: time two hundred and forty six yards as a rookie
Speaker 1: and then two seventy eight against the Broncos in two thousand,
Speaker 1: an NFL single game record at the time.
Speaker 3: I remember that game. They couldn't stop us, and Corey
Speaker 3: just ran right over top of him. It was so
Speaker 3: bad that the next week they fired their defensive coordinator.
Speaker 3: I thought that was somewhat unfair. Corey was power back,
Speaker 3: and when you first saw him, what you saw was
Speaker 3: a guy that ran heavy. He was a two hundred
Speaker 3: and thirty pound guy, and when he ran he had balance.
Speaker 3: He seemed to sink into the ground as he ran.
Speaker 3: You hit him and you were hitting a stump. He
Speaker 3: had the ability to run inside, the ability to run outside,
Speaker 3: and you say, angry I don't know if that's exactly
Speaker 3: the right word, but determined, there's no question about that.
Speaker 3: And he did have emotion. He carried it with him.
Speaker 4: He was our.
Speaker 3: Top runner of all time. And unfortunately we couldn't hang
Speaker 3: on and we couldn't manage him. At the end, he
Speaker 3: got out of sorts about what I don't even remember,
Speaker 3: but we couldn't keep him content, so we felt obligated
Speaker 3: to trade him. We traded him up to a Belichick
Speaker 3: in New England, and for them, he took the Patriots
Speaker 3: to two Super Bowls. So he did it here, he
Speaker 3: did it there. He could do it period wherever he was.
Speaker 3: And yes, a top player, a great player.
Speaker 1: I remember you describing observing him. I think it was
Speaker 1: at Spinnyfield early in his Bengals tenure, and it was
Speaker 1: like the earth moved when he got going. Oh.
Speaker 3: I remember being on the sideline and he ran by
Speaker 3: after he had caught a ball out wide, and he
Speaker 3: was close to me, and as he ran by, I
Speaker 3: honestly felt the ground shake underfoot, and that registered with me.
Speaker 3: I've never had that experience with another back. But you
Speaker 3: wouldn't have wanted to tackle him if you were a cornerback.
Speaker 3: I guarantee you.
Speaker 1: That another of the game changers in franchise history was
Speaker 1: David Fulcher. You didn't see safeties that were six three,
Speaker 1: two hundred and thirty eight pounds who could be used
Speaker 1: in so many ways before him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he was a big safety, to say the least.
Speaker 3: We Dick le Bow was our secondary coach, and he
Speaker 3: took folchure and used him in a way that got
Speaker 3: out of David what he had to give. But that
Speaker 3: sounds as though I'm describing a player who was slow.
Speaker 3: He wasn't slow. He was just big. And when I
Speaker 3: say big at the end of his career, I don't
Speaker 3: think I'm exaggerating when I say he was actually at
Speaker 3: two sixty. Tell me when you last saw a safety
Speaker 3: at two sixty. The way they used him, the way
Speaker 3: we used him was we had him up closer to
Speaker 3: the line of scrimmage as much as possible. And not
Speaker 3: that he couldn't play deep. He could, but up front
Speaker 3: he was like an extra linebacker, and he would nub
Speaker 3: him when he hit him, they were hit and stopped.
Speaker 3: He was an exceptional player, one of a kind. I've
Speaker 3: never seen one quite like him before or since.
Speaker 1: A tenth round draft pick in nineteen eighty three, became
Speaker 1: one of the best defensive players in franchise history, a
Speaker 1: guy who led the team in tackles five times as
Speaker 1: a noseguard, which is unheard of.
Speaker 3: Tim CRUMRAI, Yeah, Timmy came to us out of Wisconsin.
Speaker 3: He wasn't anything that we thought much about when he came.
Speaker 3: He was off size small for a defensive tackle. When
Speaker 3: they went home. This was after the draft. He came
Speaker 3: when they went home. We get together with the players later.
Speaker 3: We brought him in for some work and we didn't
Speaker 3: even bother to tell him to come because we didn't
Speaker 3: think he could do anything much. But he came anyway,
Speaker 3: which showed you how he saw the world. And he
Speaker 3: was dead right. He could do a whole heck of
Speaker 3: a lot. He became a great player, and he had
Speaker 3: tremendous competitiveness. He just would compete until he dropped. He
Speaker 3: had no give in him. He was a high school wrestler,
Speaker 3: college wrestler, and that showed. I've always respected the kids
Speaker 3: players who were wrestlers because in my book, that's the
Speaker 3: toughest sport. Of all those guys, they can't quit because
Speaker 3: if they get quit. They just get to malledge. They
Speaker 3: learned not to. Timmy was that way. He didn't have
Speaker 3: any quit in him. And I remember, of course, in
Speaker 3: the Super Bowl game down Miami when he broke his leg,
Speaker 3: and that was a tragedy for him and us both.
Speaker 3: Without him, we weren't quite the same defensively, and if
Speaker 3: he hadn't been hurt, we would have had a better
Speaker 3: chance in that game.
Speaker 1: My broadcast partner, Dave Lapham was smart enough off the
Speaker 1: field to get admitted into Harvard although he chose Syracuse,
Speaker 1: and smart enough on the field to play all five
Speaker 1: offensive line spots in the same game multiple times.
Speaker 3: Dave was smart enough, no one questions that, but that's
Speaker 3: never what stood out about him in my mind. He
Speaker 3: went beyond that. He was built like a football player.
Speaker 3: The first time I ever saw him, he was in
Speaker 3: his shorts and a training table at the Blue Gray
Speaker 3: game down in Alabama, and jeez, I looked at him
Speaker 3: and I said, this guy, he's built like they're supposed
Speaker 3: to be. Big go over. He was an excellent player
Speaker 3: and he could play anywhere you needed him. But it
Speaker 3: went beyond that. He has become someone tied to the
Speaker 3: Bengals in his own special way. He was a player
Speaker 3: for us and later he was an announcer for us.
Speaker 3: He can tell our story. He's been around here close
Speaker 3: on to fifty years as a player and as an announcer.
Speaker 3: He knows all the guys that were here from the
Speaker 3: beginning on, and he can tell about them. He's a
Speaker 3: good storyteller. I know this doesn't have much to do
Speaker 3: with being in the Ring of Honor, but as a personality,
Speaker 3: he liked being around him. He's fun and that isn't
Speaker 3: something unique with me. Everyone feels that way. They gravitate
Speaker 3: towards them because he just makes the occasion happier. I'm
Speaker 3: glad he's in this list. He's deserving.
Speaker 1: Could not agree with you more. Clapp was the starting
Speaker 1: left guard on the nineteen eighty one Super Bowl team.
Speaker 1: The starting right guard in both Super Bowls, as a
Speaker 1: matter of fact, was Max Montoya, probably the greatest guard
Speaker 1: in franchise history.
Speaker 3: He was a great player. Max had a cherubic face.
Speaker 3: You would have thought he was innocent as a lamb,
Speaker 3: but he had a dark heart As a football player.
Speaker 3: He showed no mercy. He was rough and he could
Speaker 3: dish it out he could take it. When he was
Speaker 3: on the field, there was no quarter given or asked.
Speaker 3: But for us, he was with a great group of
Speaker 3: offensive linemen. That group that he was a member of
Speaker 3: was my favorite of all time for us. And Max
Speaker 3: could not only block straight ahead, he could pull and
Speaker 3: run to the outside, where he was very effective, probably
Speaker 3: the best pulling guard we ever had. I have a
Speaker 3: high regard for Max. He's done well with his life
Speaker 3: after football, and I respect him. I respect him as
Speaker 3: a player and as a man.
Speaker 1: One of the many great nicknames in team history is
Speaker 1: Leaping Lamar, for Lamar Parrish, who scored thirteen touchdowns on
Speaker 1: returns and recoveries and set a team record by averaging
Speaker 1: nearly nineteen yards per punt return in nineteen seventy four.
Speaker 3: Lamar deserves more people remember him than do I don't
Speaker 3: know why that's so. During his time here I think
Speaker 3: was about seven years he played for us, he was
Speaker 3: the most talented cornerback we ever had, and we've had
Speaker 3: some great cornerbacks, but he was also the best returner
Speaker 3: we ever had. And the one story that we stood
Speaker 3: out in my mind about Lamar was when we played
Speaker 3: Washington here, they had a good team, and we had
Speaker 3: something like three yards total offense. We didn't move the
Speaker 3: ball at all. We won the game. We went it
Speaker 3: on returns. Lamar on one punt return when to a
Speaker 3: group of players that looked like a ball of players
Speaker 3: that he dove into and somehow he ran out the
Speaker 3: back end of all this accumulated group of players and
Speaker 3: went on without losing stride for a touchdown. It was
Speaker 3: a very odd looking play. And when he came off
Speaker 3: the field, my dad said, Lamar, how did it look
Speaker 3: when you ran inside with all those players? Always said, Coach,
Speaker 3: it was dark in there. How I explained, And my
Speaker 3: dad loved that story, and I loved it because he
Speaker 3: loved it.
Speaker 1: But it was just.
Speaker 3: A description about Lamar, who could do exceptional things at
Speaker 3: his position. He had exceptional, unique, almost quickness. He could
Speaker 3: cover like a blanket, receivers didn't get open on him,
Speaker 3: and he could play the ball. We had on the
Speaker 3: other side. Kenny was over there, and we had two
Speaker 3: corners equal of any team ever.
Speaker 1: Long before there were great receiving tight ends like Tony
Speaker 1: Gonzalez and Travis Kelcey. The Bengals helped pioneer moving the
Speaker 1: tight end all around the formation with a twelfth round
Speaker 1: draft pick named Bob Trumpy.
Speaker 3: Trumpy had a storied relationship with the Bengals as a player.
Speaker 3: As an announcer, he became a public figure here locally
Speaker 3: as a radio call in show host. He was good
Speaker 3: at that. But as a player when he started out here,
Speaker 3: he was probably off size for where we put him
Speaker 3: a tight end, but he could really run and he
Speaker 3: would take cover two. That's when they have two safeties
Speaker 3: in the middle of the field, run right through it
Speaker 3: and they couldn't keep up with them. Safeties couldn't keep
Speaker 3: up with them alone own the linebackers. He made big
Speaker 3: plays for us, helped that Greg Cook was the quarterback
Speaker 3: for him one year when Greg was our quarterback before
Speaker 3: he got hurt, and then Kenny Anderson came along. Bob
Speaker 3: bought the attention of other teams that we played at.
Speaker 3: Kansas City, for example, at that time, was the top
Speaker 3: team in the league, and they won to trade for
Speaker 3: him right away after we played them, and I always
Speaker 3: remembered how insistent they were, and that was a no
Speaker 3: go with us. We had Bob for a long career
Speaker 3: here as a tight end and he was a receiving
Speaker 3: tight end, but a willing blocker. He would face up
Speaker 3: on guys and he wasn't afraid to do it. But
Speaker 3: as a receiver was as good as they came at
Speaker 3: his position.
Speaker 1: Finally, a linebacker from your alma mater, Dartmouth College, who
Speaker 1: was a Bengals starter for fourteen years, Reggie Williams.
Speaker 3: Reggie and I both went to Dartmouth, so when he
Speaker 3: came along up there, I was anxious to get him
Speaker 3: for us. I knew about him, and Dartmouth isn't so
Speaker 3: much a powerhouse as a football team and Ivy league team.
Speaker 3: I think Dartmouth did win the national championship in the
Speaker 3: twenties one time, but Reggie came along much after that,
Speaker 3: and at Dartmouth today he's considered the best player they've
Speaker 3: ever had here. He was very athletic, very willing, very
Speaker 3: competitive and determined, and he was a steady player for
Speaker 3: us for I think for teen or fifteen years, whatever
Speaker 3: it was. It played a long time, and he was
Speaker 3: smart as well as tough.
Speaker 1: This has been a treat for me. I really appreciate
Speaker 1: your time. Thank you very much.
Speaker 3: We'll enjoy doing it too.
Speaker 1: Two of those eleven players will be selected by season
Speaker 1: ticket members and suite holders this year, joining Paul Brown,
Speaker 1: Anthony Munoz, Ken Anderson, Willie Anderson, Ken Riley, Isaac Curtis
Speaker 1: Boomersiasin and Chad Johnson in the Ring of Honor. They
Speaker 1: will be inducted at halftime of the Monday night home
Speaker 1: game against Washington on September twenty third. That's week three
Speaker 1: of the season. That's going to do it for This
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Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast.