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Bengals Booth Podcast: Celebrate · Bengals Booth Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Celebrate Celebrate Dance to the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Music edition as we celebrate the two newest editions to
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the Bengals Ring of Honor, Dave Lapham and Leap and
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Lamar Parish. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals official HR
• 0:28
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  Speaker 1: to elevate your home, business and community to a new level,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: latest edition of this podcast delivered write to your phone,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: tablet or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: It's the greatest thing since a Buddy's golf trip. I
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: recently returned home from a six day, eight man golf
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: trip to Ireland that was a once in a lifetime experience.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: We played bucket list courses in ideal weather conditions, drank
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: plenty of Guinness, listen to live music in pubs and laughed, Our,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: you know what's off. All of those details were great,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: but the best part was renewing and building friendships. They
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: enrich your life and medical research indicates that friendships improve
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: your health. I am blessed to have so many great friends,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: including one of two people selected by season ticket members
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: to enter the Bengals Ring of Honor this year, my
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: broadcast partner, Dave Lapham. This season will be the fifty
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: eighth in team history, and lapp has been a part
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: of fifty ten years as an outstanding offensive lineman who
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: started at left guard in Super Bowl sixteen, and now
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: forty years in the broadcast booth, where he is connected
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: with fans as well as any broadcaster in any sport.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Here is team president Mike Brown on Dave lappam.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Dave was smart enough, no one questions that, but that's
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: never what stood out about him in my mind. He
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: went beyond that. He was built like a football player.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: The first time I ever saw him, he was in
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: his shirts and a training table at the Blue Gray
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: game down in Alabama, and Jesus I looked at him
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: and then I said, this guy, he's built like they're
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: supposed to be big over He was an excellent player,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: and he could play anywhere he needed him.
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: But it went beyond that.
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  Speaker 2: He has become someone tied to the Bengals in his
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  Speaker 2: own special way. He was a player for us and
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: later he was an announcer for us. He can tell
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: our story. He's been around here close on to fifty
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: years as a player and as an announcer. He knows
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: all the guys that were here from the beginning on
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: and he can tell about them. He's a good storyteller.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: I know this doesn't have much to do with being
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: in the Ring of Honor, but as a personality, you
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: like being around him. He's fun and that isn't something
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: unique with me. Everyone feels that way. They gravitate towards
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: him because he just makes the occasion happier. I'm glad
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: he's in this list. He's deserving.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: I've had a few speaking engagements in recent months where
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: I have shared my three wishes for the upcoming year.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: One a cure for baldness, two a Bengal Super Bowl title,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: and three seeing Dave Lapham get chosen for the Ring
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: of Honor. Here's my conversation with a great player, broadcaster
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: and friend, lap How did the Bengals deliver the news
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: that you are being adducted into the Ring of Honor.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: It was, it was it was pretty uh emotional, really,
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: I mean it was. It was a time where maybe
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: you hope and dream you get a phone call like that,
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: but to actually get that phone call, it's like, I
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: better pinch myself. Am I dreaming? Am I? Am? I
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: awake here? And I was, I knew I was wide awake.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: And Mike Brown, the organization number, came up. Mike came
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: on initially and uh, you know, gave me the news
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: and he was, you know, very uh in character as
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: far as Mike's concern, very factual. You know, I just
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: want to let you know that you you are one
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: of two going into the Ring of Honor this year,
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: voting on by the fans, you know, and U you
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: and Lamar Parrish. And he was then he got pretty
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: emotional as we started talking a little bit about it.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: And then Elizabeth and Katie came on as well, So
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: it was it was good. It was interesting to hear,
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: you know, all the kind of things that they had
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: to say. Get you get off of that phone call
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  Speaker 3: and you feel like you're twenty feet tall, you know,
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  Speaker 3: It's like, man, a bunch of plattus and flowers being
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: thrown to you in a short period of time. Man,
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  Speaker 3: I mean it. It really pumped your ego up, There's
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: no doubt. Laughter.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Are now twelve members of the Ring of Honor, and
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: it occurs to me that nobody is connected to the
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  Speaker 1: other eleven quite like you are. You played for Paul Brown.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Six of the inductees were teammates of yours. The other
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  Speaker 1: four players that you've gotten to know well as a broadcaster.
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  Speaker 1: Does it make the honor especially meaningful for you to
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: be in the company of those other guys?
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: It does, Dan, You know. The fact that you know,
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: I've just been able to be around the organization for
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: coming up on the fiftieth years is something very significant
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: to me. It's rare. It doesn't happen very long and
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: very often in the industry for somebody to be around
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  Speaker 3: a team as long as I have been in terms
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: of being a player and then something after your playing days,
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: whether it's tied to the organization internally or as a broadcaster.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: You know. In my case, so there's not really very
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: many players that I didn't either play with or broadcast
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: about with the organization. You know, maybe in the very
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: early years, the expansion years, where they were rolling guys
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: in and out of their left and right on a
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: daily basis, and you know, they they had their try
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: out with the Bengals. I can't say I know much
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: about any of those guys whom I have met some
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: of them, but really don't know them. Like as you mentioned,
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: teammates are broadcast about. So it is very significant to
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: me in that in that way because everybody that's been
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: inducted so far, you know, I've got a real deep
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: feeling about either as a as a former teammate. Where
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: you make incredible bonds, man, I mean, you know, it's
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: just when you when you go to battle at the
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: highest level against the best talent there is in the
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: world in the National Football League, you you bond with guys.
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: It's almost like to survive. You have to. You know,
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: everybody wants to get their job done one on one.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: Make sure you take care of your guy. You don't
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: want to be the guy to let the other guys down.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: You don't want to be the weak link. You don't
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: want to be the reason that the unit didn't perform
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: to its highest level. So all of that goes goes
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: into your relationship and your association and affiliation with these
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: with these guys, and that that's on the football field,
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: and then you become good friends. You know, there's a
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: lot of common denominators there when you both have you know,
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: worked your way up to be able to compete to
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: play in the in the at the highest level in
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: the National Football League. So you've got you've got all
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: those common denominators as well from a football personality and
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: character standpoint. But then, like I said, you become off
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: the field friends. You know, it's like, man, you're you're
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: tight with these guys. They become your best buddies and
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: their wives and uh and their kids and their families
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: become very close and from a relationship standpoint with your family,
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: so the wives become real good friends, the kids run
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: around and play together, and uh. It's it's a very
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: interesting dynamic watching you know, guys come in and make
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: a football team and then and then sad really one
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: guys that have been around for a while don't and
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: you have to say goodbye to those guys and their
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: families and then you say hello to the to the
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: new It's a it's a cycle of life basically in
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: the National Football League, and uh, you know it's a
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: it's a it's a short cycle. Really, you know, it's
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: not not anywhere near a lifetime, that's for sure. I mean,
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: if you're talking about a ten year cycle, you're extremely fortunate,
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: for sure.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Lap you enter with Lamar Parish. What are your most
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: vivid memories of playing with Leap and Lamar?
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: Leap and Lamar. My most vivid memory of Leap and
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: Lamar is what a character the guy was. I mean,
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: he he just he made you smile. I mean, if
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: you're having a bad day, just hang around Leap and
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: Lamar for a little while, you know, and all of
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: a sudden, the sun will shine again. It's the clouds
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: go away, and up from the horizon you see the
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: sun starting to rise, and then there's full day of sunshine.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: He was a very very positive guy. Every day was
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: a good day for Lamar Parish. He was great to
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: associate with in that regard, because you know, sometimes you
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: do have bad days or not the greatest day in
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: the world, but hang around Lamar long enough and it
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: kind of goes away. It doesn't become when he worse
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: days of your life. You know, it's a it becomes
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: a little bit, a little bit better day. Lamar Parrish
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: was interesting in his wardrobe too. I mean, oh my gosh, man,
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  Speaker 3: he had a he had a different wardrobe for every
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: single football game. And they were something that you don't
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: see in a fashion magazine or in the front cover
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: of of of some sort of a magazine related to fashion.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: I mean, he had very very specific tastes and they
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: were very ornate. Uh, they were very decorative. You know.
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  Speaker 3: He had he had big hats with big brims, plumes
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  Speaker 3: coming out of the hat, uh, you know, and and
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: that that's just the head gear. And then and then
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: the suits were magnificent colors. I mean he was a
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: walking rainbow to dude. Actually there were colors that they're
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: not part of the rainbow actually, and he had his
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: own rainbow. It was Lamar Parish rainbow.
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: Uh.
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  Speaker 3: And and they were tailor to perfection. He had a
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: local tailor, Peppy Romundo, the late great Pepe Romundo, who
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: just uh designed uh and uh and and personalized fittings
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: for Lamar Paris. So I mean these things were like
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: they they fit his body to a tee. I mean,
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: every single curve and every single protrusion of his of
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: his body was was was shown and uh and and
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: and shown loud and proud. There's no question about it.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: But he he was He could pull it off because
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: the dude was an unbelievably gifted athlete. And uh to
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: be the athlete that he was, his his body was
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: like a finely tuned machine. The guy was never out
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: of shape, and he was proud of the fact that
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: that he was never out of shape. And he could
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: run all day long. His endurance was incredible. Uh and
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: I mean during the course of the game, on every
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: game of the season, when you're playing defensive back against
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: the greatest receiver in the National Football League and you're
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: playing against he was our shutdown guy. He was our shadow.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: You got him. He's the best guy. You take him
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: all over the field when you're doing that all day long,
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: and then to boot your returning punts and kickoffs and
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: at an all pro level, I mean one year average
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: almost eighteen yards per prime return. It's crazy. He was.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: He was as gifted an athlete as I think I've
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: ever seen in terms of things that he had to
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: have athletic to excel at his position, and he had
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: it all. He had straight line speed, he had change
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: of direction, He could bend at his ankles and knees
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: and nod at his waist and play play football from
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: that kind of a position. He was just he was
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: definitely as great an athlete from a football player standpoint
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: as I think I've ever seen, and I could argue
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: he might be the greatest to ever walk the face
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: of the earth.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: I think a lot of people listening to this podcast
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: they've probably been watching Joe Burrow on the Quarterback series
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: on Netflix. As you were describing Lamar in his fashion sense.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: The details were obviously different, but it sounded a lot
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: like Joe Burrow entering Stadia.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: Now very true. I mean, you know, they I think
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: I think both both players are extremely confident human beings.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: You know, and they know they're good, they know their
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: talent level, they know they're probably the best in the
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: world at what they do, and and uh, and they're
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: not They're not bashful about playing that way. You know,
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: they don't necessarily trumpet it out there, uh, to the
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: to the whole world. Both of them are both very
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: similar in that, you know, it's not like I'm going
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: to try to find as many different forums as I
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: can to trumpet my own horn and to talk about me,
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: you know, and everything I do and all my accolades
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: and all my all my greatness, all the all the
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: attributes that I've got physically that make me rare and unique.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: Neither guys like that. But they like they like clothing,
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: they like fashion, and they're both you know, good looking people.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: You know that they can pull it off, man. And
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: and the confidence carries over to that, you know, it's like, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: I'm not I don't really care what people think. If
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: they're if they're going to make fun of me, laugh
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: at me or whatever, if they think it's too much, hey,
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: so be it. I like it. I like it, and
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: I'm going to do it. And and I can pull
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: it off. Man, I'm I'm I'm Joe Burrow, I'm Lamar Parrish.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: I can pull this off. So they are extremely you know,
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: comfortable in their own skin. You know, there's no there's
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: no question about it. They're they are confident to pretty
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: much do anything that they feel like they want to do,
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: not only on the football field, but also in the
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: game of life. I mean, they're they're there. They were
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: equipped that Lamar Paris was equipped, and Joe Burrow certainly
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: is equipped to do anything that he feels like he
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: wants to do. If he feels like he can go
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: out and accomplishment, accomplish it or do it, he's gonna
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: try because he knows he can do it.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: What was your look walking into the stadium between nineteen
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: seventy four and nineteen eighty three. No, whit brimmed hats?
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: No, no, no, my bucket head. I couldn't even get
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: a wide brimmed hat on that bad boy. I'd be
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: borrowing on the brim. I couldn't get my head inside
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: the hat. Oh man, Uh yeah, I'd say, uh, very
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: non attention grabbing. I can say that plain Jane. You
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: know that's I guess that's the term that I could
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: come up with his plain Jane. Nothing nothing extraordinary, nothing
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: out of the ordinary. The thing that I love about
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: Lamar is the colors, and Joe as well. These guys
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: they will they will mix and match colors. And these
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: colors are like you know, they're they're like not in
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: the rainbow. There they've been They've been uh manufactured by somebody,
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: probably by their designer or whatever. It is incredible. The
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: colors that they were and me, I was a black
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: and white guy. Man, I was black and white TV.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: I was playing Jane in terms of of colors in
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: style and design. If you could have worn shorts and
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: T shirt to to those to the games, I would
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: have done that probably uh cut off shorts if allowed.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: But so yeah, I I was not much of a
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: Not much of my attention was given to to fashion.
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: And Lynn reminded me of that. Fat It was like,
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: look at how how nicely a lot of your teammates
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: are dressed. What do you think you want up the
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: game a little bit? Now? I'm good. This works for me.
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: I feel good. I feel good in this and uh
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: and I feel very comfortable and I feel like I'm
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: I'm comfortable in my old skin right now. Lynn, I
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: really do lap.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: I think you are the greatest ambassador to the fan
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: base in Bengal's history. What is it about Cincinnati that
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: made you and Lynn want to stay well?
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: I certainly do appreciate that compliment, Dan, because I know
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: what the fans think of you, and you are the
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: epitome the greatest definition of the ambassador to Bengal fans.
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: So I do appreciate you mentioning. You know that that
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: part of it with my relationship with the fans as well.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: You know, Cincinnati, it's just Midwest conservative, great place to
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: raise a family, and I think Lynn and I both
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: recognize that very very quickly. We did go back to
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: the Boston area after our rookie year. I had some
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: things I had to take care of back there, as
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: did Lynn. So we went back and we rented a
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: house and Sharon I actually purchased it. Purchased the house,
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: and Sharon rented out a couple of off seasons and
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: then got rid of it because that was such a
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: hassle and it was getting beaten to hell. But we
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: knew that when we were you know, that we wanted
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: to see family, and family was important to us, and
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: so we went back there in the first off season.
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: But then, I mean right away, even during the rookie year,
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: we realized how unique and special Cincinnati was in terms
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: of the Midwest Conservative people were just solid gold in
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: terms of their values, the way that they looked at things.
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: You know, there's the Ten Commandments that the Good Lord wrote,
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: and then Cincinnati has a bunch of other commandments, I
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: guess with respect to their community and just the way
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: they treat each other. I mean the way the people,
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: the way the people welcome others and treat friends and
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: make new friends, and all of that was very imp
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: us of UH to Lynn and I when we were rookies,
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: and you know, we we got outside of the football team,
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: you know, during the course of the week, different days
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: of the week, nights of the week, go out with
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: different people and and just kind of get a broader
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: view of broader base view of what Cincinnati was like
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: and what it had to offer. And we thought, you
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: know what, this is a great place to live. And
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: the thing that sold us most completely is the what
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: a phenomenal place to raise a family. There's probably none
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: better in the in the country, as good as any
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: in the country to UH to raise a family. Because
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: even though it's not overbearingly big in terms of you know,
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: square footage and size and you know huge building, all
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: the all the structure and all of that of the
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: of a big city and the people. You know, it's
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: not like ants and an ant hill. It's not that
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: type of situation. But there's plenty, plenty, big enough plenty
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: to do great restaurants, theater, arts. It's got it all.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: I mean, Cincinnati is uh. I don't think it's a
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: secret anymore. Back in the seventies, in the midst it
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: it was pretty much a secret. I mean, my friends
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: would be like, what, you're moving to Cincinnati. You guys
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: are going to live in Cincinnati all year, And of
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: course my family was like, well, you know, if that's
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: what you decide you want to do, it's best for
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: your family. We get it. But you know, Boston, we
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: got a lot to offer here, and I'm like, no question.
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: I mean, I'm a huge Boston fan. I grew up
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: here myself, you know, my whole life. I mean, I
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: know what Boston has to offer. But we just think
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: Cincinnati has a uniqueness to it that we're going to
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: really like. And they realized that that we knew what
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: we were looking at in that regard, and I just
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: I just think that the people of Cincinnati are incredible.
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: Their values and morals and ethics and all those kind
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: of things are as high level as you're gonna find.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: And for those reasons, I think it is a good
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: place to raise a family and bring up young children.
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: And Lynn and I couldn't have been couldn't be happier.
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: With the decision that we did make to do.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: So the relationship started in nineteen seventy four when Paul
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Brown drafted you in the third round. Were you intimidated
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: initially by PB?
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: I was? You know, I can't say I was intimidated
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: by like afraid of the man, you know, because he's not,
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: you know, not a big, overpowering, you know, overbearing type personality.
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: He's not a big structured guy in framewise, not a
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: big person but boy, he he in my mind when
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: I got drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals and it was
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: Paul Brown. You know, my both my grandfathers followed football
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: and they were both like, this guy is the father
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: of football. Man, You're you're going with somebody that is
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: like this, There's nobody that knows more about football than
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: Paul Brown. Paul Brown, basically, you know, it was the inventor,
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: the innovator. He did. He brought all kinds of things
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: to the game of football that had never been there before.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: So I had a healthy dose of respect for that
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: part of Paul Brown, you know, from my grandparents, my
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: grandfather's when just even watching a long before I got
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals. But then to meet him,
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: I mean, he's he's extremely impressive, I mean just very
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: He had an unbelievable air confidence about him, and he
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: knew that he knew he knew what he was talking about,
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: not just football. He was a very learned man. I
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: mean he very very intelligent, well read about a bunch
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: of different subjects and topics. I mean he he was
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: a very unique, unique person. And I remember the first
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: time going up to him and shaking his hand. He
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: his handshake was not a very it wasn't real firm,
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: you know. It's kind of like a We called it
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: the dead fish handshake that Peeb would give you, you know,
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: but you know he would want to shake Paul Brown's hand.
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: And he looked you right in the eye. Man, when
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: he shook your hand, he was looking you right in
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: the eye and kind of sizing you up. I think
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: a little bit, you know, so he I guess intimidating
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: in that fashion a little bit. I remember the first
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: time meeting him and actually walking up and looking out
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: of eye with him and shaking his hand. I thought,
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: you know, I want to I want to make a
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: proper impression here. I don't want to come off as
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: you know, you know what this guy about kind of thing.
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: I don't want him to walk away wondering I want
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: him to walk away saying, Okay, I think this young
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: man you know, is going to be a plus for
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: the organization. I feel good about the fact that we
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: did draft him. And because that was always a big
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: part of his draft process, he went deeper than most.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: You know, it wasn't just football. P B did did
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: some research into the character of people that he was drafting,
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: and he wanted to have a high level of character
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: throughout his football team. So when you get drafted by
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: Paul Brown, you felt like that was a big honor
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: because not only did you cut the mustard with him
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: as a football player, but you also you know, passed
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: his uh you know what what he wanted to have,
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: uh in terms of character and uh you know, team, team,
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: being a good teammate, reaching out to others, helping elevate
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: other teammates, all those kind of things what he was
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: looking for in a player that he would bring to
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: his organization as well. So you felt if you, if
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: you passed the test of Paul Brown in all those
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: all those areas, he had to feel pretty good.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Do you have any keepsakes, any personal letters or anything
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: like that from Paul?
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: I do. And he he was really good letter writer.
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: I mean he just had a flowery way of saying things.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: I mean, his his vocabulary was extraordinary. I mean it
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: really was, because, like I said, he was so well read,
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: and he had his favorite authors that he taught about.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: He'd talk about books that that he read, that that author,
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: you know, you know, just just came out with and
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: I mean a lot of them were I really had
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: no idea who he was talking about. I wasn't. I
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: wasn't into the the areas that he was into and
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: as deeply as he was into, that's for sure of it.
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: But he was an unbelievably educated man. And you know,
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: he basically looked at himself as a teacher if he
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: if he was not going to be a football coach,
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: he told me he was going to be a teacher
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: if it didn't work out coaching football, because you know,
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: basically it's football coach is part of their description. Part
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: of what they need to be able to do is teach,
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: teach the game and make sure the players understand what
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: he's saying. I understand not only what he's saying, why
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: he's saying it, how he's saying it, what led him
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: to that conclusion to say what he's saying. And Pep
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: was unbelievable that way. I do remember him going up
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: to the board when I was a rookie. He was
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: still the head coach and installed. He would like to
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: be the first installation of a play. And man, he
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: would get up there and just pontificate about here's what
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: we're doing in terms of blocking scheme, blocking pattern, and
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: here's why we're doing it. And if they do this,
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: here's how we're going to adjust to that. And he
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: I mean his installation was the row. I mean he
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: was into the weeds, man.
• 26:32
  Speaker 5: Uh.
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: And he do that with every position group, offensive line,
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: you know, a quarterback, running backs, wide receivers. Here's what
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: you're doing, here's why you're doing it. Here's the reason
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: that we think this might work. Uh, here's we're gonna
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: We're gonna emphasize using this play because of the skill
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: set that you have. Chip Myers or Bob Trumpy or
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: Isaac Curtis, whether it be straight line speed, whether it
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: be big body with long arms, can test the catchability.
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: I mean, he would He would get into all of it.
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: And I enjoyed conversations with PB. I would have even
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: when I was a player. I remember having conversations were
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: walking off the field, walking toward the locker room up
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: at Wilmington after a practice before going up to the
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: dining hall, and he would he would tell stories about
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: the old days up in Cleveland, Cleveland Brown, stories that
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: fascinated me. Man I was like wired. I was enthralled
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: with what he was talking about, because those guys are
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: my heroes, you know, looking back and watching tape and
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: trying to understand what it was like for them, what
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: they must have been going through back then. And and
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: he would talk about other things. He talked about counter
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: event things, uh. And he had an unbelieved perspective on
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: all of it, and he had a reasoned perspective on
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: all of it. I mean, he had thought through everything through.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: And that's the thing that I think I remember most
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: about him is his raw intelligence, not only football IQ
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: but overall. IQ. Very very well read, extremely high vocabulary,
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: and a great delivery of his message. He was a
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: good pontificator, He was a good author. He got up
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: there with a very good presence about himself and the
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: way he delivered his message was outstanding, and because of
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: that delivery, it made you remember his message that much
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: more clearly.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy five, your second season, the team went
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: eleven and three, which is still the best winning percentage
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: in team history. He lost a three point playoff game
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: to Oakland, and then shortly after the season, Paul Brown
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: announced his retirement at the age of sixty seven. If
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: he stuck around for a few more years, would history
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: have been vastly different.
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: I really do believe we would have won a Super Bowl.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: I really do believe that we were that close, that
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: close with that football team. And man, when you look
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: at it, you look at that roster from top to bottom.
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: The roster that he put together was unbelievable, and it
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: was tougher to do back then. You didn't have unrestricted
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: free agency, and you know, I mean when you got
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: drafted by a team, you were basically with that team
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: unless you were traded or cut. So, you know, the
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: level of performance from every player in every position group
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: on that team in nineteen seventy five was really, really good.
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: And I think even at the training camp as we
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: were getting ready for the season, we all knew as players,
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: you know, Bob Trumpy, Bob Johnson, guys that have been
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: around a while. You know, they would observe practices and
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: observe their teammates and they'd be like, believe me, from
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: what we've seen in the past, this team is legit.
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: This team could be really good. And they talk about it,
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: and they talk about it openly, and I'm a rookie
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: and just yeah, man, I'm with you, guys, Man, this
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: is great. This is the best best football team I've
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: ever been a part of. Man uh. And and all
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: everybody was was a very high level producer. And Paul
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: Brown put it all together, and I think I think
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: he really felt like that was his Super Bowl opportunity
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: right there with that football team, and when it didn't happen,
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: I don't think that. I think he made his decision before,
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: you know, the end of the season, that he was
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: going to retire, but I think he hoped that he
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: would retire winning a Super Bowl. And you know, in hindsight,
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: looking back on it, if we could change history, certainly
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: would like that to have been the case, because that
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: football team was made of the right stuff. That football
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: team could have done it just didn't, you know, as
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: you said, lost to the Raiders by by three points.
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: Didn't play our best game at the at the most
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: critical time. That's what you want to do, particularly when
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: you get in the playoffs, player best football at the
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: most opportune time. And when you don't, you know, you
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: always look back on it and and the what ifs
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: start to crawl into your head, crawl into your mind,
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: that's for sure. But there's there's no question that that
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: Paul Brown retired after putting together the best football team
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: he ever did in Cincinnati. I mean that football team
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: was really good. I mean it was it was outstanding
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: and all levels offensively, defensively, and special teams. And he
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: had great personnel in the player area. Coaches were phenomenal.
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: I mean that's another thing. A lot of coaches in
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: the National Football League, high level coaches wanted to be
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: associated and affiliated with Paul Brown. They wanted to be
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: part of what he was doing, so he would really
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: when Paul Brown reached out, you listened, man, You answered
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: the phone. You know, you listened to what he had
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: to say. And if you were actually recruited and solicited
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: by him, and that was an honor, man, and it's
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: like nobody turned them down. Nobody has. I don't think so, Paul,
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: I think I'll I think I'll stay where I am.
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: Everybody that he ever reached out to came and coached
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: with him, and we had some great ones, really did.
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: Bill Tiger Johnson was phenomenal. It's good line coaches I
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: ever been around. He ended up being our head coach
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: for a little bit. Mike McCormick was my next line
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: coach and he was great as well, great player for
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: Paul Brown with the Cleveland Browns, Hall of Fame player
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: for Paul Brown with the Cleveland Browns. So I mean,
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: these are the kind of people that he brought to
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: the fold, you know, as as assistant coaches, and you know,
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: they wanted to work their way up to be coordinators
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: and maybe eventually head coaches, and a lot of them did.
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: A lot of his coaches ended up working their way
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: up to be head coaches and be successful head coaches
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: in the National Football League, And that says a lot
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: about what Paul Brown was all about.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: He hired Forrest greg in nineteen eighty Forrest famously ran
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: a tough ship. Was it a shock or did you
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: know it was come.
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: I think I think we knew, we felt like we
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: knew what was coming, but we really didn't. When it came, boy,
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: it came in full force. He was he was something else.
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: Force greg was just an unbelievable leader of men. Uh.
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: And there was there was no no bs to force Gregg.
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: He'd tell you like it is and tell you like
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: it was, and he didn't he didn't care if you
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: hurt your feelings and so doing, because you know, you
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: might not necessarily like what he had to say, but
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: he'd tell you anyway. Uh. And then he was But
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: he was very effusive in his praise when you did
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: a good job for him. He was extremely appreciative of that.
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: He knew the sacrifices of a player. A player had
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: to make. I mean he played for Vince Lombardi. Nobody
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: had to make more sacrifices as a player than players
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: that played for Vince Lombardi. So I mean he was
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: He was born and raised as an NFL player into
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: that that that way, that method. Vince Lombardi had his
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: way of doing things, and it was always tough. He
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: was very tough minded. He was very tough the way
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: he handled and addressed his players. He was a very
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: disciplined father figure, a father figure of discipline to the
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: highest order, and that's what Forest Gregg grew up under
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: as a player and flourished blossom became a perennial pro
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: bowler in the Hall of Fame. He and Anthony Windows.
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: I'll take those two as my offensive tackles and go
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: play anybody. Those two are the best, in my mind
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: ever played the game. So you know, Forrest Gregg, he
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: knew what he wanted to do, he knew how he
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: was going to do it, he knew why he was
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: going to do it because he learned all that from
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: one of the greatest ever coached the game of football,
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: Vince Lombardi. And I know Vince Lombardi and Paul Brown
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: had a very good relationship and they respected each other
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: and respected what each other was about. So I know,
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: I know Paul Brown had a healthy, healthy dose of
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: respect for Forrest Gregg because of what he did to
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: make himself as great as players ever walked on a
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: football field, ever walked the face of the earth, and
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: then made himself into an incredible football coach as well.
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: Forrest was again an unbelievable leader of men he just
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: he could rally people and here's our goal. Here's how
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: we're going to get there. Here's some intermediate goals along
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: the way to let us know we're heading in the
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: right direction. If we achieved this one, you know, we're
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: climbing the ladder of success and we're hitting it one
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: rung at a time, and we're going to get there.
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: We're going to get there. We're going to get to
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: the top. And Paul Brown had the same type of mentality.
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: The latter's success was a was a Paul brownism. That
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: forest you took and ran with and we almost got there.
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: We climbed a lot of rungs in that ladder in
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: nineteen seventy five, eleven, and three, but did not win
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: the big one, and we felt like we we were
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: very disappointed because we felt like we could have. We
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: felt were good enough to.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: You did get to the Super Bowl in nineteen eighty one.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: You got there by beating the Chargers in the Freezer Bowl,
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: and you famously convinced your fellow offensive lineman to go
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: sleeveless in that game despite the minus fifty nine win.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Chill all kitting aside. Do you believe that that gave
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: the Bengals a psychological advantage. When you guys walked out
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: there in short sleeves.
• 36:46
  Speaker 3: I really do, I really think that they I know
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: they took notice. So when you get it, when you
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: get somebody, you know, a team to actually, you know,
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: look at that, you know, these what the heck are
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: these guys thinking? Are they crazy? I mean, it's this
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: is this isn't just cold. This is a cruel and
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: unusual punishment cold. And it was I mean it was ridiculous.
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: And the Saturday before the Ohio River froze that Saturday
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: all the way across people were walking across the Hio River.
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: It's like, what this is? This is historic, this will
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: never happen again.
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: And it was cold. It was like, you know, single
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: digits low low, single digits raw temperature, and then the
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: wind chill added in that. You know, the the adjusted
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: temperature was minus minus degrees that day. That was tough
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: to practice in. But I'm like, I'm gonna go out
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: there and practice in very little attire. You know, I'm
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: gonna wear shorts, t shirt and try to get try
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: to get adapt and get used to used to that
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: kind of weather condition. And I thought you know, I thought, Yeah,
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: I'm from I'm from the East. I'm from New England.
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: I mean, god, I've velved the cold, but the Syracuse, man,
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: it gets cold up there, dude, not like this. This
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: was This was more than cold. I don't know what
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: the heck it would be called, but yeah, it was.
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: It was. It was dangerous, honestly. I mean they're they're
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: actually uh, you know, putting out statements and uh television radio.
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: We're talking about you know, if you don't have to
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: be outside, don't go outside. If you go outside, make
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: sure you layer up, make sure you wear all kinds
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: of because this is this is a type of condition,
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: uh temperature wise, that that is life threatening, you know.
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: And so we go out there in short with no
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: sleeves uh to play the game, and the Chargers looked
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: at us like what the hell. And then of course
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: the officials, uh, they came into the locker room before
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: the game and said, you know, anybody that wants to
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: put vastly in or whatever on your face, exposed skin
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: in your ears, that's that's fine, no problem. I'm like, well, hey,
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: you know, expose skin. We got exposed skin, sleeves, no sleeves,
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: our arms are exposed. I'm gona, I'm gonna layer up.
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: So put that vacoline on and uh it did help
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: against the window, I mean the wind and the cold
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: a little bit. It did. It made it less penetrating,
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: I guess. And then of course the other the big
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: benefit was when guys would grab it and you know,
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: you slide off, slip off. Well that only lasted for
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: a while because it was so cold that the vasoline coagulated,
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: you know, I mean you couldn't manipulate it. It was like, man,
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: it was like trying to move like a I don't know,
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: a heavy greasy substance, you know, instead of vacline. It
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: was crazy. So you know, I guess there was enough
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: liquid in that vacline to to change a change structure,
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: you know, and not be appliable more liquid form. It was.
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: It was nasty stuff, but it worked, you know, I
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: mean I think I think it. Uh not only worked
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: in terms of feeling like we were going to have
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: a little bit of an edge, uh that would bother
• 40:05
  Speaker 3: the San Diego Chargers from a physical standpoint, but the
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: mindset that you talk about, Dan, that when when we
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: came out on the football field, they looked at us like,
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: these guys are in lell What the hell is wrong
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: with these guys? What are these stupid offensive linemen doing?
• 40:20
  Speaker 3: Did they forget they're finished getting dressed? I mean, what
• 40:23
  Speaker 3: are they doing? Uh? And it was we had had
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: a buddy, Donny Mask, was the center for the Chargers
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: and went to Boston College and we talked many times
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: about it, and soon after the season was over, I
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: caught up with Donny Mask and he's like, yeah, we thought,
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: what are you guys crazy? I mean, we're thinking as
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: an offensive line ourselves, like, you know, you don't what
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: I mean. I admire what they're doing. It makes a
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: lot of sense, but are they crazy? What the hell
• 40:52
  Speaker 3: are they thinking? And he said that that became the
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: chatter amongst the offensive lineman, amongst the defensive lineman, even
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: between offense and defensive line. So you know, another another
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: I guess issue or scenario is it kind of took
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: their mind off the game a little bit, you know,
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: I mean the actual assignments. You're pre game, you're going
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: through things and make sure you get everything down in
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: terms of what you're gonna do, how you're gonna do it,
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: and all that, and instead of maybe going through that process,
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: they're like, look at these crazy fools. Check this out.
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: You know. The topic of conversation wasn't necessarily what we're
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: going to do in the game from an assignment standpoint,
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: and how we're going to attack and this and that.
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: It became look at these idiots over here coming out
• 41:38
  Speaker 3: with nothing on their arms. These guys are fools. So yeah,
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: I do think that that going sleeveless had an impact
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: physically and most importantly psychologically. Football psychology had a big impact.
• 41:56
  Speaker 3: I think in the football psychology of that game, is.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: There a buyers bond among everybody that played in that
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: game on both sides?
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: I think that's a that's a great way to put it,
• 42:10
  Speaker 3: a survivor's bond mentality. Yeah, I think so. I mean, obviously,
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: I know I've done it. I've talked to you know,
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: my family and friends and generations of it as telling them, oh, yeah,
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: the freezable because then people ask you obviously, it's like
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: once they find out you played in the freezer ball,
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: it's like there's a million questions what was it? Like,
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: what was this? What was that? And most of it
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: is about handling that weather, you know, rather than the game,
• 42:37
  Speaker 3: and that's kind of that's kind of interesting because the
• 42:40
  Speaker 3: game was spectacular. It was a great game. I mean
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: it was probably I think I think everybody took pride
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: in the fact that I talked about this with Donnie
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: mask as well. Everybody takes pride in the fact that
• 42:53
  Speaker 3: as tough as those conditions were, the game was played
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: at a pretty efficient level. You know, there was there
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: was pretty good execution and in a lot of areas,
• 43:03
  Speaker 3: a lot of ways. And that that that ball was
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: it was a grease pig ban. That thing was slick,
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: I mean it, and that in that cold, when it's
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: that kind of cold, everything becomes slick. You know, everything's
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: hard to grab and and no exception of that football man,
• 43:22
  Speaker 3: that that pig skin man, it uh, it was like
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: there was an oil poured all over it was. That's
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: that's slippery. And I think the leather maybe had a
• 43:32
  Speaker 3: little something that would I don't even know how that
• 43:35
  Speaker 3: would happen in that freezing temperature, but the leather would
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: you know, have have a little little something on it
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: to keep it pliable and you know, be able to
• 43:46
  Speaker 3: be used in all kinds of weather conditions. And I
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: mean that that thing. The biggest thing although, because I'm
• 43:52
  Speaker 3: not sure that in those temperatures that that little coating
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: on the on the leather of football is as big
• 43:58
  Speaker 3: a deal as it was just as a rock. I mean,
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: everything was like it was fifty nine below. It's it's
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: not just it's not just yeah, it's a little icy, No,
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: I mean it's like Antarctica. It's like frozen. You are
• 44:13
  Speaker 3: on an iceberg. Everything around you, everything you touch, everything
• 44:18
  Speaker 3: you feel, is freezing cold. It was, it was, there
• 44:22
  Speaker 3: was no relief. We'd go to the sideline and put
• 44:25
  Speaker 3: these parkers on. You know, for whatever reason, these things
• 44:29
  Speaker 3: did never need lining or anything. It's just plastic throwing
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: a plastic parker, and it's like, what's that for. It
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: was just almost like habit, you know, mentally you go
• 44:37
  Speaker 3: to the sideline and when the weather was the weather
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: conditions were different, you'd throw that thing on. I did
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: that after one series and didn't do it again because
• 44:45
  Speaker 3: it made no impact whatsoever. So it was a it
• 44:50
  Speaker 3: was a day, a day to remember. I've never been
• 44:55
  Speaker 3: as cold as that in my life. Uh, And I've
• 45:00
  Speaker 3: never been colder than that in my life. Well, that
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: that day was unique in uh, in just about every
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: player's life, you know, everybody that participated in that game,
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: whether it was a player, coach, organizational number, and fans.
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: Dan the way the fans braved that cold and showed up,
• 45:21
  Speaker 3: and some of them weren't weren't dressed quite well enough
• 45:25
  Speaker 3: for those weather conditions, and actually lost a couple of
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: them during the course of that football game. So the
• 45:32
  Speaker 3: fans I think were a big part of that history
• 45:36
  Speaker 3: of the freeze ball as well, for them to show
• 45:39
  Speaker 3: up loud and proud and uh and adapt as best
• 45:42
  Speaker 3: they could to what was going on, because that was
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: miserable at least as players. When you went out in
• 45:47
  Speaker 3: the field and started to run around a little bit,
• 45:50
  Speaker 3: you know, you not not not warm up, but you
• 45:55
  Speaker 3: actually feel better. You know, you weren't quite as as
• 45:59
  Speaker 3: locked up brutally called. The fans stat there on concrete
• 46:03
  Speaker 3: and sat you know, in the stands, and they put
• 46:07
  Speaker 3: paper bags or whatever at their feet to try to,
• 46:10
  Speaker 3: you know, give themselves a little insulation. But I mean
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: a ton of fans brave that weather man. And as
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: the game wore on and uh, it started to look
• 46:21
  Speaker 3: like you might end up winning the football and more
• 46:23
  Speaker 3: and more fans came more and more fans. More fans
• 46:26
  Speaker 3: came to that stadium after halftime than I can remember ever.
• 46:31
  Speaker 3: So hats off to all those loyal fans that that
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: brave that weather, because man, you guys were brave. We
• 46:39
  Speaker 3: had we had, you know, at least we were out
• 46:41
  Speaker 3: there running around trying to increase our body temperatures a
• 46:45
  Speaker 3: little bit. These fans just to sit there for that
• 46:49
  Speaker 3: period of time and and uh deal with that windshield.
• 46:54
  Speaker 3: They were feeling every degree of that windshield because they
• 46:56
  Speaker 3: couldn't move around and get warm.
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: That wind got you to Super Bowl sixteen. You have
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: described it as the best and worst day of your
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: professional life. Do you still feel that way?
• 47:07
  Speaker 3: Absolutely? Yeah, it will always be the best day of
• 47:11
  Speaker 3: my life because reached the pinnacle of the profession that
• 47:17
  Speaker 3: you're in, you know, and you always want to try
• 47:20
  Speaker 3: to be able to say, yeah that this particular year
• 47:26
  Speaker 3: we achieved to the highest level. And I think the
• 47:30
  Speaker 3: Super Bowl sixteen team feels that way, you know, other
• 47:34
  Speaker 3: than obviously did not win the Big One and that
• 47:36
  Speaker 3: will always haunt us forever. But to have the regular season,
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: we had to win playoff games to win the AFC
• 47:43
  Speaker 3: Championship of course the Freezer boll and we just were
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: talking about and to get to that game. It was
• 47:51
  Speaker 3: a remarkable run and best team I ever played on
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: because it not only a great personnel, incredible coaching, organizationally
• 48:03
  Speaker 3: supportive of everything. Everybody believed in each other, believed in
• 48:09
  Speaker 3: what the coaches were talking about, believed in the game
• 48:11
  Speaker 3: plans that they put together, and then because that belief
• 48:14
  Speaker 3: went out and executed at a very high level and
• 48:17
  Speaker 3: won a lot of football games. I do think that
• 48:21
  Speaker 3: that that that football team made the fewest mistakes of
• 48:24
  Speaker 3: any team I've ever been on, not just turnovers, but
• 48:28
  Speaker 3: mental errors. I mean, there were guys were grading extremely high.
• 48:33
  Speaker 3: You get two grades. You get a grade for your
• 48:35
  Speaker 3: overall performance and then in the left hand coin and
• 48:37
  Speaker 3: then up a right hand it's like, how'd you do mentally?
• 48:41
  Speaker 3: How many mistakes did you make? And man, guys were
• 48:45
  Speaker 3: grading very very high, a lot of times under in
• 48:48
  Speaker 3: terms of you know, assignment lack of assignment era and
• 48:54
  Speaker 3: that'll that will help you win football games if you
• 48:57
  Speaker 3: a lot of times the team that makes the fewest
• 49:00
  Speaker 3: mistakes wins the game. And a lot of times that's
• 49:02
  Speaker 3: we're talking about turnovers and that's the big mistake. Obviously,
• 49:05
  Speaker 3: you don't want to give extra possessions away. But you
• 49:08
  Speaker 3: don't want to be the team that's making mistakes at
• 49:10
  Speaker 3: the line of scrimmage as well. You don't. You don't
• 49:12
  Speaker 3: want that. You don't want to. You know, your quarterback coming.
• 49:16
  Speaker 3: Come on, guys, come on, man, you can't. We can't
• 49:18
  Speaker 3: have that. You're gonna do this, You're gonna you're gonna
• 49:20
  Speaker 3: get this right. You know, do what you're supposed to do.
• 49:23
  Speaker 3: If everybody does what they're supposed to do, we're gonna
• 49:26
  Speaker 3: be fine. But shoot, you know, we're helping them. You know,
• 49:30
  Speaker 3: it's like to to to try to beat a good
• 49:33
  Speaker 3: defensive football team. To beat eleven players is tough enough.
• 49:37
  Speaker 3: You don't want to throw yourself into the equation and
• 49:40
  Speaker 3: be the twelfth player that's a given, given the quarterback
• 49:44
  Speaker 3: and everybody else all kinds of hell because you're making
• 49:46
  Speaker 3: too many mistakes. I mean, you do, you don't. You
• 49:50
  Speaker 3: don't want to beat yourself. That's the one thing you
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: never want to be part of. You never want to
• 49:56
  Speaker 3: beat yourself. And unfortunately, in Super Bowl sixteen, we felt
• 50:00
  Speaker 3: like we beat ourselves as great as the forty nine
• 50:03
  Speaker 3: Ers were and they were great. They're a great team,
• 50:06
  Speaker 3: but we did not play our best game. We feel
• 50:09
  Speaker 3: like we helped them, We helped them win Super Bowl sixteen.
• 50:12
  Speaker 3: We beat ourselves and shame on us for doing it,
• 50:15
  Speaker 3: because you know, we obviously knew better that the credit
• 50:19
  Speaker 3: the forty nine ers. They went out and they played
• 50:21
  Speaker 3: mistake free football, turnovers and menial mistakes and they didn't
• 50:26
  Speaker 3: have any of it. We did, and as a result,
• 50:28
  Speaker 3: we self destructed and lost the game. That it's once
• 50:32
  Speaker 3: in a lifetime opportunity. I mean, you don't really get
• 50:35
  Speaker 3: a chance very often to be a Super Bowl champion,
• 50:38
  Speaker 3: be the best in the National Football League, better than
• 50:40
  Speaker 3: anybody in the NFL. That doesn't happen very often, and
• 50:43
  Speaker 3: we blew it.
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: You finished playing for the Bengals in nineteen eighty three
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: and immediately joined the New Jersey Generals of the USFL.
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: Current players don't want to play an eighteen game schedule.
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: You played more than thirty professional football games less than
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: a calendar year. How did you survive?
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that was that was a tough one, Dan, That
• 51:06
  Speaker 3: was a that was a physical grind because you know,
• 51:10
  Speaker 3: played that the Bengals the full season NFL season, every
• 51:13
  Speaker 3: snap of it. And you know, I beating up. It's
• 51:17
  Speaker 3: an NFL season. You'd like to have an entire offseason
• 51:20
  Speaker 3: to rebound and recovering. And I was over thirty years old. Uh,
• 51:24
  Speaker 3: so you know that that's a factor as well.
• 51:28
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 51:28
  Speaker 3: And then two weeks off, go to training camp for
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: the New Jersey Generals and Walt Michaels was our head coach.
• 51:34
  Speaker 3: And he played for Paul Brown with the Cleveland Browns.
• 51:36
  Speaker 3: So Walt Michaels was a you know, a grizzwold veteran linebacker,
• 51:41
  Speaker 3: tough dude, and he he believed in the physicality of football.
• 51:45
  Speaker 3: And it was a sport, tough sport played by tougher men.
• 51:48
  Speaker 3: And I mean you you didn't miss practices, you you
• 51:51
  Speaker 3: didn't miss anything a training camp and we had two
• 51:54
  Speaker 3: practices a day in training camp with full pads. It
• 51:57
  Speaker 3: was a grind. Training camp was a brutal grind. Yeah,
• 52:02
  Speaker 3: I honestly, I do remember how poorly I felt, you know,
• 52:09
  Speaker 3: as the season got about to midpoint of the season,
• 52:13
  Speaker 3: how poorly I felt physically. You know, I drive home,
• 52:16
  Speaker 3: get out of the cars like an erector set, getting
• 52:19
  Speaker 3: out in sections and going into the house, laying down
• 52:21
  Speaker 3: on the couch before dinner, and to get up to
• 52:24
  Speaker 3: eat dinners like oh boy, and then go to bed
• 52:27
  Speaker 3: and wake up the next morning. It's like, man, I am,
• 52:30
  Speaker 3: I am locked up, And take me a while to
• 52:33
  Speaker 3: stretch and get loose just to even get in the
• 52:35
  Speaker 3: car and go do it again. So I know, I know,
• 52:38
  Speaker 3: I beat myself up big time physically that season. And
• 52:43
  Speaker 3: you know, I just wonder as I as I hit,
• 52:45
  Speaker 3: like you know, now I'm seventy three, as I approached
• 52:48
  Speaker 3: mid seventies, I wonder, I wonder how badly I'm going
• 52:51
  Speaker 3: to pay. I wonder how bad my body is going
• 52:54
  Speaker 3: to feel. Because I do know that that first season,
• 52:58
  Speaker 3: in the two seasons I played there, that back to
• 53:00
  Speaker 3: back season of a grueling NFL schedule two weeks off
• 53:06
  Speaker 3: get right into the grind of the USFL season, that
• 53:09
  Speaker 3: that that back to back UH season was was definitely torturous.
• 53:16
  Speaker 3: I mean it was. It was as tough a physical
• 53:19
  Speaker 3: thing as I've ever thought about trying to undertake and
• 53:24
  Speaker 3: then not under normally undertook it, but had to do
• 53:27
  Speaker 3: it and finish it and survive it. So and it literally,
• 53:32
  Speaker 3: Dan it was survival I mean it's in some cases
• 53:35
  Speaker 3: it was. It was definitely survival because there's good players, man,
• 53:38
  Speaker 3: good players in the USFL, and a lot of them
• 53:41
  Speaker 3: played in the NFL. A lot of guys. When the
• 53:42
  Speaker 3: USFL folded, a lot of players from the USFL went
• 53:45
  Speaker 3: to the NFL. And uh, you know that that that
• 53:48
  Speaker 3: doesn't that doesn't happen unless you're a high caliber player
• 53:52
  Speaker 3: and and uh, honestly, the NFL if you if you weren't,
• 53:57
  Speaker 3: you had to you had to be cut above maybe
• 54:01
  Speaker 3: in a little bit more to beat out an NFL
• 54:03
  Speaker 3: player because the NFL USFL it was. It was a
• 54:07
  Speaker 3: very confrontational thing. And I know, I know USFL players
• 54:13
  Speaker 3: that went to NFL camps after the USFL folds, and
• 54:16
  Speaker 3: I know I heard stories about what they went through,
• 54:19
  Speaker 3: you know, being accepted and everything by NFL players and teammates.
• 54:23
  Speaker 3: So you had to be a damn good player, uh
• 54:27
  Speaker 3: to break that, you know, break that barrier and be
• 54:31
  Speaker 3: able to you know, not only play with that football team,
• 54:36
  Speaker 3: but make contributions, be a significant player, don't hurt the
• 54:39
  Speaker 3: football team, and then be accepted by the other NFL players.
• 54:44
  Speaker 3: That was a big deal to a lot of the
• 54:45
  Speaker 3: USFL guys getting accepted by the NFL players after the
• 54:49
  Speaker 3: USFL folded. So it was interesting. You know, Donald Trump, obviously,
• 54:53
  Speaker 3: it was an interesting character, interesting figure. He owned in
• 54:56
  Speaker 3: New Jersey Generals at that point in time, and I
• 54:59
  Speaker 3: ended up negotiating a contract with him at the top
• 55:02
  Speaker 3: floor of the Trump Tower. It had just been completed,
• 55:05
  Speaker 3: brand new, brand spanking new. It was. It was a
• 55:09
  Speaker 3: marvelous edifice, no doubt about that. And right up to
• 55:14
  Speaker 3: the top floor of the Trump Tower and the elevators
• 55:16
  Speaker 3: and get out and a panoramic view of Manhattan in
• 55:22
  Speaker 3: the harbor and the water, and it's just sitting there
• 55:25
  Speaker 3: negotiating a contract with him was kind of surreal. And
• 55:29
  Speaker 3: his desk was elevated, and the desk of the chair
• 55:32
  Speaker 3: I was sitting in was you were down two or
• 55:35
  Speaker 3: three steps, and behind him was a full portrait of himself,
• 55:38
  Speaker 3: of Donald Trump, And so I'm kind of looking up
• 55:41
  Speaker 3: from a hole Donald and there's Donald, and then there's
• 55:46
  Speaker 3: Donald behind Donald, you know, a picture of Donald. So
• 55:48
  Speaker 3: it was very interesting. But we ended up getting a
• 55:52
  Speaker 3: contract done and he guaranteed bonus money obviously, but he
• 55:58
  Speaker 3: guaranteed the first two years of the contract so I
• 56:00
  Speaker 3: got bonus money and then two seasons of salary fully
• 56:05
  Speaker 3: guaranteed whether I was hurt, a lack of performance, whatever
• 56:08
  Speaker 3: the case may be. And that was an interesting, interesting negotiation.
• 56:14
  Speaker 3: And when he find when he decided the final the
• 56:19
  Speaker 3: the point that he decided to say, I'll guarantee those
• 56:24
  Speaker 3: final two years of year contract and like, you're going
• 56:28
  Speaker 3: to guarantee the salary against you if I get hurt
• 56:31
  Speaker 3: or whatever. Yep, when he did that, it was like
• 56:34
  Speaker 3: I'm in. He goes done, So next thing I know,
• 56:37
  Speaker 3: it's not out of a contract. New Jersey General.
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: One of your most unique accomplishments was playing all five
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: offensive line positions in the same game, which you did twice.
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: Your idea or a coach's idea.
• 56:52
  Speaker 3: It was coach's idea. But I had to I had
• 56:55
  Speaker 3: to show them that I was capable of doing it.
• 56:58
  Speaker 3: So I guess, I guess it was my desire to
• 57:02
  Speaker 3: show them that I could. So obviously I had an
• 57:06
  Speaker 3: intent of, you know, I want to prove to you
• 57:09
  Speaker 3: that I could play anywhere. And you know, once once
• 57:13
  Speaker 3: that happened, once I showed that I could hang in
• 57:17
  Speaker 3: there at any one of the positions, and you know,
• 57:21
  Speaker 3: keep my head above water and at least be you know,
• 57:24
  Speaker 3: not get taken advantage of, and then in some cases
• 57:27
  Speaker 3: maybe even get an edge. And the more I did at,
• 57:30
  Speaker 3: the more edge I was able to generate you know,
• 57:33
  Speaker 3: a longer period of time. Repetition breeds comfort level and
• 57:36
  Speaker 3: all that, and so yeah, Jim was like, you know, hey,
• 57:39
  Speaker 3: let's see you can do this. We see you can
• 57:40
  Speaker 3: do that. Jim McNally was was a proponent of it,
• 57:43
  Speaker 3: and then it got to the point where he's like,
• 57:45
  Speaker 3: you know what, why don't we just roll you up
• 57:47
  Speaker 3: and down the line of scrimmage, play all five spots
• 57:50
  Speaker 3: started at tackle, right tackle, and go up and down
• 57:53
  Speaker 3: the line of scrimmage. I'm like, you want me to
• 57:55
  Speaker 3: even go play where number seventy eighths played left tackle? Yeah,
• 57:59
  Speaker 3: you know, be a rotation. Everybody's out for a series,
• 58:02
  Speaker 3: and back we come and say once you right the left.
• 58:05
  Speaker 3: You know that if you go all the way back,
• 58:07
  Speaker 3: that's ten series. Very rarely. If we have a ten series,
• 58:10
  Speaker 3: you know, game, that'd be that'd be interesting. So you know,
• 58:14
  Speaker 3: you'll probably go up and back. You'll at least go
• 58:17
  Speaker 3: up once. You'll play every every position for probably a series.
• 58:22
  Speaker 3: There's no way we're going to have less than five
• 58:24
  Speaker 3: series in a football game. So you know, get ready,
• 58:27
  Speaker 3: you're going to be up and down the line of
• 58:28
  Speaker 3: scrimmage doing it all. And I was always a student
• 58:32
  Speaker 3: of the game in terms of wanting to know exactly
• 58:36
  Speaker 3: what everybody was doing. You know, when I was playing
• 58:39
  Speaker 3: the guard position, if I pulled, I wanted to know
• 58:42
  Speaker 3: it's the center reaching, there's a guard block and tackle
• 58:44
  Speaker 3: blocking down is the full back filling you know, as
• 58:46
  Speaker 3: I pull out to attack people on the perimeter, and
• 58:50
  Speaker 3: you know what kind of adjustments are made if they
• 58:52
  Speaker 3: adjust their defense. You know who does what. So I
• 58:56
  Speaker 3: was always a I was always highly interested in the
• 59:02
  Speaker 3: x's and o's of the game of football and understanding
• 59:04
  Speaker 3: them and understanding schemes, understanding understanding why you implement those schemes,
• 59:12
  Speaker 3: understanding why you change those schemes if need be, and
• 59:16
  Speaker 3: what you might change them to, and why you're changing
• 59:19
  Speaker 3: to what you're changing them to. You know, all those
• 59:22
  Speaker 3: kind of things were things that always interested me. You know,
• 59:26
  Speaker 3: even when I was a high school player, I was
• 59:28
  Speaker 3: interested in that kind of thing, and the coaches would
• 59:31
  Speaker 3: be like, okay, well yeah, well we'll talk to you
• 59:34
  Speaker 3: about that. We never really had anybody ask us those
• 59:37
  Speaker 3: kind of things about all the positions and on the
• 59:40
  Speaker 3: football field, so it always was like part of my preparation.
• 59:46
  Speaker 3: I guess for the season, and on a week to
• 59:48
  Speaker 3: week basis for games, let's know exactly what was going on,
• 59:54
  Speaker 3: what I was doing, why I was doing it, how
• 59:57
  Speaker 3: I was supposed to do it, and what I was
• 59:59
  Speaker 3: supposed to do if things changed in front of me.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 3: And I wanted to make damn sure that I knew
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 3: everything and and if I if I screwed up, I
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 3: was so pissed at myself if it happened, I would
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 3: be I would never forgive myself because you know, I
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 3: let the team down. So I wanted to make sure
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 3: that that didn't occur. And I was very fortunate and
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 3: you know, preventing that from happening, because I would not
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 3: have wanted to be part of the reason that we
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 3: lost the football game because I did the wrong thing
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 3: and my unblocked guy sacked the quarterback, caused the fulm
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 3: when they recovered and they score a touchdown late to
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 3: beat us, or whatever the case may be. Didn't want
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 3: to ever be part of that Unfortunately I wasn't. I
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 3: was never part of that kind of a situation. So
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 3: you know, I feel like I feel like I was Physically,
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 3: I could I could hang, I could play, you know,
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 3: I was. God blessed me with a big, strong body
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 3: and you know, athletic enough to play and all that.
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 3: But my what I what I wanted to be the
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 3: differentiator was he he he's in play. There are a
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 3: lot of guys like him physically that can play. Okay,
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 3: now what about the mind? Is he going to make mistakes? No, Hey,
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 3: this guy, this guy never makes a mistake. He's never
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 3: going to hurt us that way. I'll play him that
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 3: That can be a tiebreaker when you're trying to beat
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 3: the guy out in a position. You know, it's like, yeah,
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 3: they're both fairly equal in terms of what they can
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 3: give us on the football field physically, skill sets similar
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 3: and all that. But man, this dude never makes a mistake.
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 3: This guy a little dicey. Man, you know, you're rolling
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 3: the dice a little bit. You're you're you know, you know,
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 3: you hope it doesn't happen at a critical time in
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 3: the football game where the guy screws up and you
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 3: don't want to coaches don't want to be out there.
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 3: Oh man, I just hope and pray that this snap's huge.
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 3: I hope he doesn't screw up. I hope this guy
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 3: does not screw this up for us. You can't. They
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 3: won't play it in those situations. They're going to play
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 3: guys that know what they're doing, know how to do it,
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 3: know why they're doing it, and uh and and can
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 3: make adjustments if necessary.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: When you walk into the locker room now in your seventies,
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: do you feel an immediate bond with the offensive lineman?
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 3: I do, Dan definitely, Yeah. I mean because I mean
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 3: I know exactly what they're going through. I know what
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 3: they're thinking. I know I know their mindset, I know
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 3: their mentality. Uh and you know, it's a It's a
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 3: very interesting position to play because you you are so
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 3: co dependent on the guy next to him. I mean
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 3: you are in football in general, I mean the quarterback,
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 3: if his offensive line is poors and having a bad day,
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 3: he's going to suffer. If his offensive line is playing well,
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 3: he's gonna have a chance to have a hell of
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 3: a game. And the guy they got at the quarterback
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 3: is there, Joe Burrow, you got a hell of a
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 3: chance every game to have a hell of a game.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 3: So the offensive line is it's a The bonds that
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 3: are formed by offensive linemen are unbreakable. I mean, they're
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 3: they're they are so damn strong, and you're playing, you're
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 3: playing right next to each other, you're communicating verbally, making
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 3: calls so that you are on the same page, and
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 3: you have to go out and execute the techniques and
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 3: fundamentals in the same fashion, uh that everybody's coached to
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 3: do it. So there's there's definitely, you know, a bond
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 3: that's unique in sports. I think I think it's unique
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 3: in all sports because now you get you get a
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 3: situation where you're never going to touch the football. You
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 3: know you have to you know, basically be totally aware
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 3: of the fact that if you if you're looking to
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 3: build to UH, if you're playing the game for individual stats,
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 3: offensive lines are the wrong position. You shouldn't be playing
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 3: that spot because you're all you're doing is offensive linemen.
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 3: In my opinion, definition of an offensive lineman is put
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 3: forth the best effort you possibly can for the betterment
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 3: of your team and teammates. If you play to your
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 3: highest level, you're not going to have stats of people
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 3: to look at and say, oh my gosh, you know
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 3: other than your blocking grade, which is key. I mean
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 3: that's what you're basically evaluated on, what your blocking percentages
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 3: are and how well you effectively neutralize the opponent. But
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 3: you're not going to have catches, rushing, yards, yards, receiving,
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 3: all that sort of thing. So you're playing the game
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 3: to do as a good job as you can to
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 3: allow those skill players to excel. I mean, you come
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 3: out of a football game if you rush for two
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 3: hundred yards as a team and you arete hundred yard
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 3: rusher and you threw the ball for thre hundred yards
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 3: or one hundred yard receiver as an offensive line, say,
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 3: I feel good about that game. Hell of a game
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 3: because look at what the guys did. You know, our
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 3: job is to make those guys look good. Let those
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 3: guys show their skills, show their talents, show their abilities,
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 3: take advantage of the opponent. You know, we know we've
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 3: got good players. We know that our guy can beat
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 3: their guy if we give them the opportunity to do so.
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 3: And when you come out of a game with those
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 3: kind of numbers, you know you did your job. You know,
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 3: you gave your skilled people the opportunity to go out
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 3: and perform at the highest level they possibly could, and
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 3: you know that's not an easy thing in the NFL.
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 3: And then lineman, you know, you work together. It's like
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 3: the tandem, the bonds that are formed with the I mean,
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 3: I'm still very close to tackles I played next to
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 3: in center that I played next to. And it's almost
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 3: impossible because you go through so much. You go through
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 3: so much man, so many challenges, so much going on,
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 3: and you find out about guys, You find out what
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 3: make guys tick, You find out what a competitor the
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 3: guy is, and you know you have you have a
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 3: tremendous amount of respect that you'll have your whole life
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 3: for a guy that's going to go out and lay
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 3: it on the line for his teammates no matter what.
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 3: A guy that might be nicked up a little bit
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 3: but still plays, you know, plays through injury. And there's
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 3: so many things to go into, you know, an offensive
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 3: line and good offensive line play, and I just I
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 3: feel like this group, Dian, like you said, you walk
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 3: into this locker room, I feel that that this group
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 3: is the epitome a great example of what a true
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 3: offensive line is all about. You know, I think I
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 3: think these guys feel the way we're talking about offensive lineman.
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 3: I think they feel that way about each other. And
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 3: I think that's only going to continue to grow. And
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 3: I know Joe Burrow takes the world of his offensive
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 3: line and does everything possible to take care of his
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 3: offensive lineman. He'll get them pretty nice, pretty nice gifts man,
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 3: as you know, as a thank you for a job
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 3: well done and keeping him upright and allowing him to
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 3: perform with the level he performs at. But I do
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 3: think that this offensive line is a very a very
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 3: uniquely talented group, highly intelligent group from a football IQ standpoint,
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 3: And uh, they and they all they just don't want
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 3: to let each other down. That's the big thing. They
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 3: never want to be the reason that, you know, the
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 3: football team lost the football game or the offensive line
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 3: did not play well as a unit. Five components of
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 3: the offensive line, two guards to tackles in the center,
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 3: all five playing at a high level, very strong, powerful fist.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 3: If one or two aren't getting it done, no no
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 3: strength to that fist. And that's that's what the offensive
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 3: line is all about. The offensive lineman know that every
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 3: individual you do your job, then the then the the
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 3: entire offensive line is going to thrive, and you don't
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 3: want to be the reason that that entire offensive line
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 3: is not thriving.
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: How did your broadcasting career begin and how does it
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: compare to playing?
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 3: That's an excellent question, Dan, I mean it began, you know,
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 3: when I was done playing. I knew I wanted to
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 3: try to do something to stay with the game, and
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 3: Paul Brown talked with Paul Brown about it, and he
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 3: talked about coaching possibly and he threw some scenarios out there,
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 3: and I just wasn't I just didn't think that I
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 3: wanted to give the time up to do it right.
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 3: I felt like the commitment was extraordinary, and young family,
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 3: young wife, young kids, wanted to spend more time with them.
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 3: Didn't want to, you know, try to try to do
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 3: something half assed as such, particularly at the highest level
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 3: in the National Football League, You're not going to survive
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 3: very long doing that. I have the utmost respect for coaches.
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 3: The amount of time that they give to the game
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 3: is incredible. It's it's almost incomprehensible. And they're given so
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 3: many hours to the game of football, and you know,
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 3: there's only so many hours in the day. You can't
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 3: be two places at once, and so all those things
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 3: were going through my mind with a young family, and
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 3: then I thought maybe broadcasting would be a way I
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 3: could stay tied into the the game of football and
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 3: tied into the team, and specifically with the Cincinnati Bengals,
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 3: and Paul Brown was you know, thought, damn we could
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 3: I think be able to work something out there, And
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 3: next thing I know, I'm sitting down with Mike Brown
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 3: and working working out a contract to do as an
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 3: independent contractor, not a member of the organization, but as
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 3: an independent contractor to do color on the Bengals radio network.
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 3: And it was a clear channel at the time, seven
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 3: hundred WLW. And so it's UH had an opportunit need
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 3: to do do games with every play by play guy
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 3: UH that the Bengals have had in their history and
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 3: the radio network. And I can honestly say that the
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 3: man that I'm looking at right now and doing the
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 3: podcast with is the best he is, the man Dan
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 3: Horde is as good as the game has to offer
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 3: in terms of recognizing what's going on and saying it,
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 3: describing it to a t I mean to perfection and
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 3: never any hesitation. That's the thing, you know. Never It's
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 3: incredible to listen to listen to you do a do
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 3: a game. It's inspiring actually and and really it's uh,
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 3: you know your preparation, I know a second and none.
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 3: You're gonna be ready for everything and anything that happens
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 3: on a football field. Not so I'm going to make
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 3: sure that I'm in that arena as well. And that
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 3: that was something that that Paul Brown uh said to
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 3: me when I've decided I was going to give it
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 3: a go, he said, look, uh, you were. I've always
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 3: admired the preparation that you have as a as a
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 3: young as a young player, and all through your career
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 3: you made sure that you knew what was going on,
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 3: you knew what you were doing. You weren't going to
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 3: hurt your team. Do the same thing. And in this
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 3: other life after football, you know that you want to
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 3: stay in the game of football, but it's life after
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 3: football from a broadcasting standpoint, make sure that you're prepared,
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 3: make sure you do your homework, make sure you're you're
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 3: not surprised by things that teams do out in the
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 3: football field, because you know you you're you're ready for it,
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 3: you studied it, you're you're you're ready to adapt. So
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 3: that that made a big impression on me as well.
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 3: And I would I would say that it was probably
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 3: a combined you know, desire. I wanted to do something
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 3: to stay in the game of football, and broadcasting ended
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 3: up being the thing that fit me best at that
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 3: particular time. And the Bengals were all for it in
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 3: terms of their support and feeling like be able to
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 3: get the job done and do a good job for
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 3: the ranization. And so, you know, a bunch of years later,
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 3: here as we come up on the fiftieth fortieth, come
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 3: up in the broadcast booth, still going, still going strong
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 3: with my man Dan Horde, and I'm hopefully doing it
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 3: for a few more years, because there's nothing better than
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 3: doing football games with Dan Horde, because, like I said,
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 3: you are a pros pro man. You are always prepared
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 3: for everything and anything, and your ability to adjust to
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 3: anything is remarkable, and I think I think you're as
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 3: good as it gets.
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: I'm blushing on this zoom call. I really appreciate the
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: kind words, and hopefully you're doing it for more than
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: just a few more years. Hopefully We've got several Super
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: Bowls to look forward to together.
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 3: That'd be great.
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: All right, final question for my friend Dave Lapham. As
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: you know, I end my fun Facts interviews with the
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: same question every time. I've never posed it to you,
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: so here goes. If you could meet anybody in history,
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: living or deceased, would that person be.
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 3: I would have to say, I'm not an overly religious person,
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 3: but I do believe, you know, and I and I
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 3: try to live my life the right way and and
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 3: make decisions that are positive and impact not just myself
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 3: but other people as as as well as can possibly occur.
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 3: I'd have to say Jesus Christ. I would love to
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 3: have met Jesus Christ. I would love to have been
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 3: able to to see firsthand. Would be a long time ago,
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 3: but you know, see in an experience and just be
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 3: around him going through everything he had to go through,
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 3: you know, really being on the inside and finding out
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 3: what he's thinking, what his mindset was. Obviously he's he
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 3: is perfection and UH. And if I could have somehow
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 3: worked it out in his three to have been able
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 3: to to uh, to be there for the entire not
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 3: you know, it's entire life. And I mean, to leave
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 3: so young and to be crucified, and to go the
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 3: way that he went. It's just I just I just
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 3: would have loved to have been in his head as
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 3: such and understood and uh and followed everything that he
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 3: was thinking and firsthand, instead of you know, written in
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 3: the Bible or you know, some kind of dossier or
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 3: whatever the case may be, be able to talk to
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 3: him exactly why why are you doing this? Why have
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 3: you decided that this is the approach you have to take? Why?
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 3: How how difficult has it been to be one of one?
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 3: You're all by yourself and everybody else is against you?
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 3: I mean, what how do you live your life that way?
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 3: There'd be so many questions that I would love to
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 3: have asked Jesus Christ. And I mean, as interviewers, we
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 3: know what that you always know when you're done with
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 3: an interview. God man, that was just a great subject
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 3: to talk to, interview that guy. That dude is that
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 3: dude's special? Well, who's more special than Jesus Christ? As
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 3: an interviewer, would be are you kidding me? I get
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 3: a chance to sit down and talk to Jesus Christ
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 3: about his life and all the things that he went
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 3: through and all the suffering that he had to endure
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 3: and what he did for all of us and the
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 3: ultimate sacrifice, and you know, given his life for the
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 3: betterment of humanity. I mean, how good would that have
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 3: been to have been able to sit down and talk
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 3: to Jesus Christ's firsthand about all the trials and tribulations
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 3: that he had to deal with. I mean, what an
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 3: extraordinary life. And to be able to have been their
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 3: first hand I think would have been a unique experience.
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: You have also had an extraordinary life. Congratulations on this honor.
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 1: It is richly deserved. The fans got it right. I'll
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: try not to get choked up here, because you know,
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: I'm a crier. One of the great joys of my
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: life and blessings of my life is to be your
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: broadcast partner and your friend. Thanks so much for your time.
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: Look forward to the public reacting to this news. This
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: this podcast will come out at the same time as
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: the announcement, and I know Bengals fans are going to
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: be overjoyed.
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 3: Well, Dan, I certainly do appreciate those kind words. And uh,
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 3: you know, I get emotional thinking about about a lot
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 3: of a lot of it. Emotional about you know, the
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 3: people that have contributed to my success as such. And
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 3: you know, I look at you as as as as
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 3: a big, big person in that regard, and and I
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 3: can get emotional thinking about you as a friend as well,
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 3: because you, Dan Horne, is as pure a heart as
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 3: there is. I mean, you have a heart of gold,
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 3: my man. You you are, you are, you know, just unique.
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 3: You're one of one and have enjoy a friendship and
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 3: enjoy and and be able to be in a broadcast
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 3: booth if you on a on a weekly basis. I mean,
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 3: I tell you, people are like, Okay, National Football League.
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 3: That's that's the goal. That's the goal everybody that starts
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 3: to get involved in the game, have a chance to
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 3: play for ten years and then have another chance to
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 3: broadcast for forty and to be doing it down the
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 3: stretch and have my fortieth year to be in the
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 3: booth with a guy like you who basically is what
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 3: a broadcaster should be in every sense of the word.
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 3: I couldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't think of anything more appealing.
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 3: It's it's it's mind boggling to me that I'm in
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 3: the in the position that I'm in, and I do
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 3: appreciate the Bengals and the Brown family for giving me
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 3: this opportunity, and I uh, I think, thank the Good
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 3: Lord that it's with you, Dan Horde, that I'm going
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 3: to doing my fortieth year with the Cincinnati Bengals in
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 3: the broadcast booth and me total in fifty years and
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 3: ring of honor because they have fifty years and all
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 3: the things associated with it. It's just, I mean, it's beyond.
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 3: It's beyond what I can comprehend. I'll tell you it
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 3: really is. Little did I know as I was thinking
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 3: about trying to what would you like to do with
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 3: your life? Way back when I knew I wanted to
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 3: play sports, I knew it was going to be football.
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 3: I mean played other sports, but I knew my sport
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 3: was going to be football, and I knew it was
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 3: going to be alignment in football. But to be able
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 3: to play at the highest level and with the people
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 3: that I played with, unbelievable people, you know, not just
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 3: great football players, but unbelievable human beings, and then to
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 3: go into the broadcast booth and do it for as
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 3: long as I've been able and fortunate enough to do it,
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 3: and to be with you, I mean because everybody there
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 3: were I did. I have enjoyed football with a lot
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 3: of unbelievable people, but none better than you, Dan Horn.
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 3: One of one, no question about it. They broke the mold.
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 3: You are the best. You are an extremely gifted broadcaster,
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 3: and if it's possible, the Good Lord said, I'm going
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 3: to make Dan Horde an even better human being.
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: This podcast is not about me. It's getting embarrassed. I
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: love you, Pal, Thank you so much. Congrats again, look
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: forward to seeing you soon.
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 3: Same here, Dan, have the best day ever, have my man.
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: There's an old saying in broadcasting that it's a long
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: season and a small booth. In other words, it's easy
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: for broadcasting partners to get on each other's nerves. Well,
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: that doesn't happen with Dave Lapham. I know how lucky
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: I am to spend every game learning from and laughing
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: with one of the greatest Bengals of all time. Before
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 1: we get to Lamar Parrish, here's a quick reminder that
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: proud to be the Bengals official software provider by Alta
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home,
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: business and community to a new level, and by Kettering
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Lamar Parrish
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: was a seventh round draft pick in the bengals third
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: season nineteen seventy and teamed up with Ken Riley to
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: form the best cornerback duo in team history. Riley holds
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: the franchise record with a stunning sixty five interceptions, a
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: number that helped him earn his place in the Pro
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: Football Hall of Fame. Parish wasn't far behind. He finished
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: his career with forty seven its. But an even more
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: impressive number were the thirteen touchdowns he scored. Four on
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 1: pick sixes, four on punt returns, three on fumble returns,
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: one on a kick return, and one after a block
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: field goal. Lamar thirteen non offensive touchdowns are tied for
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: fifth in NFL history. Here's Mike Brown. I'm Lamar Parish.
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 2: Lamar deserves more people remembering him than do I don't
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 2: know why that's so. During his time here I think
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 2: was about seven years he played for us. He was
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 2: the most talented cornerback we ever had. And we've had
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 2: some great cornerbacks, but he was also the best returner
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 2: we ever had. And the one story that we stood
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 2: out in my mind about Lamar was when we played
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 2: Washington here. They had a good team and we had
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 2: something like three yards total offense. We didn't move the
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 2: ball at all. We won the game. We went it
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 2: on returns. Lamar on one punt return, went into a
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 2: group of players that looked like a ball of players
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 2: that he dove into and somehow he ran out the
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 2: back end of all this accumulated group of players and
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 2: went on without losing stride for a touchdown. It was
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 2: a very odd looking play, and when he came off
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 2: the field, my dad said, Lamar, how did it look
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 2: when he ran inside with all those players? Ah, he said, Coach,
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 2: it was dark in there.
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 3: How he explained it.
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 2: And my dad loved that story, and I loved it
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 2: because he loved it. But it was just a description
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 2: about Lamar, who could do exceptional things at his position.
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 2: He had exceptional, unique almost quickness. He could cover like
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 2: a blanket. The receivers didn't get open on him, and
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 2: he could play the ball we had on the other
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 2: side that Kenny was over there and we had two corners,
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 2: the equal of any team ever.
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: Now time for my conversation with the eight time pro
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: bowler Leapin' Lamar Parish. Lamar, you are in multiple halls
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 1: of fame. Your uniform number was retired at your alma mater,
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 1: Lincoln University in Missouri. Describe what adding the Bengals Ring
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: of Honor to that list means to you.
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 4: It means that I have been recognized as one of
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 4: the best. Get to have this honor as a dream
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 4: come true. You know, as a little boy, I dream
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 4: of becoming the greatest football player in the world. Even
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 4: though I'm not the greatest, that have staying among the
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 4: best with Ken Rally and Ken Anderson and Mournos and
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 4: the rest of the guys. And I'm pleased to have
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 4: been selected. I want to thank the Brown family and
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 4: the committee for selecting me. And this is one of
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 4: the greatest honors that I ever have received, and I'm grateful.
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 4: I'm thankful, Labar.
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: Let's turn the clock back. You were a seventh round
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: pick coming out of Lincoln in nineteen seventy. What do
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: you remember about being chosen by Paul Brown and the Bengals.
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 4: Hey, well, I've never hearried from the Bengals until draft time,
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 4: and I was pleased to have been drafted by Paul Brown,
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 4: one of the greatest coaches that I know, and had
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 4: to have been selected by the Bengals coming there young
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 4: and you know, the rest of the guys was young,
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 4: so that we kind of jailed together and form a
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 4: good football team there. So I have been lighted to
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 4: have been drafted by the Bengals, and I couldn't have
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 4: chose a better place.
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: I've read some stories that say that you are running
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: back in college, and then other stories say that you
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: were a defensive back in college. What's the true story.
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 4: I was a running back that I never played cornerback
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 4: ever in my life. You know what I'm saying. I
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 4: always have been a running back. However, I would go
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 4: in as a safety some time to depend against the
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 4: deep ball, but I never played corner. I trained myself
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 4: to play corner on the beaches. I was a natural athlete,
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 4: trained hard and shooting. I did the things that I
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 4: needed to do to perfect the position.
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: So when did you find out you were going to
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 1: play corner in Cincinnati?
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 4: Well, Paul Brown, I think he was looking for a corner.
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 4: I was drafted as an ass because of my size.
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 4: They didn't know where else gonna play, but Paul needed
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 4: a corner, so from day one our chosen to play
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 4: the corner.
• 1:26:10
  Speaker 1: And how did you feel about it?
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 4: I feel a great about it because being a running back,
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 4: I was too small and I wouldn't have taken a
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 4: lot of punishment. I'm glad that Paul Brown ben and
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 4: Jenians that he is so fit that I will become
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 4: a good corner.
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: We are visiting the Bengals legend, Lamar Parrish. You join
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 1: your former roommate and close friend Ken Riley in the
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: Ring of Honor. You two were the starting cornerbacks together
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 1: for eight years and Mike Brown says you were the
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: equal of any cornerback tandem in NFL history. Describe your
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 1: relationship with Ken and tell me why you two made
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 1: such a great pair.
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 4: Ken and I was very close a number one that
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 4: we talked about a lot of things because about family
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 4: they've been miss uh And the most important thing at
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 4: the time was a plan for the Bengals, being able
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 4: to start and share out or to share our ideas.
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 4: And I hope for the future both of us us
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 4: afraid when we first came there because we didn't know
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 4: what to expect. Kennan was a great differences bike. He
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 4: was a position corner. He technique uh sound and quick.
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 4: I was in your phase. We was two different type players,
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 4: but they both of us achieved the same goals and
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 4: and and that was to lock down outside of the field.
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 4: But Kenny and I was friends, were very slow, different
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 4: in a lot of ways, but we had a lot
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 4: of things in Colling. We we wanted to be the best.
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 4: Maybe we share the idea and we have one of
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 4: to become what we are today.
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 1: Lamar, the Bengals website describes you as Dion before Dion,
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 1: not only for your play at cornerback, but also your
• 1:28:19
  Speaker 1: skills as a return specialist and the flare with which
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 1: you played. What do you think of that? Were you
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 1: Dion before Dion?
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 4: Well, that's what they say, but I was Lamar young,
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 4: So I mean, you know them had his own They
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 4: can see Junster. I mean that you can't deny that.
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 4: But I did it before anybody that I know. You know,
• 1:28:42
  Speaker 4: I'm saying because it was natural for me to do.
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 4: Being the running back. I always felt big, you know,
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 4: saying me I want to school anybody and knock the
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 4: ball down, but to take it back to the house
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 4: it was something special and to be recognized to them,
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 4: it's a pleasure. But you know that I'm Lamar. I'm
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 4: not there. I don't try to be there, John said,
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 4: because I did what I had to do before I
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 4: even knew deal, So I am Lamar.
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: It's probably more accurate to say that Dion was Lamar
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: after Lamar, since you came first, and you.
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 4: Could say that. I agree with you. But I never
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 4: wanted to be like I never wanted to be like
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 4: any defensive bank. You know. I mean because I had
• 1:29:35
  Speaker 4: my idols and stuff at home, my big brother and
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 4: a guy named Dan Kelliwrate, my brother in law. You
• 1:29:42
  Speaker 4: know those guys were now. I never idled any defensive
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 4: bank un run the bank in the league. I mind
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 4: the way they played, but I didn't want to be
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 4: like any of those.
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 3: I wanted to be Lamar Lamar.
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: In addition to being a great player, you were known
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: for your style. Nineteen seventies wardrobe. Tell us about the
• 1:30:03
  Speaker 1: time you walked into the locker room and Paul Brown
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 1: was wearing your fur coat.
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 4: That was the moment I see you. I'd never seen
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 4: Paul so happy because we were playing the Browns at
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 4: the time, you know, and Paul was compliment that we
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 4: was going to beat the brown because we had worked
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 4: hard at etc. But to come out of the bathroom
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 4: and see Paul with my mink coolos in my head
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 4: was hey, that was that was a sight to see
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 4: just sain He pranced around and laughed and that's the
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 4: first time I ever seen him in that type of
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 4: move you know. So, I mean that was interesting, very
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 4: interesting to me.
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 1: I would pay a good I'd pay a good buck
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 1: for a photo of Paul Brown in your mint coat
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: and your hat.
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 4: I wish I could have taken a picture of myself
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 4: because that was a great moment. And I'll tell you
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 4: what did he He was felt a specially. He was
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 4: a piece of work, but a great coach and a
• 1:31:09
  Speaker 4: great organizer, you know that another credit for drafting me.
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 4: I'm grateful.
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 1: What became of the mink coat.
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 4: I don't know. I got another one, and that one
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 4: grew old.
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 3: Lamar.
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about some of your accomplishments. In nineteen seventy four,
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: you set a team record that still stands by averaging
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: eighteen point eight yards per punt return. That is the
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 1: highest mark in NFL history during the Super Bowl era.
• 1:31:40
  Speaker 1: What made you such a lethal punt returner.
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 4: Well, I was blessed with speed and quickness and speak
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 4: and I don't to be our great corner back, you
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 4: gotta have a feel for it. I mean, and I
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 4: had a fear for being a running back. I'd like
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 4: to see people miss that. I mean, so my thing
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 4: if this, if I could get you to stop this gold,
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 4: then I was gonna beat you because I was gonna
• 1:32:08
  Speaker 4: work the fear for the good. That was my greatest asset.
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 4: Now I mean to get you this though, Uh stop
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 4: or slow up a little bit so I could accelerate.
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 4: And my acceleration was something uh that got me through
• 1:32:23
  Speaker 4: you knowee. I mean because if I stopped, I could,
• 1:32:26
  Speaker 4: I could stop faster than anybody I know.
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 1: Did you ever get timed in the forty.
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 4: Yes, my best time was four two, but uh, Paul
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 4: Brown timed us in noon for him helman shoulder past
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 4: and stuff. I didn't know if I was gonna have
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 4: to run and shoulder past the helmet and stuff.
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 1: So you ran a four to two fully padded No,
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: I ran.
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 4: A post hope for the pack and my best time
• 1:32:53
  Speaker 4: ever was scored two. I was consisting at four to three.
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 1: Gotcha, you scored thirteen none off touchdowns, so punt return,
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 1: kick return, interception return, et cetera. That's top five in
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 1: NFL history. Do you have excuse me, do you have
• 1:33:08
  Speaker 1: a most memorable Yes.
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 4: Dude, I was playing against I think the risk ins
• 1:33:13
  Speaker 4: was someone and I ran into a group of guys
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 4: opponents that was trying to attacking me. I ran into
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 4: the crowd and came out the other side and went
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 4: in to school for about age or three ofs and
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 4: that was amazing. Paul Brown asked me to say, how
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 4: wepen they now?
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 3: Lamar?
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 4: I said, it was dog.
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: You found the light.
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 4: I saw a little bit of daylight and I just
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 4: read to daylight.
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 1: Lamar, you finished your career with forty seven interceptions and
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: teams didn't throw the ball as much back then as
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: they do now. How would you describe your playing style
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 1: at corner Well, I was.
• 1:33:53
  Speaker 4: Taught technique up fundamentals. I could have played anywhere about
• 1:33:59
  Speaker 4: it because learn from the best. I learned from Chuck Weber.
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 4: When I first came to the Dingos, I didn't know
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 4: how to play corner bak, but he taught me skills, techniques, fundamentals,
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 4: house to stay in my bake, to what to look for,
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 4: et cetera. You know what I mean. So that once
• 1:34:19
  Speaker 4: I left him, then I didn't have to be taught anything,
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 4: you know, just give me the game plan because I
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 4: was ready.
• 1:34:28
  Speaker 1: One of the top safeties of your era. Hall of
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 1: Famer Ken Houston once said this about you quote confidence
• 1:34:35
  Speaker 1: came out of him like water from a hydrant. Were
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: you always confident? And how did that affect your play?
• 1:34:44
  Speaker 4: I have always been confident, and because I know that
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 4: God gave me certain things. He gave me cleaning, the speed,
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 4: and et cetera. And I worked hard. I worked hard
• 1:34:56
  Speaker 4: to anybody that I know. I worked three times a
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 4: day like I had a job, you know, I mean, hey,
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 4: because I wanted to be the greatest and longed to
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 4: be the greatest. My mother always told me and said
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 4: that you have to do what the great ones do.
• 1:35:08
  Speaker 4: You got that work everybody, So that was my thing.
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 4: I worked. Once I came to camp, then I was
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 4: ready to play because I was physically ready, and I
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 4: was melted it really.
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 1: Lamar Ken Riley was part of the Bengals initial Ring
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 1: of Honor class, and then two years later he was
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 1: elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and his son,
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: Ken Junior believes that one honor helped lead to the other.
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 1: Is it your hope that the publicity that goes with
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 1: getting into the Bengals Ring of Honor will have an
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 1: impact on Pro Football Hall of Fame voters?
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 4: Hey, well, I hope so, and Thomas rights. This was Stephane.
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 4: This was a big moment for me and I'm grateful
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 4: for him, and I hope and pray that this will
• 1:35:59
  Speaker 4: be to your Hall of Fame. Out there a put
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 4: up the numbers. I would like to be placed on
• 1:36:09
  Speaker 4: the side of Ken rather because web around together, He
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 4: and half together were something spaces.
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 1: No question about that. The other member of this year's
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 1: Ring of Honor class is Dave Lapham, your teammate in
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: your last four years with the Bengals. When I see
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 1: that name Dave Lapham, what immediately comes to mind greatness.
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 4: A great guy, true gay, true to the games, work hard,
• 1:36:38
  Speaker 4: feels good. I'm a team sick and he was have
• 1:36:43
  Speaker 4: this special.
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: You guys make a great Ring of Honor class. Here's
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: my final question. For you, Lamar. You had one of
• 1:36:51
  Speaker 1: the most memorable nicknames in team history, Leaping Lamar Parrish.
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know the origin story. When did you become
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 1: Leaping Lamar and who gave you the nickname?
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 4: I became Leapa Lamar in nineteen seventy. I think we
• 1:37:11
  Speaker 4: was in training camp and we had a wide receiver
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 4: by his name was Speedy Thomas. Speedy Thomas was a
• 1:37:19
  Speaker 4: great move man, but he wasn't very fast. He gave
• 1:37:24
  Speaker 4: me a great move into the post and I been
• 1:37:27
  Speaker 4: on it. I overplayed the post and he went back
• 1:37:31
  Speaker 4: to the corner, and by the time the ball was
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 4: in the air, I was making a play on the ball,
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 4: and the scene as though I was sitting on top
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 4: of his head, and Speedy said after was I'm gonna
• 1:37:48
  Speaker 4: name you Leitha Lamar, And the name stuck with him
• 1:37:51
  Speaker 4: from there now.
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 1: So I just learned two things. Number one, Speedy Thomas
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: gave you the nickname leap and Lamar. And number two,
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 1: despite his nickname, Speedy Thomas wasn't fast, right, He wasn't fast.
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 4: He was quick, gotcha and was being quick and fast
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 4: fast as straight out of speed. But quickness is in
• 1:38:13
  Speaker 4: between the lash. You know, I mean so so speedy
• 1:38:17
  Speaker 4: had a gift of sitting it up for certain things
• 1:38:20
  Speaker 4: and giving you something else. So that was great. You know,
• 1:38:23
  Speaker 4: send me I was young, I will play the post
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 4: because I knew if you go into the post, I
• 1:38:29
  Speaker 4: was gonna go get it. And uh well he flew
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 4: me that time. I came back and got it and.
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 1: The nickname quick Thomas wouldn't have been as good, so
• 1:38:39
  Speaker 1: he had to be speedy Lamar. Congratulations again on being
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 1: selected by the fans for the Bengals Ring of Honor.
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 1: It is a well deserved honor and we look forward
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 1: to seeing you in October when you officially enter the
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 1: Ring of Honor. Thank you so much for your time
• 1:38:57
  Speaker 1: and congratulations.
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 4: Thank you very much, and tell everybody I say hello
• 1:39:02
  Speaker 4: and leaping them. Being task.
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 1: For the final word on this year's inductees, here is
• 1:39:09
  Speaker 1: their former teammate Ken Anderson. Let's start with your old roommate,
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 1: Dave Lapham. What did you admire and respect about Big lap.
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 5: I think his football intelligence, but I mean, besides being
• 1:39:22
  Speaker 5: a very loyal friend and a very loyal teammate, it
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 5: was his football smarts. I mean, here's the guy, you know,
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 5: We used to call him the tool that he was
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 5: a right guard, but he played center.
• 1:39:35
  Speaker 3: He played left guard, left tackle, right.
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 5: He could play him all in a pinch and never
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 5: miss a beat. And I remember when Blair Bush got
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 5: hurt and Dave comes in and plays center and we
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 5: did not miss a snap. He did miss assignment, you know,
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 5: for all the weeks that he played center.
• 1:39:51
  Speaker 3: So you know, I think most.
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 5: People you know will say, got forty years in the
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 5: radio booth. That's why you're going in. He was a
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 5: great football player before he became an announcer.
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 1: And then there's leaping Lamar Parrish undoubtedly one of the
• 1:40:06
  Speaker 1: greatest athletes you ever played with.
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 5: Correct, I mean, he was a great cornerback. But also
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 5: the years that he was there, we had a dual
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 5: punt return he and Tommy Casanova. Now you know, Lamar
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 5: would get it and he's a jitterbug that would come
• 1:40:23
  Speaker 5: out of the pile and go for a touchdown, and
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 5: Tommy was that long strider that would go and hit one.
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 5: But we had the most dangerous punt return in the
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 5: league for years when they would do that. But you know,
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 5: he was a dangerous corner and I think you know
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 5: one of the reasons that Kenny Ridley had a lot
• 1:40:37
  Speaker 5: of interceptions is because they didn't want to throw at
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 5: Lamar very often either.
• 1:40:42
  Speaker 1: That's going to do it for This episode of the
• 1:40:43
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• 1:41:14
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