Nippert Stadium

[bengalguy71]

Anyone old enough here, to say they saw the Bengals, and Greg Cook, play at Nippert Stadium?

Anybody old enough here, that was a Browns fan, the only Ohio team back then, BEFORE the Bengals came to town in 1968?

[fredtoast]

Got me beat. I became a fan in '73 when I was 10 years old.



Totally off topic, but i went to a few Colorado Rockies games when they played in old Mile High Stadium.

[Gohards]

(08-24-2016, 10:48 PM)bengalguy71 Wrote: Anyone old enough here, to say they saw the Bengals, and Greg Cook, play at Nippert Stadium?

Anybody old enough here, that was a Browns fan, the only Ohio team back then, BEFORE the Bengals came to town in 1968?

Cant say im old enough. Only 24 years old. I think if i was a fan for that long i would of gotten sick of paul and mikes bull...

It woulda been nice to be a fan of the Browns tho back then. In all seriousness I did hear they went to like 9 championship games in the first years in existence. And won like 5. Just odd thinking that the browns were not only dominate, but a legacy. Idk if that was in the 50s or 60s or what.

I did recently hear that there was a cincinnati bengals team in the 1930s. I had no idea. And there was a cincinnati reds football team. That team was so bad that in the middle of a winless season they were shipped off to another city. I think like st. Louis or something. They scored a total of like 13 points that season.

[BURROWorBUST]

Never saw them play at Nippert, but I was on board since the time it was announced that Paul Brown was starting a franchise in Cincinnati. I definitely remember not knowing what a Bengal was. Somebody had to tell me it was a kind of tiger. I was only 7 when it was announced

[*Go Cards*]

Old enough barely, was 5. But did not see my first NFL game until the Bengals played the 49ers in 1981 and both later that season met in SB. Was my senior year in HS.
Could buy "top 6" rows for cheaper and this is what we did. Cold as heck and wind was howling up in the altitude. The beer guys would only come about half way up and we had to go meet them just to get a half frozen beer. lol. Good times and was hooked.

But went to many Reds games at Crosley, especially on helmet days.

[Brownshoe]

(08-24-2016, 10:48 PM)bengalguy71 Wrote: Anyone old enough here, to say they saw the Bengals, and Greg Cook, play at Nippert Stadium?

Anybody old enough here, that was a Browns fan, the only Ohio team back then, BEFORE the Bengals came to town in 1968?

My dad was only 8 in 1968 O.o. So, I'm a little young to say I was around for either of those.

[Sled21]

Lived in New Richmond at the time, but was never a Browns fan. I was a GB Packers fan right up until the day Paul Brown brought the Bengals to Cincy. Been a Bengals fan every since.

[xxlt]

(08-24-2016, 10:48 PM)bengalguy71 Wrote: Anyone old enough here, to say they saw the Bengals, and Greg Cook, play at Nippert Stadium?

Anybody old enough here, that was a Browns fan, the only Ohio team back then, BEFORE the Bengals came to town in 1968?

I am old enough to have seen the Nippert's car at Riverfront Stadium. They had donated substantially to UC, hence the stadium there having the Nippert name on it, and they owned a share of the Reds. They were very generous with their wealth, as a quick search will confirm. In addition to donating to UC they did a lot for the arts in Cincinnati... (just one example at this link:) 
https://www.philanthropy.com/article/Obituary-Louise-Nippert/217117

I knew the car at Riverfront was theirs because it had their names on the dashboard - not carved in wood, leather, or jewels, but a rather a simple name plate from a label maker that said, "Louis and Louise Nippert" on the dashboard. I was just walking through the Riverfront Stadium parking lot with my buddy and said, "Hey, look, this is the Nippert's car - they own part of the Reds." I think the car was a Buick - whatever it was, it was a nice but modest sedan for people of their means.

[bengalguy71]

A lot of great sharing here so far! I had no clue that there were other old Cincinnati football teams.

I knew about their old pro basketball team, the Royals, that Oscar Robertson played on.

I was 15 in 1968 when Paul Brown birthed the Bengals. Since my dad and I were Brown fans, and liked PB, plus we lived in Dayton which is just up I-75 from Cincinnati, we decided to switch to Bengal fans.

Got to see Cook at Nippert. What a shame they didn't have the medical technology they have today. He could have been one of the all time greats at QB.

Speaking of the Reds, I remember going to Crosley Field numerous times as a kid.

Great memories and great times!

[Sled21]

I still have a desktop pen holder made from one of the bricks from Crosley Field.

[bengalguy71]

(08-25-2016, 11:25 AM)Sled21 Wrote: I still have a desktop pen holder made from one of the bricks from Crosley Field.

Nice momento!

[kevin]

(08-24-2016, 10:48 PM)bengalguy71 Wrote: Anyone old enough here, to say they saw the Bengals, and Greg Cook, play at Nippert Stadium?

Anybody old enough here, that was a Browns fan, the only Ohio team back then, BEFORE the Bengals came to town in 1968?

Yeah, I'm old enough, pretty old. Last of The Mohicans....But let me talk some Nippert....John Stoffa at QB, but fans yelling, " Put in the Swamp Rat " . That was Dewey Warren...The QB from 1968 that hung around the longest was third string Sam Wyche. .......I remember THE CACTUS COMET taking off on those sweeps in 1968. Paul Robinson, AFL Rookie OF THE YEAR and him saying, " All Right !!! ". .....THey played the Chiefs close but Raiders just destroyed us as did the Jets.  Patriots destroyed us.    Of course there was Paul Brown in that suit and hat.  There was this big coach that was bald and huge named Bass. 

I was 14 in 1969 and the signs all over Nippert saying THINGS GO BETTER WITH COOK...Stealing the soda pop Coke slogan.....Other names such as Bob Trumpy and this monster middle linebacker named Bergey who was like Butkis of the Bears. Sadly Paul Robinson had injuries.  Greg Cook was AFL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR but sadly he had injuries. So our 1968 and 1969 AFL Rookies OF The Years had injuries.  ....Early in season Bengals beat the Chiefs and Chiefs walking off field were throwing and kicking their helmets. They would go on to win Super Bowl that year, and they were really ticked off they lost to Bengals.  Later in season Bengals beat the heck out of The Raiders who had been beating the heck out of us.  That was a huge win.  Things did go better with Cook. 

One more memory of Nippert was the numbers on the bench seats.  Well, there were some really fat people in our section. I was 14. The family to my right would show up late for the game every game.  Then they would give me a hard time for being in their seats. At 14, there wasn't much I could say to them. I don't know why they didn't confront my dad, just me.  They were positive I had no ticket and no reason being there. Meantime the game had started and I was trying to watch the game. They said what a terrible kid I was. After one game they threw a pop at me. I do not know why they never got an usher or why they never talked to my dad.  I hated that family.  People behind us would tell them to shut up and sit down and leave me alone. THey always showed up late for the game......I was so glad Riverfront had seats.....The Nippert benches with seat numbers were a problem because some peoples rear ends took up 2 or 3 numbers.  Being 14 and around 140 lbs, it was not my fault. .......Other memories of Nippert was the Bengals receiver catching a TD pass and at the end of the end zone was a brick wall.  He went down like a sack of potatoes, out rest of season, could have killed him.  Not a good AFL or NFL stadium because of that darn brick wall. 

One last memory, some guys that showed up to see this new team and yelled out, " They may look like the Browns, but they sure don't play like the Browns "....People told them to shut up....One more reason beating the Browns the next year, Paul Brown carried off the field, and then winning the AFC Central over Cleveland was extra great, for Paul Brown and all Bengals Fans.  That was indeed Leroy Kelly and the Browns who went to the NFL Championship Game about every year. That was indeed huge the new upstart Bengals won the AFC Central their first year in the NFL, beating out The Browns. No Greg Cook, but Virgil Carter played tough and Paul Robinson got healthy and played like he did in 1968. Bergey and the defense was tough. Mike Reid was new. Parrish and Riley at the corners. Horst....The 1970 season started so bad, but then the team just got hot, what a second half to the season. Carter had stepped up and Paul Robinson was back. Trumpy one of the best TE's of his era.....I think I still like carrying the coach off the field more than dumping iced down gatoraide on him. They only got carried off after huge wins, but it was great.

Certainly I remember Crosley Field also....the worst being finding out your seats were behind a poll, they actually had seats right behind polls. ...I wasn't to big of a fan of the parking lot and local youth wanting money to watch dads car. He never paid them. It was more of a threat, like they would ruin your car if you don't pay them....but so much nice about Crosley. The best was the big grill as you walked in. Dad always had to have grilled brats and hot dogs right away. One time TV's Kenny Price was next to me pounding down hot dogs. The Round Mound Of Sound could Pound Down some hot dogs. Another time I looked over and there was Pete Rose waiting for an elevator, his hand in a cast, his 1968 injury. I looked at him and he looked at me, I didn't know what to say to him. You could get autographs after the game as they left the locker room, that was great. Crosley was great. The food prices were nothing like today. A kid like me could cut grass and such, and with that money have more than enough for the food and pop prices back then.

[Homer]

Yeah, I had season tickets at Nippert on the 15 yd line.

I was really looking forward to great seats at Riverfront.

Upper deck behind the end zone looking diagonally across the field. Many other ticket holders complained. Paul Brown said they were the best seats in the stadium

Also followed the Browns, they had a DE named Ford that was my favorite player.

[bonesaw]

my Pa talks about Greg Cook like he would've been the greatest QB of all time. He also claims to have invented the question mark.

[fredtoast]

(08-25-2016, 04:46 PM)kevin Wrote: I was so glad Riverfront had seats.....The Nippert benches with seat numbers were a problem because some peoples rear ends took up 2 or 3 numbers. 

In 1983 I went to Chapel Hill to watch my Tennessee-Chattanooga Mocs (coming off a season where they were ranked as high as #15 in the country) play UNC (with Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins, and Brad Daugherty).  This was before UNC built the Dean Dome and they played in Carmichael Arena that was supposed to seat about 11,000.  When we arrived we were amazed at how small the place was.  It did not look like it would hold anything close to 11,000.  then we saw thatall the bleachers were benches and the seat nunbers were about 10 inches apart.  It didn't matter because almost everyone stood up for the entire game.

When they put seats into Carmichael the capacity dropped to 8,000.

[bengalguy71]

(08-25-2016, 07:26 PM)bonesaw Wrote: my Pa talks about Greg Cook like he would've been the greatest QB of all time.  

I've heard some other folks, that might have a little more credibility than Pa, say the same thing. 

The three that come to mind were Paul Brown, Bill Walsh, and Sam Wyche.

[Derrick]

(08-24-2016, 10:48 PM)bengalguy71 Wrote: Anyone old enough here, to say they saw the Bengals, and Greg Cook, play at Nippert Stadium?

Anybody old enough here, that was a Browns fan, the only Ohio team back then, BEFORE the Bengals came to town in 1968?

Yep!

[fredtoast]

(08-25-2016, 09:18 PM)bengalguy71 Wrote: I've heard some other folks, that might have a little more credibility than Pa, say the same thing. 

The three that come to mind were Paul Brown, Bill Walsh, and Sam Wyche.

Yeah, I never saw him play, but Cook was the real deal.

Cook's 9.4 yards per attempt is ninth highest in history and six of the eight in front of him are from before 1956 when the passing game was very different.

He averaged an insane 17.5 yards per completion that year, and no QB has done better than that in 45 years.

[tlotharw]

(08-24-2016, 10:48 PM)bengalguy71 Wrote: Anyone old enough here, to say they saw the Bengals, and Greg Cook, play at Nippert Stadium?

Anybody old enough here, that was a Browns fan, the only Ohio team back then, BEFORE the Bengals came to town in 1968?

(08-25-2016, 08:12 PM)fredtoast Wrote: In 1983 I went to Chapel Hill to watch my Tennessee-Chattanooga Mocs (coming off a season where they were ranked as high as #15 in the country) play UNC (with Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins, and Brad Daugherty).  This was before UNC built the Dean Dome and they played in Carmichael Arena that was supposed to seat about 11,000.  When we arrived we were amazed at how small the place was.  It did not look like it would hold anything close to 11,000.  then we saw thatall the bleachers were benches and the seat nunbers were about 10 inches apart.  It didn't matter because almost everyone stood up for the entire game.

When they put seats into Carmichael the capacity dropped to 8,000.

Off topic much?

To the first post.

I was at Nippert as a 12 year old for the inaugural 1968 season and saw the dust rise from the sack that ended Greg Cook's career the following year.


I was a big Browns fan before that.  That was Ohio's team.  I had no reason to dislike the team from Cleveland until I was confronted with the northern Ohio vitriol when the Reds were playing for the World Series title in 1975 in my second year at Ohio State - a northern Ohio school.  I thought, foolishly, that we were all going to pull for Ohio's team.  I underestimated the jealously of Cleveland fans. 


I have hated that city and their teams ever since.

[BengalChris]

(08-24-2016, 10:48 PM)bengalguy71 Wrote: Anyone old enough here, to say they saw the Bengals, and Greg Cook, play at Nippert Stadium?

Anybody old enough here, that was a Browns fan, the only Ohio team back then, BEFORE the Bengals came to town in 1968?

I'm old enough for both those cases. Never got to see the Bengals play in person back then as I've never lived in Cinci though. I remember Jim Brown, then Leroy Kelly following him.

Paul Brown was quite famous all around Ohio back in those days. I got a fair amount of ribbing from family for following the Bengals, that is until 1980. I still have a lot of family who are Browns fans and I'd say Art Modell would be one of their most hated people, while most remember Paul Brown with fondness.

I met Neil Armstrong and John Glenn back in 69 when they visited my class, if that gives you an idea of those times. That was just after the moon landing. Use to stay home from school to watch the rockets, then the schools started showing them. I remember Kennedy being shot and my school's basement was a nuclear fallout shelter.