Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals was born on September 26, 1967 as the newest member of the American Football League (AFL), announced at the crowded house in the Sheraton Gibson Hotel. Although the birth was pretty easy, the labor pains began long before its birth. The idea was incepted from the back porch of the founder’s home, Paul Brown, while he was still living in his exile home in La Jolla, California. It was December 14 of the year 1965 when Brown made an overwhelming pitch to 125 businessmen just to bring an AFL franchise to Cincinnati.
After two years, in 1967, a Cincinnati-based company led by the founder Paul Brown was granted of a franchise in the AFL. From 1946 to 1962, Paul Brown was the head coach and the founder of the Cleveland Browns. Brown amazingly led the team to .76 winning percentage, including 7 championships. Because of his unbeatable coaching supervision, he was recognized and tagged to be an innovator for his unique approach to training, discipline, game passing, and game planning. In 1961, Brown sold the majority of the team’s interest to an entrepreneur, Art Modell. Unfortunately, he had lost his position and control to the team on 1963, when he got fired.
By the year 1965, Brown’s extreme passion for American football led him wanting to be a part of the sports again. James Rhodes, the then governor of the Ohio state, induced Brown and told him that Ohio needed a second team. They both helped each other score a franchise in the NFL again, thus the Cincinnati Bengals history began.
Paul Brown chose the Cincinnati Bengals as the name of the team in order to give honor to the past professional football of the state. From 1937 to 1942, there was another Bengals team that existed and played in the previous American Football League. In addition to putting a link between the past and the present is, that because the city’s most popular zoo was serving as home to the rare white Bengal.
Possibly as an insult to the new owner of his previous team Art Modell, Brown chose the same exact nuance of the color orange used by the Cleveland Browns. He then added black as their secondary color. The Cincinnati Bangals logo is the simplest of all, Brown chose to use only the word BENGALS in bold, black lettering.
The helmet design for the Cincinnati Bengals is a striped black and orange motif that was adopted by the team in 1981. It is still in use up to this very day, however the black stripes of their helmet now, more likely resembles the stripes of a tiger, compared to the previous stripes which were more uniform in width.
However, on the earlier years the Cincinnati Bengals were not in any luck at their games. Although they have reached the Super Bowl twice in the 1980’s, they would end up losing the game. In addition to their chain of bad luck, after their appearance in the Super Bowl in 1990, Paul Brown died. His legacy and the control to the team were transferred to his son, Mike Brown.
Shortly after the death of Paul Brown, their fortune have gone from bad to worst as they posted 14 consecutive non-winning seasons. The team was at a very dark end for quite sometime until they found the men who can make everything look up for them. They hired a new coach in 2003 and his name was Marvin Lewis. Under Lewis’ supervision the team advanced to the playoffs for the firs time since 1990.
The Cincinnati Bengals may have one of the most melodramatic stories ever told in the NFL history. However, through all the thick and thin, they have proven that they are to remain.