by Christine Mersch (Author), Jack Klumpe (Photographer)
There were three professional football teams in Cincinnati before the current Bengals became a permanent fixture in the city. The Cincinnati Celts, Reds, and an earlier Bengals team (formed in 1937) all had short appearances in leagues that soon folded. It was not until 1967 that the football gods again smiled on Cincinnati. Paul Brown, who founded the Cleveland Browns in 1942, sold the Browns in 1962 and went to work organizing a Cincinnati team that played its first game in 1968. While the Bengals may not own any Super Bowl rings, they have won two AFC championship games, in 1981 and 1988, and were AFC Central Division champions five times, 1970, 1973, 1981, 1988, and 1990, as well as topping the AFC North in 2005.