Robert Theodore Trumpy Jr. (born March 6, 1945) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

who played for the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

from 1968 through 1977. He was a two-time

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

er and a two-time

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

All-Star. Following his playing career he spent many years as a broadcast

color analyst A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and the ...

, calling four

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

s. He was given the

Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award The Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award, created in 1989 and named for the late longtime NFL commissioner, Pete Rozelle, is bestowed annually by the Pro Football Hall of Fame "for longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in profes ...

by the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

in 2014.

Playing career

Trumpy attended Springfield High School in

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

, playing football, basketball, and track-and-field. He played in four different state tournaments that took place at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

during this time, two in basketball and two in track, where he won the 1963 state meet in long jump and tied for fifth in high jump. After graduation in 1963, Trumpy played college football at Illinois. Since freshmen were not allowed to play on the varsity team, his first season was in 1964 as a wide receiver, where he caught 28 passes for 428 yards and 2 touchdowns before missing the last two games of the season with a knee injury. He then transferred to the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

, which required him to miss the 1965 season. In 1966, he converted to tight end, catching 9 passes for 159 yards and 2 scores. After graduation, Trumpy was drafted by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

and spent 180 days in it during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. 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 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

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 1969, Trumpy was selected by ''

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'' as the AFL's All-League tight end. The following year, 1970, with the Bengals now part of the

following the AFL-NFL merger, Trumpy had the best season of his career, catching 37 passes for 835 yards (a franchise record 22.6 yards per catch average) and nine touchdowns. In a game against the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 as ...

, Trumpy became the first Bengals tight end to record three touchdown receptions in a single game, helping his team to a 31–31 tie.

1977

Trumpy continued to play for the Bengals until

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

, earning two trips to the Pro Bowl in 1970 and 1973. In his final season, he caught only 18 passes for 251 yards and one touchdown, but his touchdown was one of the most memorable plays of his career. In a November 20 game against the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

during a driving rainstorm, Trumpy caught a 29-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ken Anderson on a

flea flicker A flea flicker is an unorthodox play, often called a " trick play", in American football which is designed to fool the defensive team into thinking that a play is a run instead of a pass. It can be considered an extreme variant of the play actio ...

play that involved three players handling the ball before it was thrown to him. First, Anderson handed the ball off to running back

Archie Griffin Archie Mason Griffin (born August 21, 1954) is a former American football running back. He played seven seasons in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals. As college football's only two-time Heisman Trophy winner, he is considered one of the grea ...

, who then pitched the ball to receiver John McDaniel running in the opposite direction. McDaniel then handed the ball back to Anderson, setting up his 29-yard touchdown pass to Trumpy. The Bengals went on to defeat the Dolphins 23–17, knocking them out of playoff contention. "It was magic", said Trumpy about the play,

Career statistics

Trumpy finished his 10-year career with 298 receptions for 4,600 yards and 35 touchdowns in 128 games. His 4,600 receiving yards, 35 touchdown receptions, and 15.4 yards per catch average are the most ever by a Bengals tight end.

Broadcasting career

After his playing career, Trumpy turned to NFL broadcasting. In 1978, he joined

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

as a

for telecasts of AFC games, working primarily with

Sam Nover Sam Nover (March 5, 1941 – December 4, 2018) was an United States of America, American sportscaster. His run of 30 years of sportscasting at the same station is one of the longest in Pittsburgh broadcasting history. Broadcasting career From 1 ...

through 1980, then with

Bob Costas Robert Quinlan Costas (born March 22, 1952) is an American sportscaster who is known for his long tenure with NBC Sports, from 1980 through 2019. He has received 28 Emmy awards for his work and was the prime-time host of 12 Olympic Games from 19 ...

(1981–1983) and

Don Criqui Don Criqui (born October 1, 1940) is an American sportscaster. He holds the record for longest-tenured NFL broadcaster in U.S. TV history, calling NFL football for 47 seasons (1967-2013) on NBC and CBS. Criqui's final NFL broadcast came on De ...

(1984–1988). Trumpy and Criqui also served as

NBC Radio The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the NBC Blue Network it was one of the first t ...

's lead NFL announcers in from 1985 to 1986, calling ''

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, AB ...

'' and Super Bowls XX and XXI. In 1992, Trumpy replaced Bill Walsh as NBC's lead NFL analyst, teaming with

Dick Enberg Richard Alan Enberg (January 9, 1935 – December 21, 2017) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of an approximately 60-year career, he provided play-by-play of various sports for several radio and television networks, including N ...

until 1995 (when NBC went to a three-man booth with

Paul Maguire Paul Leo Maguire (born August 22, 1938) is a former American professional football player and television sportscaster. Early sports career Maguire attended Ursuline High School in Youngstown, Ohio where he was an All State wide receiver and ...

and

Phil Simms Phillip Martin Simms (born November 3, 1955) is an American former football quarterback who spent his entire 15-year professional career playing for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He is currently a television sport ...

replacing him). The team of Enberg and Trumpy called Super Bowls XXVII (1993) and XXVIII (1994). He would then be paired with

Tom Hammond Thomas Taylor Hammond (born May 10, 1944) is an American sportscaster. Hammond is primarily known for his work with NBC Sports from 1984 to the present. Hammond is one of the network's staple on-air presenters, along with Bob Costas and Dan Hic ...

(1995–1996) and

Charlie Jones Charles, Charlie, Charley or Chuck Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Chuck Jones (1912–2002), American animator, director, and producer * Charles Jones (c. 1889–1942), American actor better known as Buck Jones * Charles Jones (pho ...

(1997) until NBC lost the AFC package to

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

following the 1997 season. Trumpy hosted a weeknight

sports talk show Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...

WLW-AM WLW (700 AM) is a commercial news/talk radio station licensed to Cincinnati, Ohio. Owned by iHeartMedia, WLW is a clear-channel station, often identifying itself as The Big One. WLW operates with around the clock. Its daytime signal provide ...

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

(1980–1989). He left the show to be able to work more assignments at

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...

, including

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

golf and the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. He was replaced on the sports talk show by

Cris Collinsworth Anthony Cris Collinsworth (born January 27, 1959) is an American sports broadcaster and former professional American football player. Collinsworth was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons (1981-1988), all with ...

. On the night of November 10, 1983, while he was hosting his talk show on WLW, the first call that he received was from a despondent woman who said that she wanted to commit suicide. Trumpy spoke to the woman (and, later, her son) for more than two hours until the son gave him their address. He then spoke to the woman and her son for several more minutes after that until his station manager took him off the air. Police in

Forest Park, Ohio Forest Park is the second most populous city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Cincinnati. The population was 18,720 at the 2010 census. Geography Forest Park is located at (39.286408, -84.520363). According to the Un ...

went to the address that the son had given and took the woman to a local hospital. Trumpy received praise for his actions from the Forest Park police and suicide prevention counselors. He later said that he had to go to therapy because of the incident.Larry Stewart
"Not Just Blowing Smoke, Trumpy Says He's Nervous"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' (January 29, 1993). Retrieved December 23, 2022. Trumpy was an analyst for '' Sunday Night Football'' on

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and ...

radio from 2000 to 2007 (save for the 2005 season, when he was replaced by

John Riggins Robert John Riggins (born August 4, 1949), nicknamed "Riggo" and "Diesel", is an American former professional football player who was a fullback in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Jets and Washington Redskins. He played col ...

), and also called playoff games for the network. He was most frequently paired with

Joel Meyers Joel Meyers is an American sportscaster who is the play-by-play announcer of the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also is the lead host of "Above the Rim", which airs weekdays from 10am-1pm ET on SiriusXM N ...

on the Sunday night games. During the first round of the 2006-07 NFL playoffs, Trumpy and Enberg were in the broadcast booth together for the first time since the 1994 AFC Championship Game, covering the Colts- Chiefs

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

for Westwood One. They were paired again for the Patriots-

Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

the following weekend. Trumpy was named the 2014 recipient of the

, given by the

for lifetime achievement in NFL broadcasting.

Personal life

Trumpy is married to his wife Pat, and together they have two sons (Matthew and Jason) and six grandchildren. The couple lives in the Cincinnati suburb of

Glendale, Ohio Glendale is a village in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,155 at the 2010 census. It is a northern suburb of Cincinnati, and is the site of the Glendale Historic District. Geography Glendale is located at (39.271258, ...

. He is a member of the

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American fraternal literary societies. The fraternity has 244 active (undergraduate) chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has initiated more tha ...

fraternity.

References

*Ludwig, Chick. Cincinnati Bengals, The Legends. Willmington, OH: Orange Frazer P, 2004. page 25.(1)

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trumpy, Bob 1945 births Living people American Conference Pro Bowl players American Football League All-Star players American Football League All-League players American Football League players American football tight ends American sports radio personalities Cincinnati Bengals players College football announcers Golf writers and broadcasters National Football League announcers Notre Dame Fighting Irish football announcers Olympic Games broadcasters People from Glendale, Ohio Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award recipients Players of American football from Illinois Sportspeople from Springfield, Illinois Utah Utes football players Volleyball commentators Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) commentators