R.I.P.: Bob Trumpy, NFL Great, R/TV Broadcaster

Bob Trumpy (1945-2025)

Bob Trumpy, the Cincinnati Bengals’ inaugural tight end who scored the franchise’s first receiving touchdown, set every major receiving record for the position in team history, and pioneered modern sports talk radio, has died at age 80, the club announced.

A four-time Pro Bowler and 1969 first-team All-Pro, Trumpy played all 10 NFL seasons with Cincinnati (1968-77), amassing 4,600 receiving yards, 35 touchdowns, and a 15.4-yard average—still the most by any Bengals tight end; drafted in the 12th round out of Utah in the Bengals’ debut year, he hauled in a 58-yard score for the franchise’s first TD on Sept. 15, 1968, against Denver.

Trumpy at WLW

After retiring, Trumpy revolutionized sports radio at Cincinnati’s 700WLW from 1980-90, creating the brash, opinion-driven format now ubiquitous, then joined NBC Sports to call four Super Bowls, three Olympics, and three Ryder Cups, earning the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2014 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award.

Bengals president Mike Brown hailed Trumpy as a “rare” deep-threat tight end “as fast as any wide receiver” whose broadcast career matched his on-field success: “He did it all very well and I regret his passing.”