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Chick Ludwig covers the Cincinnati Bengals. He also writes about his other passions: college football, basketball and golf.Home > Blogs > Chick Ludwig At Large > Archives > 2008 > July > 24 > Entry
Nicknames: Legend of ‘The Swamp Rat’
ICKEY, SPEEDY & SUKI;
BOOBIE, BOOMER & THE TOOL;
LEAPIN’, RATTLER & FO-ROCK
===LUDWIG AT LARGE ALERT: Coming Friday, Chick Ludwig’s Fabled Football Glossary revealed on his 54th birthday.===
There was Bill “The Spoiler” Staley, Phil Leon “Chip” Myers, Charles “Boobie” Clark and Norman Julius “Boomer” Esiason.
There was Vern “Suki” Holland, Alfred “The Condor” Williams, “Flyin’ Brian” Pillman and Louis Timothy “Speedy” Thomas III.
There was Elbert “Ickey” Woods, Cris “Cadillac” Collinsworth, Paul “Straight Runner” Robinson and Dave “The Tool” Lapham.
There was “Leapin’ Lemar” Parrish, Ken “The Rattler” Riley, David “Fo-Rock” Fulcher and Jack “The Throwin’ Samoan” Thompson.
But my favorite Bengals nickname belongs to former University of Tennessee quarterback Dewey Warren…
“THE SWAMP RAT.”
Warren was an original Bengal, playing one season as a sixth-round selection (No. 155 overall) in the 1968 AFL Expansion Draft.
He went on to become the architect of Brigham Young University’s high-powered offense as an assistant to head coach LaVell Edwards.
After coaching at BYU, Kansas State, Tennessee and the University of the South, 63-year-old Dewey is a sports radio talk-show host in Knoxville, Tenn., waxing eloquently about his beloved Volunteers in Big Orange Country.
Legend has it that Warren made love to a stewardess under a blanket on a Bengals’ team flight in 1968. Although Warren denies it — he admits to flirting, but claims there was no intimacy involved — the story still has legs among his former Cincinnati teammates after all these years.
IN DEWEY WARREN’S WORDS:
“I’m from Savannah, Ga., and I lived on the water. When I was a sophomore in high school (Jenkins High School in Savannah), I was about three or four minutes late for practice one day, and the coach happened to say, ‘You’re like an old swamp rat out there on the swamps. From now on, don’t be late again.’
“That was the last time I was ever late for practice. I’m never late, but I happened to be late that day. The players caught up with it and heard it. He kind of did it to embarrass me, I suppose. So the players picked it up in 1961 and I’ve had it ever since.”
For more on the immortal Dewey Warren and the legend of “The Swamp Rat,” point your Web browser to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewey_Warren
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: Bengals
Comments
By Derwood
July 24, 2008 2:44 AM | Link to this
Hmm. I thought your post was going to be about Don “Big Daddy” Garlits, who has used the name Swamp Rat on his dragsters since the mid to late 1950’s.By islebfrank
July 24, 2008 2:57 PM | Link to this
Derwood, unless you’re confusing “Big Daddy Don Garlits” with “Big Fatty Dan Wilkinson” your post makes no sense, since Garlits never played for the Bengals.By derwood
July 24, 2008 3:09 PM | Link to this
Unless islebfrank, you’re looking at article headings on the right hand side of the main page and it reads “Nicknames: Legend of the Swamp Rat”By JT
July 24, 2008 9:27 PM | Link to this
Love Warren’s nickname and never get tired of hearing him down here in Knoxville. Alumni and season ticket holder and I’ve always been told the story about the mile high club was very true. Actually, I’ve always been told they became an “item” for a little bit, not just a one time thing. Hey Chick, can you even argue with UT’s tradition, the massive Neyland Stadium, the Saturdays in the fall in the Smokeys and a UT conference game??? Guys like Warren would still argue it ranks second to nobody. Been to OSU home games, nowhere near the atmosphere. And compared to NFL games, especially in Cincy(whom I love) UT is like comparing a frat party to a funeral.