CINCINNATI — A lifelong Bengals fan was hoping to see his favorite team in the Super Bowl one more time, but his health did not make that possible. His family, however, is honoring him by keeping his spirit alive.
What You Need To Know
- Bengal Bob was a lifelong Bengals super fan
- Every year, he and his family went to the training camps and season games
- He met many players over the years and became close to Paul Brown
- He passed away Feb. 8, but his spirit is being kept alive through his family
“He was a very good father,” said Dorothy Kratzer, wife of the man known as Bengal Bob. “He was a very good husband. His grandchildren all loved him.”
Bengal Bob was a huge Bengals fan — a fan since 1968 when the team was founded to be exact — going to the games has been a family affair ever since.
“It was just something we did as a family and we just automatically knew when Sunday is coming to get up and get ourselves ready to go and go to the game,” said Kratzer. “We just looked forward to it every week.”
Every year, the family had season tickets and went to every Bengals training camp. They even went to the Super Bowl in 1982. Over the years, they grew close to players like Cris Collinsworth.
“We met so many players — Ken Anderson, Boomer Esiason, Turk Schonert … Pete Johnson,” she said.
The Kratzer family even had a good rapport with Paul Brown.
Bengal Bob, Paul Brown, and his wife, Mary, posed for pictures at a private Bengals event. Kratzer said Brown was very nice to the fans.
“He would walk with you and talk to you, but he didn’t want to be stopped,” she said. “But, I mean, he would talk to us.”
But these past couple of years were tough for Bengal Bob. After a G.I. Bleeding, his health took a turn for the worse, which meant watching the games from home.
“We watched the games every Sunday,” she said. “And he’d sit there and be a nervous wreck. I would say ‘papaw, just wait a minute. It’s going to happen.’”
And it happened, as the Bengals made it in the Super Bowl, but Bengal Bob knew he wouldn’t be there to see it for himself.
“He cried,” she said. “He says ‘I’m not going to get to see the Super Bowl.’ He was that upset and we did everything to try to save him so that he could.”
Bengal Bob died Feb. 8 due to organ failure, but Kratzer said she and her family are at peace because she knows he’ll be cheering on his favorite team in heaven.
“He’s up there and he’s going to be watching the Super Bowl,” she said. “I know he is.”
On Feb. 11, the family sang happy birthday and ate cake to celebrate what would have been Bengal Bob’s 82nd birthday. They will be laying his body to rest Feb. 15, while representing his favorite team.
“We’re actually going to put his jersey on him to bury him in,” she said. “A lot of people saying I wouldn’t do that. But that was his love and that’s how he wanted to be dressed.”
