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Bengals Booth Podcast: Unforgettable · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Higgin everybody. I'm Dan Hoard and thanks for downloading The
0:06
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast, the Unfogetable edition as we pay tribute
0:15
Speaker 1: to the two newest members of the Bengals Ring of Honor,
0:18
Speaker 1: Bob Trumpy and James Brooks. The Bengals Booth Podcast is
0:23
Speaker 1: brought to you by pay Corps, Proud to be the
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Speaker 1: Bengals official hr software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof
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Speaker 1: fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business and community
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Speaker 1: to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best
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Speaker 1: care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official
0:41
Speaker 1: healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a quick reminder
0:45
Speaker 1: that you can have the latest edition of this podcast
0:47
Speaker 1: delivered write to your phone, tablet or computer by subscribing
0:51
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since
0:56
Speaker 1: the Joe Burrow Christmas ornament several weeks ago popped up
1:00
Speaker 1: on social media announcing that Hallmark would be selling a
1:04
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow Christmas ornament. It's part of a new Football
1:07
Speaker 1: Legends collection that includes Chris Jones of the Chiefs and TJ.
1:12
Speaker 1: Watt of the Steelers. I immediately texted a picture of
1:16
Speaker 1: the Burrow ornament to my wife and asked if I
1:18
Speaker 1: needed a purchase one. Her response was God, yes, so
1:23
Speaker 1: I did, and it arrived last week. I would describe
1:27
Speaker 1: it as more of a figurine than an ornament. It
1:30
Speaker 1: features Joe in uniform, rolling out and getting ready to
1:33
Speaker 1: throw a pass, and it's fairly hefty. It will require
1:37
Speaker 1: a sturdy branch to hang on the tree. For the
1:40
Speaker 1: most part, the artwork is outstanding, although my wife thinks
1:44
Speaker 1: the face under the helmet looks more like Andy Dalton
1:47
Speaker 1: than Joe Burrow. If you're intrigued, I'll give you this
1:50
Speaker 1: warning for a Christmas ornament. It is expensive. It's twenty
1:54
Speaker 1: nine bucks on the Hallmark website and with shipping it
1:58
Speaker 1: was close to forty. But I'd do it again in
2:01
Speaker 1: a heartbeat, and I look forward to Joe Burrow having
2:05
Speaker 1: a prominent spot in the middle of our tree this
2:08
Speaker 1: Christmas and for years to come. Now time to turn
2:12
Speaker 1: our attention to the Bengals fifth Ring of Honor class.
2:16
Speaker 1: This year, the team added five new names to the ballot,
2:19
Speaker 1: Geno Atkins, Carlos Dunlap, aj Green, Leon Hall and Andrew Whitworth.
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Speaker 1: But when the votes were tallied. Season ticket members chose
2:28
Speaker 1: two legends from the original ballot, Bob Trumpy and James Brooks.
2:34
Speaker 1: Trumpy was an original Bengal, a twelfth round draft pick
2:37
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty eight who caught the franchise's first ever
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Speaker 1: touchdown pass from John Stofa. Fittingly, it was a fifty
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Speaker 1: eight yard strike that symbolized how Trumpy helped revolutionize the
2:50
Speaker 1: tight end position with his exceptional speed and ability to
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Speaker 1: stretch the field. The four time Pro bowler averaged more
2:58
Speaker 1: than fifteen yards a catch in his career. After ten
3:02
Speaker 1: seasons with the Bengals, Bob got into broadcasting, where he
3:05
Speaker 1: called Super Bowls, the Olympics, the PGA Tour, and much
3:10
Speaker 1: more for NBC Sports. Bob is in the Pro Football
3:13
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame for his lifetime achievement in broadcasting. Here's
3:17
Speaker 1: Bengals team president Mike Brown.
3:21
Speaker 2: Trump. They had a storied relationship with the Bengals as
3:29
Speaker 2: a player. As an announcer, he became a public figure
3:35
Speaker 2: here locally as a radio call in show host. He
3:41
Speaker 2: was good at that, but as a player when he
3:44
Speaker 2: started out here, he was probably off size for where
3:49
Speaker 2: we put him tight end, but he could really run
3:54
Speaker 2: and he would take cover two. That's when they have
3:58
Speaker 2: two safeties in the middle of the field, run right
4:00
Speaker 2: through it and they couldn't keep up with them. Safeties
4:04
Speaker 2: couldn't keep up with them alone, let alone the linebackers.
4:09
Speaker 2: He made big plays for us. It helped that Greg
4:13
Speaker 2: Cook was the quarterback for him one year when Greg
4:16
Speaker 2: was our quarterback before he got hurt, and then Kenny
4:22
Speaker 2: Anderson came along. Bob bought the attention of other teams
4:28
Speaker 2: that we played at. Kansas City, for example, at that time,
4:32
Speaker 2: was the top team in the league and they won
4:37
Speaker 2: to trade for him right away after we played them,
4:40
Speaker 2: and I always remembered how insistent they were, and that
4:46
Speaker 2: was a no go with us. We had Bob for
4:49
Speaker 2: a long career here as a tight end, and he
4:54
Speaker 2: was a receiving tight end, but a willing blocker. He
4:59
Speaker 2: was face up on guys and he wasn't afraid to
5:03
Speaker 2: do it. But as a receiver, he was as good
5:07
Speaker 2: as they came at his position.
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Speaker 1: While Bob passed away just last fall in November of
5:13
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, he will now forever live on in
5:16
Speaker 1: the Bengals Ring of honor. We were lucky to have
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Speaker 1: many great conversations with him over the years, and today
5:22
Speaker 1: we look back on a couple of my favorites that
5:25
Speaker 1: showcase his skillful storytelling. First, here's my fun facts interview
5:30
Speaker 1: with Bob from November of twenty sixteen. Time for some
5:35
Speaker 1: fun facts with one of the great players in Bengals history,
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Speaker 1: a four time Pro Bowl tight end and went on
5:40
Speaker 1: to have a great career in broadcasting, the legendary Bob Trumpy,
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Speaker 1: greatest twelfth round draft pick in NFL history. I would say,
5:49
Speaker 1: how did you learn that you were selected by the Bengals?
5:52
Speaker 1: I remember was something bizarre.
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Speaker 3: I was working as a bill collector for a beneficial
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Speaker 3: finance US as six oh seven Hill Street. Don't tell
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Speaker 3: me how. I remember that. It was in downtown Los
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Speaker 3: Angeles and my wife called me and said, you just
6:12
Speaker 3: got drafted. And I said that's impossible. I just got
6:15
Speaker 3: out of the Navy. She said, no, no, no, by
6:18
Speaker 3: some team in Cincinnati. Is that Ohio? And I said yeah.
6:24
Speaker 3: She said it's the Cincinnati Beagles and I said, are
6:29
Speaker 3: you kidding? She said no, I'm not kidding. And I said,
6:34
Speaker 3: how do you know that? He said, there's a telegram
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Speaker 3: here from Paul Brown the congratulations You've been drafted in
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Speaker 3: the twelfth round by the Cincinnati Bengals. And I said,
6:45
Speaker 3: you're sure you're not kidding me? This is no joke.
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Speaker 3: She said, yes, yes, aren't you excited? And I said
6:51
Speaker 3: absolutely I am. And I walked into the boss of
6:54
Speaker 3: beneficial finance at six oh seven Hill Street in downtown
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Speaker 3: Los Angeles and said, I quit. I might mention I
7:02
Speaker 3: had no clue how they knew about me or what
7:06
Speaker 3: the connection was between the Cincinnati Bengals and one kid
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Speaker 3: named Trumpy. And when I made the team, my wife
7:12
Speaker 3: and I moved in an apartment on Dalworth Road, and
7:16
Speaker 3: another person there was Al Locasel with his wife and
7:20
Speaker 3: he was a director of player personnel. And we're sitting
7:24
Speaker 3: down on the front stoop one night having a beer
7:26
Speaker 3: and I said, Al, who's responsible for me being drafted?
7:31
Speaker 3: He said me? And I said, what did you know
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Speaker 3: about me? Said? I saw you twice, once on the
7:37
Speaker 3: beach in Daytona and once planned for the University of
7:41
Speaker 3: Utah against Houston. And I just wrote your name down
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Speaker 3: and kept track. And the draft twelfth round, Paul Brown says,
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Speaker 3: offense receiver, somebody with some speed, and he said, I'm
7:53
Speaker 3: flipping through a spiral notebook and I get to the
7:57
Speaker 3: t's and there's your name. Some of the research they
8:00
Speaker 3: did on me. That was it.
8:02
Speaker 1: When he said on the beach in Daytona, what was
8:04
Speaker 1: he referring to?
8:05
Speaker 3: He was a scout for the San Diego Chargers. The
8:08
Speaker 3: guy that owned the motel were four fraternity brothers and
8:12
Speaker 3: I were staying for spring break. Was owned by a
8:16
Speaker 3: guy named bud Asher. Bud Asher ran owned and coached
8:20
Speaker 3: a minor league football team in Daytona Beach. We didn't
8:24
Speaker 3: know that, just pure coincidence that we stopped there. A
8:29
Speaker 3: guy comes up to me, some kid I had in
8:32
Speaker 3: Illinois hooded sweatshirt on. He said, I understand you're a
8:35
Speaker 3: receiver at the University of Illinois. Said yeah. This was
8:37
Speaker 3: between my freshman and sophomore year. He said, I'm trying
8:40
Speaker 3: to make this team. Would you mind catching some passes? Format? Oh,
8:45
Speaker 3: I don't mind at all. Big wide beach, beautiful shirt.
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Speaker 3: Get done. Go back up by the pool. And one
8:52
Speaker 3: of my fraternity brothers said, some guy was asking about you,
8:56
Speaker 3: and I said, what do you mean asking about me? Well,
9:00
Speaker 3: the quarterback was trying out, not me. He said no,
9:03
Speaker 3: he was asking who you were, and he had a
9:05
Speaker 3: big ring on. It was al locusl.
9:09
Speaker 1: We're doing fun facts with Bob Trumpy. You used the
9:12
Speaker 1: expression big receiver, tall and fast but not heavy. What
9:16
Speaker 1: did you weigh when you first showed up at camp?
9:18
Speaker 4: Too?
9:19
Speaker 3: Eight? Legitimately, But I weighed in with a ten pound
9:22
Speaker 3: weight in a towel on a shoe string underneath. So
9:27
Speaker 3: I thought the first meeting. We had a meeting first,
9:30
Speaker 3: as was always the case with Paul, and everybody was listening.
9:35
Speaker 3: I was counting. I'm not joking. I was counting the
9:39
Speaker 3: number of tight ends and the number of wide receivers,
9:43
Speaker 3: and he went through the numbers as to what numbers
9:47
Speaker 3: they were going to keep at what positions and who
9:50
Speaker 3: might that be? And I thought, she was you know,
9:55
Speaker 3: if I can be in both those lines, I got
9:58
Speaker 3: a better chance to make the ball club. So the
10:01
Speaker 3: first night I lost a roommate wall he's got he
10:07
Speaker 3: was cut before the first practice. But I gained an
10:10
Speaker 3: idea as to how I could be in both lines,
10:13
Speaker 3: and I the first year I weighed with that ten
10:17
Speaker 3: pound weight. Now make the team. Last game of the season,
10:21
Speaker 3: we played the New York Jets. They played what we
10:26
Speaker 3: referred to as an over defense. The defensive end was
10:29
Speaker 3: on me. If we were left, it was Verlin Biggs.
10:34
Speaker 3: If we were to the right, it was Jerry Philban.
10:39
Speaker 3: Biggs was two eighty Philman was two sixty five and
10:44
Speaker 3: I weighed in that week at one ninety six to myself.
10:48
Speaker 3: So game ends, we get beat and Bill Walsh walks
10:51
Speaker 3: up to me on the plane after the game. He said, man,
10:53
Speaker 3: you had a tough day. I said, I can't block
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Speaker 3: those guys, and he said, well, is it technique? And
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Speaker 3: I said no, I weigh a hundred ninety six pounds.
11:01
Speaker 3: And he just goes crazy, what why didn't you tell you?
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Speaker 3: Go no, no, no, no, no no. And I said, you're
11:08
Speaker 3: not listed at one ninety six, You're listed at to eighteen.
11:11
Speaker 3: I said, well, I weighed him with a ten pound weighth.
11:14
Speaker 3: So for the next two years I had no way naked,
11:17
Speaker 3: but I made the team.
11:20
Speaker 1: We're doing fun facts with Bob Trumpy. Describe your relationship
11:23
Speaker 1: with Paul Brown.
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Speaker 3: I think he treated us all exactly the same. Uh,
11:30
Speaker 3: he was the boss. I don't ever remember him give
11:35
Speaker 3: us a giving us a one one for the GIP
11:38
Speaker 3: or speech. I don't ever remember him. I don't ring
11:41
Speaker 3: a cuss word.
11:43
Speaker 1: Uh.
11:44
Speaker 3: He treated me like everybody else. I was thankful for that.
11:50
Speaker 3: That's all I wanted. Uh and U. But he did
11:55
Speaker 3: invite me once to a golf tournament up in Dayton,
12:00
Speaker 3: put on by a friend of his. And when he
12:03
Speaker 3: called me, Uh, he called my house, my wife answers.
12:07
Speaker 3: And I'm at work at Pogue's and ken Wood off
12:10
Speaker 3: season job and my wife calls me and says, uh,
12:15
Speaker 3: Paul Brown just called me. He wants to talk to you.
12:19
Speaker 3: My first thought was Buffalo. I'm going to Buffalo, and
12:25
Speaker 3: I quickly uh called and Mary, who was going to
12:32
Speaker 3: turn out to be his future wife, answered the phone.
12:35
Speaker 3: She said, hold on just a minute. Coach does want
12:37
Speaker 3: to talk to you. And he gets on the phone
12:40
Speaker 3: and he says, my friend up in Dayton, Si Lauter
12:44
Speaker 3: has a golf tournament. I'd like to invite you. It's
12:47
Speaker 3: called the bogey Busters. And Uh, what bogie Busters?
12:54
Speaker 4: You mean?
12:54
Speaker 3: No, No, Buffalo, I'm not going to Buffalo, he said, no,
12:58
Speaker 3: just pig Off. Okay. Fine. As a player, I enjoy
13:05
Speaker 3: the relationship.
13:07
Speaker 1: Trump. As I mentioned at the beginning of the interview,
13:09
Speaker 1: after your career. You went on to have a tremendous
13:11
Speaker 1: career in broadcasting, got the opportunity to call Super Bowls
13:14
Speaker 1: and so many other big events. What was more nerve
13:17
Speaker 1: wracking for you? Playing in a big game or being
13:20
Speaker 1: behind the mic at a Super Bowl.
13:24
Speaker 3: I never got the adrenaline rush broadcasting that I got playing,
13:29
Speaker 3: and I've never found anything that matches that adrenaline rush.
13:33
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't care if you're fifteen and one
13:36
Speaker 3: or for US thirteen and one or one in thirteen.
13:41
Speaker 3: The adrenaline rush you get before a football game is
13:43
Speaker 3: just it's unmatched. So I was probably more nervous before
13:50
Speaker 3: football games. You don't get the sense when you're broadcasting
13:55
Speaker 3: that you might be talking to tens or hundreds of
13:58
Speaker 3: millions of people. You got the guy sitting next to you,
14:01
Speaker 3: and I had some good ones to You're in this together.
14:06
Speaker 3: You don't have to be perfect neither. There's that guy.
14:09
Speaker 3: We help each other. But in football, I got a job,
14:14
Speaker 3: and if I don't do it, the play doesn't work.
14:17
Speaker 3: It's not quite that way of broadcasting. It was much
14:20
Speaker 3: easier to deal with the nervousness in broadcasting.
14:25
Speaker 1: About once a year, Bob Wood joined Dave Lapham and
14:27
Speaker 1: me on one of our weekly radio shows, and after
14:30
Speaker 1: we talked football. I always had a few questions about
14:32
Speaker 1: his incredible career in broadcasting. Here is one of those
14:36
Speaker 1: conversations from January of twenty twenty three. Let's start with
14:42
Speaker 1: the Olympics nineteen ninety six in Atlanta, an aging shaking
14:48
Speaker 1: Muhammad Ali late in his life with Parkinson's lights the
14:53
Speaker 1: Olympic torch. Were you in the arena? Well, no, No.
15:00
Speaker 1: One of the NBC trucks somewhere and we didn't know
15:03
Speaker 1: who it was. It's like the greatest secret.
15:07
Speaker 3: Yes ever absolutely Dick ever saw who ran mb NBC
15:13
Speaker 3: said you want to be in our trailer. You want
15:16
Speaker 3: to see this? And I said, what's the big deal? No,
15:20
Speaker 3: he said being our trailer. So we were shocked when
15:25
Speaker 3: they showed him in the shaking hand. That was wonderful.
15:30
Speaker 3: Phil Simms and I did weightlifting. How'd you prep?
15:35
Speaker 1: How did you learn what you needed to learn to
15:36
Speaker 1: do Olympic weightlifting?
15:39
Speaker 3: We went to Norway, really yeah, a place called Stavanger,
15:44
Speaker 3: Norway had the World Championships. It was a wonderful trip.
15:50
Speaker 3: Phil and I had never spent much time together. Flew
15:53
Speaker 3: over together, loved it, had great food. But we had
15:58
Speaker 3: a guy on our crew that was an aspiring Olympic weightlifter.
16:04
Speaker 3: Didn't make the team though he filled us in. So
16:08
Speaker 3: uh and look what Phil and I did. Ran at
16:11
Speaker 3: three o'clock in the morning. We were people were not
16:16
Speaker 3: tuning in. Yes it Yeah, So that's how I learned volleyball.
16:22
Speaker 3: I sat next to the captain of the eighty four
16:26
Speaker 3: gold medal winning volleyball team, Chris Marlowe. So I flew
16:32
Speaker 3: out to San Diego where they trained and spent like
16:36
Speaker 3: ten days out there, and he was telling me this, this, this,
16:39
Speaker 3: this is filling me in on You got to pay
16:42
Speaker 3: attention to and I said, I'm going to give you
16:45
Speaker 3: more room than you will ever have to lead us
16:49
Speaker 3: in the right direction. He did a great job, and
16:52
Speaker 3: he's been a broadcaster on NBC for volleyball for the
16:55
Speaker 3: last twenty five years.
16:57
Speaker 4: Yeah.
16:57
Speaker 1: So is that in Barcelona when you did volleyball?
17:00
Speaker 3: Uh? Yes, wait, weightlifting, weightlifting in Atlanta, volleyball and Barcelona,
17:08
Speaker 3: and uh boxing in Seoul. And I happened to bump
17:14
Speaker 3: shoulders with Tiophilo Stevenson speaking of Muhammad Ali Cuban heavyweight.
17:21
Speaker 1: Barcelona is the dream team. Were you able to go
17:25
Speaker 1: to any of the games. Came to Washington.
17:28
Speaker 3: They were staying somewhere up in the mountains, uh and
17:35
Speaker 3: bust down. And but what we found out was our
17:40
Speaker 3: roach coach at our venue had the best food in
17:45
Speaker 3: the entire Olympic village. So they would showed up. That
17:49
Speaker 3: was the first day. One of the interesting things about
17:52
Speaker 3: my trip to Barcelona was that Chris Mardole played golf too,
17:57
Speaker 3: and we would take a train from our hotel to
18:01
Speaker 3: a place called Stigious Uh. And if this table is
18:06
Speaker 3: t just that's the Mediterranean Sea right there. And guess
18:10
Speaker 3: who rode on the train with us? Oh, Jay Simpsons?
18:13
Speaker 3: Is that right? At the last at the last time
18:16
Speaker 3: I was around the did you Hitney balls in the
18:19
Speaker 3: Mediterranean Sea? That Hitney golf balls in the Actually it
18:23
Speaker 3: was too far away, but but it was. It was
18:26
Speaker 3: an olive grove that they turned into a golf call
18:29
Speaker 3: and had been there for sixty seventy years, great reputation.
18:33
Speaker 3: They gave us the run of the place.
18:35
Speaker 4: Uh and.
18:38
Speaker 3: Chris Model and I had a wonderful time. That has
18:41
Speaker 3: been a great volleyball player. Trump you ever play any volleyball. No,
18:44
Speaker 3: I didn't. You would have been, he would have been.
18:46
Speaker 3: The only nuts when I grew up as a kid
18:48
Speaker 3: was for fishing, you know, none of that volleyball stuff.
18:52
Speaker 3: It's always great to be with you guys.
18:55
Speaker 1: Thank you.
18:58
Speaker 3: I know it's hard work for you, but you guys
19:01
Speaker 3: know how to handle it. Thank you to really do up.
19:05
Speaker 1: Next, a tribute to James Brooks. But first, here's a
19:08
Speaker 1: quick reminder that the Bengals Booth podcast is brought to
19:11
Speaker 1: you by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals Official
19:14
Speaker 1: HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet
19:19
Speaker 1: designed elevate your home, business and community to a new level,
19:23
Speaker 1: and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans.
19:27
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
19:31
Speaker 1: James Brooks joined the Bengals in nineteen eighty four in
19:34
Speaker 1: what turned out to be one of the best trades
19:37
Speaker 1: in club history. The Bengals sent thirty year old running
19:40
Speaker 1: back Pete Johnson to San Diego in exchange for the
19:43
Speaker 1: twenty five year old Brooks. Johnson only played in three
19:48
Speaker 1: games for the Chargers in what turned out to be
19:50
Speaker 1: his final NFL season. Brooks spent eight years with the Bengals,
19:55
Speaker 1: went to the Pro Bowl in four of them, and
19:57
Speaker 1: ranked second in team history in rushing yard behind Corey Dillon,
20:01
Speaker 1: fourth in total touchdowns, and number one in yards per
20:05
Speaker 1: carry at four point eight. He was also a great
20:08
Speaker 1: receiver coming out of the backfield, finishing his career with
20:12
Speaker 1: more than three thousand, six hundred receiving yards to go
20:15
Speaker 1: with his nearly eight thousand rushing yards. In short, a
20:20
Speaker 1: versatile weapon that Sam Weiss used a perfection in his
20:24
Speaker 1: no huddle offense. According to Pro Football Reference, James ranked
20:28
Speaker 1: sixth in approximate value of all of the players in
20:32
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighty one NFL draft. The five guys ahead
20:36
Speaker 1: of him, Lawrence Taylor, Mike Singletary, Ronnie Lott, Ricky Jackson,
20:40
Speaker 1: and Howie Long are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
20:44
Speaker 1: James wasn't big, he was listed at five ten one
20:48
Speaker 1: point eighty, but he is often referred to as one
20:51
Speaker 1: of the toughest players pound for pound to ever wear
20:54
Speaker 1: the Orange and Black. Once again, here's team president Mike Brown.
21:00
Speaker 2: James was a player we acquired from San Diego. We
21:05
Speaker 2: traded Pete Johnson who was a fine player, and we
21:10
Speaker 2: got in return James Brooks. They were opposites. Pete was
21:16
Speaker 2: a big power back. James was an offsized, fast, quick scooter.
21:23
Speaker 2: He could catch the ball, had wonderful hands, great receiver.
21:29
Speaker 2: He was excellent running too. You would have misjudged him
21:36
Speaker 2: if you looked at him and said, well, he's too
21:39
Speaker 2: small to be a great runner. But he was a
21:42
Speaker 2: great runner, not just outside but inside as well. And
21:46
Speaker 2: he did one other thing that was exceptional. He was
21:49
Speaker 2: a terrific pass protector. He was small, but he knew
21:55
Speaker 2: how to go about pass protection. He took these rushers on.
22:00
Speaker 2: They could be big people, defensive lineman, and he would
22:05
Speaker 2: pop right up into him and joke them. He didn't
22:09
Speaker 2: back down, he wasn't afraid, and he knew which ones
22:16
Speaker 2: to pick up. That too, takes a little bit of skill.
22:20
Speaker 2: You have to sort him out, and he could and
22:23
Speaker 2: did so. He had everything that a back should have.
22:27
Speaker 2: He could run the ball, he could pass protect, he
22:32
Speaker 2: could catch the ball. And you referred to him as tough. Well,
22:40
Speaker 2: I don't know for sure sometimes exactly what tough is,
22:44
Speaker 2: but if you're talking about it meaning a football player
22:48
Speaker 2: who did everything, ask of him, James Brooks was that guy.
22:56
Speaker 1: James is sixty seven years old and could easily pass
22:59
Speaker 1: for a decade younger, and he believes his lifelong commitment
23:03
Speaker 1: to fitness helped him recover from the stroke that he
23:06
Speaker 1: suffered in June of last year. This week, I spoke
23:10
Speaker 1: with one of the greatest dual threat running backs in
23:13
Speaker 1: NFL history. James, you are in the Georgia Sports Hall
23:17
Speaker 1: of Fame for your great high school career, You're in
23:19
Speaker 1: the Alabama Hall of Fame for your great college career
23:22
Speaker 1: at Auburn, and now you are joining the Bengals Ring
23:25
Speaker 1: of Honor. What was your reaction when you got that news.
23:29
Speaker 5: When I heard it, I really was really happy because
23:33
Speaker 5: it's something I want to be a part of. I
23:37
Speaker 5: have to be so grateful because my goal was when
23:41
Speaker 5: I came here, I want to be the best.
23:46
Speaker 4: I think I have done some that way.
23:49
Speaker 1: No question about it. When I talk to your former
23:52
Speaker 1: teammates and coaches, your toughness always comes up. I can't
23:56
Speaker 1: tell you how many times somebody said to me he
23:59
Speaker 1: was the toughest player pound for pound in franchise history.
24:03
Speaker 1: What does that compliment mean to you?
24:06
Speaker 5: Mean a lot because I take the game so serious
24:09
Speaker 5: about being ready, being the best I can be, and
24:14
Speaker 5: showing that the players on the team just the way
24:17
Speaker 5: you should do stuff the right.
24:18
Speaker 4: Way, believe in each other and believe in the team.
24:23
Speaker 1: Where did your toughness come from.
24:25
Speaker 4: As a kid growing up?
24:27
Speaker 5: Just because my size and I used to hit that
24:31
Speaker 5: old time about you're not big enough, and that just
24:35
Speaker 5: drive me crazy because I hear some mud and like
24:38
Speaker 5: I say, is I'm just.
24:40
Speaker 4: One of these people. Just give me a chance and
24:43
Speaker 4: we go from there.
24:44
Speaker 1: The most famous game in Bengals history is the Freezer Bowl.
24:48
Speaker 1: You are on the field that day, but not as
24:50
Speaker 1: a Bengal. You are a rookie with the San Diego
24:53
Speaker 1: Chargers in that game. What are your most vivid memories
24:56
Speaker 1: of that bitterly cold day.
25:00
Speaker 4: I'm not used to cold weather.
25:01
Speaker 5: I'm from the South, and when I seen that, I
25:05
Speaker 5: just could not hold the ball. Matter of fact, I
25:08
Speaker 5: fumbled the ball once in the game, but I just
25:11
Speaker 5: just I never thought cold weather would be like that.
25:16
Speaker 5: In the airport, I said, I do never want to
25:18
Speaker 5: come back to Cincinnati because it was too cold. And
25:23
Speaker 5: what happened when Sam called me, I didn't have no idea.
25:28
Speaker 4: Who Sam was?
25:30
Speaker 5: I said who, and I'm mean to say, you've been trading.
25:33
Speaker 5: I'm like what I thought?
25:35
Speaker 4: I thought it was a joke and I went from there.
25:38
Speaker 1: You made a reference to the trade May of nineteen
25:41
Speaker 1: eighty four, after your third season with the Chargers, you
25:43
Speaker 1: get sent to Cincinnati in exchange for Pete Johnson. It's
25:47
Speaker 1: the most successful trade in Bengals history. What do you
25:51
Speaker 1: think that trade meant to your career?
25:54
Speaker 5: It gave me an opportunity to show people, even on
25:57
Speaker 5: my size, I can play at this level. And I
26:00
Speaker 5: want to show that because, like I say, when I
26:03
Speaker 5: got here beginning, I did not know what well I
26:07
Speaker 5: was down dealing with. But when I've seen Sam started
26:10
Speaker 5: showing me different stuff, they just I just smile because that, to.
26:15
Speaker 4: Me was one of these things I can really do.
26:18
Speaker 5: I can catch, I can run, and that's all I
26:21
Speaker 5: wanted to do to show everybody it's not what's your size,
26:25
Speaker 5: it's what you are about.
26:27
Speaker 1: For visiting with James Brooks, Sam was in his first
26:30
Speaker 1: year as an NFL head coach. What were your first
26:32
Speaker 1: impressions when you met him?
26:35
Speaker 5: When I man he was one of these people trying
26:38
Speaker 5: to do tricks, all that magical tricks, all that, And
26:41
Speaker 5: when I sat down and listened to him, it started
26:44
Speaker 5: making sense with some of the stuff he is coming
26:46
Speaker 5: up with. When I started seeing something the stuff he'd
26:49
Speaker 5: come up with, I'm like, God, this is great, this
26:52
Speaker 5: is great. I'm not sure if he know if I
26:54
Speaker 5: can catch the ball or do anything. I just want
26:57
Speaker 5: to just show him I can do all this stuff.
27:01
Speaker 1: You were with him for eight years, you went to
27:03
Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl. In four you averaged four point eight
27:06
Speaker 1: yards of carry. That's a Bengals record. You averaged more
27:09
Speaker 1: than ten yards per catch. Could you just tell that
27:12
Speaker 1: his offense was going to be perfect for your skill set?
27:15
Speaker 2: Oh?
27:15
Speaker 4: You, of course?
27:15
Speaker 5: And body, because like I say, more and more, he's
27:18
Speaker 5: just saying he was opening up the offense for me.
27:21
Speaker 5: And I just smiled because I think in arther back
27:24
Speaker 5: we had could not do a lot of that stuff,
27:27
Speaker 5: and I just know I had to be there to
27:30
Speaker 5: do everything because it just fit me just right.
27:35
Speaker 1: In your fourth year with the Bengals, the team went
27:37
Speaker 1: to Super Bowl twenty three. What stands out to you
27:40
Speaker 1: about that Super Bowl season?
27:42
Speaker 5: I think about the team was we was a really
27:46
Speaker 5: close together and a lot of stuff went on, but
27:50
Speaker 5: it didn't not affect us a bit because we just
27:52
Speaker 5: stuck together. And the only thing I regret is we
27:57
Speaker 5: lost the game when we could have worn a game.
28:00
Speaker 4: But that's just how it goes football. You don't you
28:03
Speaker 4: ever know to the last minute.
28:05
Speaker 1: It's been a while since nineteen eighty eight. Does that
28:08
Speaker 1: still sting? That loss? And was there anything particular in
28:11
Speaker 1: the game that bothered you?
28:13
Speaker 4: No, it's sting no matter what. The bottom line here,
28:17
Speaker 4: we as a team.
28:19
Speaker 5: We can't blame nobody but us as a team, and
28:22
Speaker 5: that's something I can see. We got there, but we
28:25
Speaker 5: didn't finish and that's about it.
28:28
Speaker 3: No.
28:29
Speaker 4: You know, you play as a team, you will lose
28:31
Speaker 4: as a team.
28:32
Speaker 1: You talked about the closeness of that team. Sam famously
28:37
Speaker 1: mixed things up in training camp, mixed white players with black,
28:41
Speaker 1: offense with defense, young with old. Was that a contributing
28:45
Speaker 1: factor to the team's success.
28:47
Speaker 4: He didn't do that with me. I'm one of these people.
28:50
Speaker 5: I don't look at Coole's I just just have a
28:53
Speaker 5: roommate and I just go from there.
28:56
Speaker 4: But he did not do it to me. He just
28:58
Speaker 4: told me you are right, and I just went along.
29:01
Speaker 4: With it.
29:03
Speaker 1: We're visiting with James Brooks. You had a lot of
29:05
Speaker 1: great performances with the Bengals. You had a two hundred
29:08
Speaker 1: yard rushing game against Houston. You had a famous game
29:10
Speaker 1: against New England where you had more than one hundred
29:12
Speaker 1: and sixty receiving yards and one hundred I'm sorry, one
29:15
Speaker 1: sixty rushing and one hundred receiving in the same game.
29:19
Speaker 1: But those games might not be the answer to this question.
29:23
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite game or a most memorable
29:25
Speaker 1: performance in your career?
29:27
Speaker 4: Remember Dallas Cowboys.
29:29
Speaker 5: Always as a kid growing up, always fool was a
29:32
Speaker 5: Dallas Cowboys fan. And when I got your answer to
29:36
Speaker 5: play them, I want to show them I'm what you
29:39
Speaker 5: afraid of.
29:41
Speaker 4: I think for me it was that game.
29:44
Speaker 1: You were a dual threat running back before that was common.
29:49
Speaker 1: Where did your receiving skills come from? Had you played
29:53
Speaker 1: wide receiver growing up?
29:54
Speaker 4: No, never played receiver. I always been a running back.
29:58
Speaker 5: But I always the coach always old me catch the ball,
30:01
Speaker 5: and he always caught the ball. I mean I called
30:04
Speaker 5: probably maybe ten balls in college. We ran the boat
30:08
Speaker 5: all the time, and I just I just just got
30:13
Speaker 5: better at doing stuff.
30:14
Speaker 4: That's that's all I did. Just if you spend the
30:17
Speaker 4: time for it, you'd be fine.
30:19
Speaker 1: So there's receiving skills or just god gipt that's all.
30:22
Speaker 4: I just watch watched the receivers do stuff. Then I
30:25
Speaker 4: just go out and do it.
30:26
Speaker 5: Because it's all about talking crap to each other.
30:30
Speaker 4: I always say I could be a receiver.
30:32
Speaker 5: I can catch it, but I'm like, y'all can't be
30:34
Speaker 5: a running back because you're not gonna take a lock.
30:37
Speaker 4: That's how I will start doing, just work working at it.
30:42
Speaker 1: The Bengals have a dual threat running back now in
30:45
Speaker 1: Chase Brown. He rushed for a thousand yards last year.
30:47
Speaker 1: He had nearly four hundred and fifty receiving yards. What
30:50
Speaker 1: do you think of Chase Brown?
30:52
Speaker 5: I think he is a really good back. No, I'm
30:55
Speaker 5: mad him two years ago, I think, and I think
30:58
Speaker 5: he's really good. He got the potential to really do well.
31:01
Speaker 1: You were an NFL player for twelve years and a
31:04
Speaker 1: Bengal for eight. When people look back at your career,
31:08
Speaker 1: how would you like to be remembered.
31:10
Speaker 5: A person care about the game and leave it on
31:13
Speaker 5: the field. That's one thing about being a hustle. I
31:19
Speaker 5: do everything trying to do everything right. I wanted him
31:22
Speaker 5: to say when he is out on the field, he
31:25
Speaker 5: left it on the field.
31:26
Speaker 1: You were chosen by Bengals fans. Clearly they remember you
31:30
Speaker 1: as one of the greatest players this franchise has ever had.
31:33
Speaker 1: You joined Corey Dillon as one of two running backs
31:36
Speaker 1: in the Bengals Ring of Honor. It's a tremendous recognition
31:40
Speaker 1: of an incredible career. Thanks for your time and congratulations
31:44
Speaker 1: on joining the Bengals Ring of Honor.
31:45
Speaker 4: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
31:48
Speaker 1: Hoodi, James, and Bob will be inducted into the Bengals
31:52
Speaker 1: Ring of Honor on Sunday, November first, at halftime of
31:56
Speaker 1: the Bengals home game against the Tennessee Titans. That's going
31:59
Speaker 1: to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast,
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Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks
32:33
Speaker 1: for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast