Bob Trumpy was larger than life

As a kid, I stood along the ropes of Bengals training camp in Wilmington to get Bob Trumpy’s autograph. I still have it. I collected his football cards

When he transitioned from player to broadcaster, he became must-listen-to radio for me and fans of Cincinnati sports.

If you wanted to know what was going on, what he thought about it, and what you should think about it, you tuned into Sports Talk with Bob Trumpy at 6pm.

As a former athlete, he had a voice and presence on the radio like no one before, or since.

I always referred to him as ‘The Godfather of Sports Talk’

He sounded big. Important. And he attracted big and important guests.

He’d have Bob Knight on Sports Talk for an hour, and cancel all commercials. That was the power of Trumpy.

He had opinions. Oh, did he ever. He was right. You were wrong. Always.

Growing up, I called his show once a week. I even called him from a family vacation in Cape Cod.

We once went around and around about playing time for Buddy Bell over Wayne Krenchicki, following the Reds trade for Bell. He eventually hung up on me!

Incredibly, some 20 years later, I was working with him. We co-hosted the Friday afternoon Bengals Pep Rally Show and The Roundtable Show.

He’d peer at me over his glasses, and through the cloud of his chain smoking, and condescendingly declare, “you have clearly never played the game.” Oh, I loved those moments!

But man, did we spar at times. We had some knockdown drag out battles, on and off air.

But the defining moment of our relationship came about 22 years ago, when Casey was diagnosed with leukemia. Trumpy was the first person that called me. He offered whatever we needed, however he could help, even offering to be a bone marrow donor.

I’ll never forget that.

16 years ago, I realized the dream of becoming host of Sports Talk.

I never once tried to be like Trumpy, or do a show like him. I had no shot.

He truly was one of a kind. But I always felt an obligation to do the show justice, because of what he’d built.

I love to play clips of his interviews and shows from our archives. I want listeners to be reminded of his greatness, or maybe hear it for the first time.

Bob Trumpy was always larger than life to me.

I can’t believe he’s gone.

Damn.

R.I.P.