Speaker 1: How about that sports fans, The Great Number sixty two
Speaker 1: been with the Bengals since almost their inception, has never
Speaker 1: left except to join Donald Trump's the Jersey Generals. Now
Speaker 1: in the Ring of honor the Great Dave Lapham. Dave,
Speaker 1: welcome again to the Bill Cunningham Show. First of all, Dave,
Speaker 1: how you are you notified about such things? Did it
Speaker 1: happen last night or this morning? How is someone notified
Speaker 1: about this?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I was notified today by the by the the Brown
Speaker 3: Blackburn family and different different people reached out at different times.
Speaker 3: Elizabeth Blackburn and then Mike Brown. Obviously we had a
Speaker 3: we had a conversation that was very very nice. I mean,
Speaker 3: Mike Brown obviously has been a big, a big factor,
Speaker 3: a big figure in my lifetime.
Speaker 2: There's no question about that.
Speaker 3: He is uh provided me with an avenue to just
Speaker 3: take care of my family for hopefully multiple generations, honestly,
Speaker 3: and as a player for ten seasons, and then the
Speaker 3: broadcast booth for forty which is quite a stretch. I mean,
Speaker 3: that's the pre remarkable him this next season, I mean
Speaker 3: forty years to broadcast booth, and I just I can't
Speaker 3: believe it.
Speaker 2: On the days really I'm just wondering, while it's time.
Speaker 1: Ain't that's the truth? Looking back, Is there one game
Speaker 1: of the one thousand you've been involved in that kind
Speaker 1: of stands out good or bad?
Speaker 2: I'd say the Freezer Ball.
Speaker 3: The Freezer Ball was a It was a challenge.
Speaker 2: I mean it was.
Speaker 3: It was a game that probably will never ever have
Speaker 3: another game played in those conditions. I don't think the
Speaker 3: league would allow it. In fact, they almost didn't allow
Speaker 3: it back then. It barely was allowed to happen, and
Speaker 3: we thought we were told that it was it was
Speaker 3: in dire straits, that there was a good chance of
Speaker 3: we're going to.
Speaker 2: Be able to play the football game.
Speaker 3: But then the NFL decided to go ahead and do it,
Speaker 3: and the Freezer Bowl happened and was born, and it
Speaker 3: turned out to be a hell of a football game,
Speaker 3: very competitive considering the environments. And you know, the temperatures
Speaker 3: nine below fifty nine below wind chills. That's cruel of
Speaker 3: unusual punishment to the normal man, There's no doubt about that.
Speaker 3: And I've never been colder in my life and never
Speaker 3: want to be cold like that again in my lifetime.
Speaker 1: Growing up in Massachusetts and attending Syracuse what was your thoughts?
Speaker 1: And maybe your senioror Syracuse you lettered in a bunch
Speaker 1: of sports. You were a team captain, you played in
Speaker 1: the East West Shrine Game of nineteen seventy three. What
Speaker 1: were your thoughts if somebody would interview a young, mean,
Speaker 1: aggressive Dave Lapham in January February seventy seventy four and
Speaker 1: you were going to be told you're going to be
Speaker 1: a Bengal, what were your thoughts.
Speaker 3: Yeah, my thoughts were, I can't believe I have an
Speaker 3: opportunity to play for a legend, Paul Brown. Paul Brown, basically,
Speaker 3: in my estimation, I was kind of raised on the
Speaker 3: fact that he was the father of football, particularly at
Speaker 3: the professional level. I mean, the National Football League would
Speaker 3: not be what it is today if Paul Brown hadn't
Speaker 3: been part of it back in the day. And to
Speaker 3: play for Paul Brown was a dream come true. It
Speaker 3: was an experience of a lifetime. He was everything I
Speaker 3: thought he would be. Incredibly gifted, very talented man. I
Speaker 3: think could have been anything. He could have been President
Speaker 3: of the United States in my opinion, if he'd gone
Speaker 3: into the political world, could have run any company in
Speaker 3: the world, including like a Procter and Gamble here in Cincinnati,
Speaker 3: but he decided to come to Ohio and the Cleveland
Speaker 3: Browns built them into a juggernaut, and then moved to
Speaker 3: the southern part of the state here into Cincinnati and
Speaker 3: put together another franchise of fifty eight years that is
Speaker 3: as good as any in the National Football League. Three
Speaker 3: super Bowl appearances, multiple Playoff victories, unbelievable quarterbacks Paul Brown
Speaker 3: has done at all.
Speaker 1: And as far as being a third round draft pick,
Speaker 1: you're the sixty first pick overall, you come to Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: and what are your first impressions about Wilmington.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Wilmington was It was a kind of shock, really.
Speaker 3: I mean I thought, then training camp in an NFL franchise,
Speaker 3: and I wonder where we're going to be, Probably some hot
Speaker 3: shot place like some kind of a I don't know,
Speaker 3: a resort or something. I mean it would probably be
Speaker 3: you know, on fields that the resort has. That would
Speaker 3: be another little added added plus for the people that
Speaker 3: are staying there. I know.
Speaker 2: It wasn't a resport.
Speaker 3: It was tidy Wilmington College up in Wilmington, Ohio, with
Speaker 3: you know, the bear essentials for facility and equipment and
Speaker 3: everything else that I was with it. The Bengals brought
Speaker 3: their own equipment up there, basically as an NFL franchise,
Speaker 3: But Wilmington College was uh, you know, it's Quaker and
Speaker 3: it was the people. The people were very uh you know,
Speaker 3: very humble, very nice people. There wasn't there wasn't a
Speaker 3: whole lot of Shenanigans going on hot as Paul Brown
Speaker 3: would say, no Shenanigans, Yeah right, There wasn't a whole
Speaker 3: lot of cocktail. Uh cocktails being served, are alcohol being absorbed?
Speaker 3: It was. It was quite a place, it really was.
Speaker 3: And I was up there for a good number of years.
Speaker 3: There's no question about that. I spent uh had it
Speaker 3: all up. I spent multiple years up there in Wilmington,
Speaker 3: and and uh.
Speaker 4: I can't say that I'm happy that I did, but
Speaker 4: I was proud that I did because it was up
Speaker 4: there for uh the sole purpose is getting ready to
Speaker 4: play in an NFL season with an NFL franchise, and
Speaker 4: a good one at that.
Speaker 2: In the Cincinnati Bengals, right.
Speaker 1: And the preseason, how many you had two no air conditioning,
Speaker 1: had of bringing a fan, you all shared one toilet.
Speaker 1: It was, it was, it was hotter than the hinges
Speaker 1: of hell. You had two a days. Then, how many
Speaker 1: preseason games did you play in seventy four?
Speaker 3: In seventy four it was six? I think it was
Speaker 3: seventy four. Seventy five we played seven. We played in
Speaker 3: the Hall of Fame game. One of those two preseasons.
Speaker 3: I'm cramping on which one it was, brain cramp, but
Speaker 3: it was, you know, seven preseason games, seven full games
Speaker 3: against you know, viable NFL opponents that were playing for keeps. Now,
Speaker 3: it wasn't the preseason games a little different back then?
Speaker 3: Guys played, I mean the starters played. Guys played seven
Speaker 3: of them. That didn't mean a thing and nothing squads, nil, zip,
Speaker 3: not a nothing on your schedule. I mean it was
Speaker 3: just seven practice games that were officiated by NFL officials,
Speaker 3: played by NFL players that had no bearing whatsoever on
Speaker 3: the schedule.
Speaker 2: As that started to unfold in the regular season.
Speaker 1: And it hurt, I mean, it wasn't. It wasn't like
Speaker 1: it is today. Well you can practice a little bit
Speaker 1: and walk around make your fifty million dollars. It was
Speaker 1: work and you got hurt, and you said, well, just
Speaker 1: you're fine, get out there and.
Speaker 2: Play exactly exactly you know, rub some dirt on sun.
Speaker 3: Yeah, mar Mark, Paul is our training Mark, get over there,
Speaker 3: taker's ass up. Back in there, Yeah, back in there.
Speaker 3: We can't afford to have him missed. These snaps, these
Speaker 3: reps are valuable. God damn, get him in there.
Speaker 1: At the conclusion, at the conclusion of your ten years
Speaker 1: with the Bengals, you were then hired by Donald Trump,
Speaker 1: I think on a ten year personal services contract. When
Speaker 1: you told Paul Brown and Mike Brown you're leaving the
Speaker 1: Bengals at that point, was that a problem for those
Speaker 1: two years? Uh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. It was.
Speaker 3: It was interesting that they, you know, obviously weren't happy
Speaker 3: about it.
Speaker 2: You know that they they knew the rival league. This
Speaker 2: one was going to stick around.
Speaker 3: There were a few others that came and went sprung
Speaker 3: up and and died a quick death, but this one
Speaker 3: had some pretty significant financial backers, including Donald Trump and
Speaker 3: yeah he It was a two year personal services contract.
Speaker 3: I had two full seasons guaranteed. Regular season salvage were
Speaker 3: fully guaranteed, just like the signing bonus and every other
Speaker 3: form of payment that that that contract provided. So you know,
Speaker 3: it was it was guaranteed money. Whether I you know,
Speaker 3: made the team, didn't make the team, get hurt, didn't
Speaker 3: get hurt, you know, uh passed away. But it was
Speaker 3: it was guaranteed for every condition that it possibly could
Speaker 3: be guaranteed for, which I looked at us after ten
Speaker 3: years in the National Football League as an annuity that
Speaker 3: came due to the for the benefit of my family.
Speaker 3: So it was very, very difficult to pass up that
Speaker 3: kind of guaranteed money. And they just they weren't doing
Speaker 3: it in the National Football the particularly for you know,
Speaker 3: offensive linemen.
Speaker 2: It's like, are you kidding me, No way, we're doing
Speaker 2: that well.
Speaker 1: And of course when you were and that was done,
Speaker 1: you came back to the Bengals and the show. They
Speaker 1: don't hold a grudge. I think Phil Samp was Uh
Speaker 1: could be difficult at times, and you were you were,
Speaker 1: you were with him, and you had little or no
Speaker 1: broadcasting experience, but they they thought about enough about you
Speaker 1: as a man to say, you know what, let's hook
Speaker 1: him up as the color analyst with Phil Samp And
Speaker 1: that was like and what was that in eighty eighty four,
Speaker 1: eighty five something like that, Right, and you've been eighty five,
Speaker 1: you're about to celebrate your fortieth season and uh and
Speaker 1: in football, can you compare Phil Samp to Dan Horde
Speaker 1: as far as the differentials.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's uh, that's like trying to looks like trying
Speaker 3: to say salt and pepper seeing food the same way.
Speaker 3: You know, It's like, yeah, it's not hy. They had
Speaker 3: much different personalities. Yeah, but they they did. Their approach
Speaker 3: to the game was similar in that they you know,
Speaker 3: they obviously took it very very the Dan takes it
Speaker 3: and Phil took it very very seriously.
Speaker 2: And I will say though that.
Speaker 3: That Dan Horde, without a without a doubt, is as
Speaker 3: prepared a person and professionals I've ever worked with. I mean,
Speaker 3: that dude does his homework. Man, there's nothing that's going
Speaker 3: to slip by Dan Hord. He is ready for anything,
Speaker 3: and he'll make the necessary adjustments. Accordingly, Phil Simp was
Speaker 3: really he was really pretty good to me, you know,
Speaker 3: he he he realized pretty early on that I did
Speaker 3: understand what was going on on the football field from
Speaker 3: the football standpoint, and honestly, when he found out that
Speaker 3: the Syracuse I went to the New House School of Communications,
Speaker 3: which put out the likes of Bob Costas and others
Speaker 3: that you know that he had, Well, this guy's got
Speaker 3: a basic understanding of what's what goes on in the
Speaker 3: broadcast area of the broadcast world. So he uh, he
Speaker 3: accepted me, I think pretty quickly, and we kind of
Speaker 3: hit it off pretty well. Phil was Phil was something man.
Speaker 3: That voice. I mean, you would give everything that you
Speaker 3: had for that, for those for that dulcic tone of
Speaker 3: Phil Sapman.
Speaker 2: He was amazing.
Speaker 1: Does Mike Brown get a bad rap now and then?
Speaker 1: Because he suffers quite a bit of criticisms, doesn't give
Speaker 1: interviews except one time? Is Mike Brown the public perception
Speaker 1: the reality of Mike Brown?
Speaker 2: No, No way, Mike.
Speaker 3: I think I think John Q public most of John
Speaker 3: Q public as would be shocked to know that Mike
Speaker 3: Brown is very very different than the way he's portrayed
Speaker 3: in the media.
Speaker 2: And you know, some of it's his own doing.
Speaker 3: Like you said, he's very selective in what he does
Speaker 3: and how he does it from an interview standpoint, but
Speaker 3: I'm telling you, this guy is a good man, a
Speaker 3: family man. You know, he's got you know, he was
Speaker 3: brought up right. The Ten Commandments mean something to Mike Brown.
Speaker 3: You know, he's honest as the day is long. He's
Speaker 3: just a good human being, a good somebody that you know,
Speaker 3: if you were fortunate enough to have him as a
Speaker 3: friend and able to call him a good friend, you'd
Speaker 3: be a lucky man. And that's the way his good
Speaker 3: friends feel about him. Mike Brown is a very, very
Speaker 3: solid individual, assault of the earth kind of guy. And
Speaker 3: I don't think the masses out there, the Bengals fans,
Speaker 3: have that perception or that understanding of what what Mike
Speaker 3: Brown is really like.
Speaker 1: As part of the Trey Hendrickson has signed a contract
Speaker 1: this year. He's got a written contract signed by the
Speaker 1: team and by Trey Henderson. He's going to play football
Speaker 1: this year for the Bengals. And part of Mike Brown's
Speaker 1: philosophies or life is when you sign a contract, dammit,
Speaker 1: you'll honor it. Is that going to be hard for
Speaker 1: Mike Brown to say, you know, Trey Hendrickson, well, we're
Speaker 1: going to ignore the contract you sign and give you
Speaker 1: more money.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I don't think that he's necessarily going
Speaker 2: to do that.
Speaker 3: I think he's going to say to Trey Henderson, Tree,
Speaker 3: get get the training camp. You're under contract, year left
Speaker 3: in your contract. We both signed it in good faith
Speaker 3: honor your contract. Now, if you come to training camp,
Speaker 3: I'll talk to you about an extension. But you know
Speaker 3: you're not gonna strong arm me and say, you know,
Speaker 3: I want all this money. I want an extension. It's
Speaker 3: not you don't give it to me. I'm not coming
Speaker 3: to camp. And that's not the way. That's not the
Speaker 3: way this works. Sign the deal's backwards. Yeah, you signed
Speaker 3: the deal.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: It's like you're you're I've got the leverage. I've got
Speaker 3: you under contract. You're trying to create leverage, but it's
Speaker 3: not gonna work because I've got you under contract. And
Speaker 3: I believe in contracts. I believe you know, in the
Speaker 3: word uh of people that sign their contract, they're given
Speaker 3: their word, So you know, I I think he feels
Speaker 3: that Trey Henderson will report to training camp at some
Speaker 3: point in time, hopefully sooner rather than later. There's only
Speaker 3: a week before camp opens up.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: But if he doesn't, it's a very short stay out
Speaker 3: of training camp, because you know what you want to see.
Speaker 3: Even a veteran player that understands all the nuances of
Speaker 3: the game and has performed and succeeded at a very
Speaker 3: high level, you still want to go through training camp
Speaker 3: and get your body right. You don't want to go
Speaker 3: into training camp not quite ready to play the game
Speaker 3: of football at the level that others that have gone
Speaker 3: through a training camp are able to go physically.
Speaker 2: You don't want to put yourself in jeopardy that way.
Speaker 1: Lastly, Dave Lapham, you're one of twelve. There's been thousands
Speaker 1: have come through the Bengals over the last fifty five years.
Speaker 1: What do you want to say as a man, as
Speaker 1: a person, to the fans, to the season ticket holders,
Speaker 1: to the suite holders that voted you into the Ring
Speaker 1: of Honor? What do you want to say to them?
Speaker 3: Man, Willie? I mean, I just can't thank them enough.
Speaker 3: I'll be forever indebted to them my entire life. I mean,
Speaker 3: for them to think enough for me, as a player
Speaker 3: and as a broadcaster to get their vote for the
Speaker 3: Ring of Honor, which is something that I never ever
Speaker 3: ever considered as being in the realm of possibility. For
Speaker 3: them to do that for me is something that is
Speaker 3: incomp hencible. I'll never be able to repay them. I mean,
Speaker 3: I think you know, I thank them for coming to
Speaker 3: all the games, spending their good, hard earned money to
Speaker 3: go to an NFL game. Sometimes that's not as easy
Speaker 3: as the towns for some of the fans, but they're
Speaker 3: die hard. They love the football team, they love everything
Speaker 3: about the NFL, and they're glad to have a team
Speaker 3: here in Cincinnati competing in the National Football League. They
Speaker 3: know football, I will tell you that, Willie that in
Speaker 3: terms of when you go around the NFL, Cincinnati Bengal
Speaker 3: fans are as educated as any fans in the league
Speaker 3: in terms of what the hell's going on in the
Speaker 3: football field with respect to the rules of football. It
Speaker 3: is a very very sharp, intelligent crowd, and I think
Speaker 3: it's respectful to the game of football. I can't say
Speaker 3: enough good things about the fans, and I just I'm
Speaker 3: forever indebted to them. It just it just boggles my
Speaker 3: mind that they voted me in to the Ring of Honor.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's an honor that I just I just
Speaker 3: can't put my arms around it, you know, on my
Speaker 3: mind around it. It's it's almost incomprehensible for me to grasp.
Speaker 3: You know, I first started playing football. My grandfathers were
Speaker 3: you know, would say, you know, uh, you know, work hard, Uh,
Speaker 3: listen to the coaches, do what the coaches say, the
Speaker 3: coaches know what's going on. So I tried to do
Speaker 3: that and tried to take my grandfather's advice all the
Speaker 3: way through.
Speaker 2: And they were right. You know, coaches know what's going on.
Speaker 3: Coaches know the game of football, and you can learn
Speaker 3: from home and you can learn every year from them.
Speaker 3: And I learned from my teammates how to play, what
Speaker 3: techniques and fundamentals to to use, and others that you
Speaker 3: learn along the way that might take the places. Some
Speaker 3: that you learned early on and just grew and developed
Speaker 3: as a player. And that was due to the the
Speaker 3: abilities in the in the kindness of my teammates and coaches,
Speaker 3: assistant coaches had great teammates, high caliber people, tremendous players, coaches,
Speaker 3: high caliber coaches, tremendous people, and uh, the organization was
Speaker 3: top shelf. Paul Brown is one of one. Paul Brown's
Speaker 3: the father of football. In my mind, when I think NFL,
Speaker 3: I think Paul Brown.
Speaker 1: Well, Dave Lapham, thanks for coming on this afternoon, and
Speaker 1: we've been blessed to have you with the Bengals and
Speaker 1: Joe knucksall with the Reds. I say, this is a
Speaker 1: great affection. You're the Joe knucks All of the Bengals,
Speaker 1: or maybe Joe Knucksall is the Dave Lapham of the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Reds. But may you live long and prosper, and
Speaker 1: may God give you another forty years behind the mic.
Speaker 2: Oh Man, Willie, that would be something with that, oh man,
Speaker 2: I'd take I'll take five. I'd like to I'd like
Speaker 2: to run five. Well, that'd be great. I know the
Speaker 2: feeling feel good. Yeah, I know the feel I feel good.
Speaker 2: I feel like James Brown. I feel good. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: feel good. Yeah. Willie, you feel good, you look good.
Speaker 2: You can communicate. You're going another decade, Willie. There's no
Speaker 2: question about it. Well, it's doubt in my mind.
Speaker 1: We'll see what happens. But Dave, we'll talk quickly in
Speaker 1: the next few months as the Bengals march to the
Speaker 1: super Bowl and maybe beyond. Dave Lapham, you're a great
Speaker 1: American and thanks for coming on the Bill Cunningham Show.
Speaker 2: Dave. Thank you. I hear that, Willie super Bowl or
Speaker 2: bust my man.
Speaker 1: Let's go, Willie, Let's go, Dave, thank you. Let's continue
Speaker 1: with more. Bill Cunningham with the Legend Dave Lapham on
Speaker 1: News Radio seven hundred WLW