Bob Trumpy obit

Bob Trumpy, longtime Bengals player and NBC broadcaster, dies at 80

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CINCINNATI (AP) — Bob Trumpy, who was an original member of the Cincinnati Bengals for 10 years before enjoying a career as a network radio and television analyst, has died. He was 80.

The Bengals announced that Trumpy died peacefully on Sunday and was surrounded by family at home in the Cincinnati area. The team had a moment of silence before its game against the Chicago Bears.

“I’ve known Bob since we started here and he had an extraordinary career as both a player and a broadcaster,” said Bengals president Mike Brown said in a statement. “He was an exceptional and rare tight end who could get downfield and split zone coverages. Speed was his hallmark. He was as fast as any wide receiver and was a deep threat. That was rare for a tight end then and it’s rare now.

“As a broadcaster, he made his mark both locally and nationally, and excelled at sports other than football in a career that was as successful as what he accomplished on the field.”

Trumpy played collegiately at the University of Utah before being drafted by the AFL expansion Bengals in the 12th round of the 1968 common draft. He scored the franchise’s first receiving touchdown on a 58-yard reception against Denver on Sept. 15, 1968.

He played college football for the Illinois Fighting Illini and Utah Utes before being selected by the Bengals in the 12th round of the 1968 NFL/AFL draft. Trumpy was a two-time NFL Pro Bowler and a two-time AFL All-Star. Following his playing career, he spent many years as a broadcast color analyst, calling four Super Bowls. He was given the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014.

Trumpy’s 4,600 receiving yards, 35 receiving touchdowns and 15.4 yards per catch remain the most by a tight end in team history.

After retiring, Trumpy went on to have a distinguished career in radio and television. He joined NBC Sports as an NFL analyst in 1978 and called games through 1997, when it lost the AFC package to CBS.

Trumpy was NBC’s lead analyst with Dick Enberg from 1992-94 and he called two Super Bowls. He also called “Monday Night Football” and two Super Bowls with Don Criqui on radio. He would also be a part of three Summer Olympics and three Ryder Cups for NBC.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame gave Trumpy the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award in 2014 for lifetime achievement in NFL broadcasting.

“Every town has someone that’s the heartbeat and Bob was that for Cincinnati,” NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth said by phone before calling Sunday night’s game between the Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders. “He was the most brutally honest person I’ve heard and the first person I knew to make the jump to network television. He was also the carrot in front of me and someone who I aspired to be.”

Trumpy also was a sports talk show host in Cincinnati from 1980 to ’89. In 1983, while hosting “Sportstalk” on WLW, he received a call from a despondent woman who said she was going to commit suicide.

Trumpy spent the next 2 1/2 hours on the phone with the woman — who identified herself as “Sugar” — until police located her.

“I don’t know why she called a sports talk show,” Trumpy told the Los Angeles Times in 1993. “It probably was just the first phone number she heard on the radio and decided to call it.

“I sure didn’t feel like a hero after that. I hated that woman. She wasn’t the only one who had to go to a crisis center for therapy. So did I, since I couldn’t figure out why I hated her. They convinced me I hated her because of what she put me through.”

Collinsworth took over from Trumpy on “Sportstalk” in 1989 and called it a great training ground for his eventual rise at NBC and Fox.

“I don’t know anything harder than talk radio. You get over your fear of anyone being upset at you,” Collinsworth said. “I had fun going on his show over the years. He was a good friend.”

Trumpy was born on March 6, 1945. He is reported to have been born in Bloomington, Indiana, and then raised in Tremont, Illinois. His family moved from Tremont to Springfield, Illinois, when his father Robert Sr. had a job transfer. Trumpy began attending Springfield High School as a sophomore, after first attending Tremont High School, where he played multiple sports. He was all-state in football and basketball. He was on Springfield's state championship basketball team, and he was team captain as a senior, as well as being named All-State.

He was inducted into the Basketball Museum of Illinois Hall of Fame in 1983. In 1991, he was among the first inductees into the Springfield Sports Hall of Fame, and in 1996 he was inducted into the Springfield High Hall of Fame in 1996.

After graduation, Trumpy was drafted by the U.S. Navy and served 180 days during the Vietnam War.

After being discharged from the Navy, Trumpy worked briefly as a bill collector before being selected by the AFL's Bengals in the 12th round (301st overall) of the 1968 Common Draft. Despite his low draft selection, Trumpy worked hard in the offseason and managed to earn the starting tight end spot in the team's lineup. He didn't disappoint in his rookie season, recording 37 receptions for 639 yards and three touchdowns, and earning a place on the AFL Western Division All-Star team.

In Cincinnati, Trumpy played under hall of fame coach Paul Brown, head coach Tiger Johnson, and offensive coach Bill Walsh, another hall of fame coach and offensive innovator.

In 1969, Trumpy averaged 22.6 yards per catch, on 37 passes for 835 yards and nine touchdowns. Trumpy was selected first-team AFL All-League tight end by numerous entities, including the Associated Press (AP), Pro Football Weekly, the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), and United Press International (UPI), and second-team by The Sporting News and the Professional Football Writers of America. He was again selected to the AFL All-Star team. In a November 1969 game against the Houston Oilers, Trumpy became the first Bengals tight end to record three touchdown receptions in a single game, helping his team to a 31–31 tie.

In 1970, with the Bengals now part of the National Football League following the AFL-NFL merger, The Sporting News and AP selected him first-team AFC All-Conference.

While not a Hall of Fame player, Trumpy went on to have a Hall of Fame broadcasting career. He called four Super Bowls, four Pro Bowls, six Hall-of-Fame Games in football, as well as three Ryder Cups and three Olympics.

Trumpy had his first broadcast experience in 1964, working with Coley Cowan on a WTAX in a Springfield radio broadcast of a basketball tournament in Springfield. Upon retiring he joined WCKY radio as a sports talk host.

Trumpy expanded into NFL broadcasting in 1978, when he joined NBC as a color analyst for telecasts of AFC games, working primarily with Sam Nover through 1980, then with Bob Costas (1981-1983) and Don Criqui (1984–1988). Trumpy and Criqui also served as NBC Radio's lead NFL announcers from 1985 to 1986, calling Monday Night Football and Super Bowls XX and XXI.

In 1992, Trumpy replaced Bill Walsh as NBC's lead NFL analyst,[17] teaming with Dick Enberg until 1995 (when NBC went to a three-man booth with Paul Maguire and Phil Simms replacing him). The team of Enberg and Trumpy called Super Bowls XXVII (1993) and XXVIII (1994). He would then be paired with Tom Hammond (1995–1996)[18] and Charlie Jones (1997) until NBC lost the AFC package to CBS following the 1997 season.

Trumpy hosted a weeknight sports talk show on WLW-AM in Cincinnati, Ohio (1980–1989), and was Ohio Sports Broadcaster of the Year four times. He left the show to be able to work more assignments at NBC Sports, including PGA Tour golf and the Olympics.