Bearcats basketball legend Jack Twyman was selected by the Rochester Royals in the second round of the 1955 NBA draft and the franchise moved to Cincinnati in 1957, becoming the Cincinnati Royals. Oscar Robertson would follow in the 1960s, and on his heels wearing red, white, and blue at Cincinnati Gardens were fellow UC stars Tom Thacker and George Wilson. Cincinnati basketball won back-to-back titles in 1961 and 1962 (and nearly grabbed a third, falling to Loyola Chicago in ’63).

So, by the arrival of the 1960s, Cincinnati had a basketball appetite, and by the middle of the decade, UC football was living in the shadows and basketball was king.

The 1940s and 1950s were defined by legendary coaches. (Ray Nolting and Sid Gillman combined for ten years of football success that Cincinnati wouldn’t match until Brian Kelly came to town.) The 1960s, however, were defined by a pair of quarterbacks.

The Bearcats had a strong tradition of signal callers. Tom O’Malley guided Cincinnati football and delighted sellout crowds in the post-war era. Gene Rossi and Mike Murphy tortured defenses with the help of Gillman’s aggressive vertical schemes. Jacky Lee was a bright spot in the early Missouri Valley Conference years, leaving Cincinnati in 1959 as a two-time all-MVC quarterback, an All-American honorable mention, and the program’s all-time leading passer.

Then, the 1960s brought head coach Chuck Studley and a pair of passers that redefined the position at Cincinnati.

Brigman “Brig” Owens was born in Linden, Texas but grew up in Fullerton, California. Born into poverty as one of thirteen children, he excelled athletically and, by high school, was a four-sport athlete in track, baseball, basketball, and football. But his heart was always on the gridiron. Playing in the shadow of UCLA meant he dreamed of suiting up for the Bruins, but when it came time to choose a destination for college, UCLA wasn’t willing to give him a chance at his natural position—quarterback.

Owens instead enrolled at local Fullerton Junior College in 1961, where he promptly led the Hornets to the Orange Bowl Show—the program’s first-ever bowl game. In 1962 he earned All-American honors and landed himself on the radar of major football programs nationwide.

But Owens still wanted to play quarterback, and few schools were willing to give him a chance under center––even after impressive seasons in Fullerton. But Cincinnati––and Studley––guaranteed him a shot, which was good enough for Brig, who set off for Clifton in 1963.

Owens walked into a quarterback battle in camp, though the media saw him as the early favorite, owed to his natural leadership ability, dual-threat talent, and top-end athleticism. “He runs the hundred in 10 seconds flat,” claims the 1963 UC football media guide.

He won the starting job in camp, becoming the first black quarterback in Cincinnati football history.

Owens’ impact on the Bearcats was immediate and significant in three phases—passing, running, and kicking. Owens piloted a resurgent group, flipping a 2-8 record the previous season into a 6-4 campaign in 1963 that was good enough for the program’s first title as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference. Cincinnati’s offense exploded under Owens, reaching heights in rushing yards, total offense, and scoring that hadn’t been seen at UC since the days of Gillman a decade earlier. Owens’ 1,530 yards of total offense—12th-most nationally—fell just shy of the school record set by Gene Rossi in 1952. His 556 rushing yards led the team and were the most ever by a Bearcats quarterback.

In his first season after leaving junior college, “Brilliant Brig” was an All-American Honorable Mention.

With basketball the talk of campus, football attendance had shrunk from its post-war sellout regularity. Still, Owens and the Bearcats could command a crowd when it mattered. An estimated 25,000 filled Nippert Stadium as the ‘Cats moved to 3-0 to start the 1964 season. After a pair of October losses, Owens piloted four straight wins to close out the year––an 8-2 campaign that stood as Cincinnati’s best in a decade.

Owens had barely made it to the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys before the Bearcats found their QB of the future. Greg Cook––a multi-sport athlete from Chillicothe, Ohio––signed on with Cincinnati in July 1965. Cook starred on the freshman team that fall and, after suffering a preseason hand fracture in 1966, recovered by the second half of the season and sat ready and waiting on the bench for when the varsity Bearcats needed him.

The ’66 season was a disaster. In the second half of a November 5 game at North Texas, with the Bearcats on their way to a fifth loss in seven games, Cook got the call, throwing 7-for-17 but giving the run-heavy UC offense a new wrinkle. Cook played in spots the remainder of the season, setting the program’s single-game pass attempts record with 41 in a loss to Miami. The 37-year-old Studley resigned following the 3-6 season, but the ‘Cats had their quarterback and a glimpse of a new air-it-out offense.

UC hired Homer Rice––a Bellevue, Kentucky native and former coach at Highlands High School––to take over the program a few weeks after Studley stepped down. Things were not much better in 1967. Cincinnati struggled to another 3-6 record, culminating in another loss to Miami. But Cook finished with a remarkable 15.07 yards per completion, teeing up a 1968 season that would rewrite the record books.

In the opener at Texas Tech, the Bearcats used a 47-yard Jim O’Brien field goal and a last-minute 53-yard O’Brien TD catch off the arm of Cook to battle the heavily-favored Red Raiders to a 10-10 tie. While the big-play antics of Cook and O’Brien were a preview of the season to come, the low-scoring affair couldn’t have prepared fans for the shootouts that lay ahead.

Two weeks later, in a 71-33 loss to Houston in the Astrodome, Cook set program records for completions (22), attempts (49), and passing yards (352). An 85-yard touchdown pass was also a UC record. Unfortunately, the Cougars also matched the most points ever scored against UC––tying 1928 Oberlin.

After a high-scoring win over Tampa and a high-scoring loss to Tulsa, the ‘Cats hit the road for North Texas where the Eagles jumped all over them to a 34-6 halftime lead. Cook’s program-record four touchdown passes made it a game in the second half but it wasn’t enough to avoid a 55-34 defeat.

After a November Keg of Nails battle with Louisville, the Bearcats had to reprint the record books again. Cook broke his own passing yards record, racking up 396. Tom Rossley reeled in 11 catches for 254 receiving yards (a program record), including a 95-yard TD coach (another program record). In total, seven individual and team records fell in a 37-7 win over the Cardinals.

With two games remaining, against juggernaut local rivals Ohio and Miami, the Bearcats would need to keep it coming.

A Nippert crowd of just 9,690 betrayed the fact that the Ohio game saw a matchup between the 17th-ranked Bobcats and a Bearcats QB quickly drawing the eyes of NFL scouts. Though so few turned out, the game met the hype. Cincinnati clung to a 35-34 halftime lead that quickly evaporated as the Ohio offense capitalized on backbreaking UC turnovers in the second half.

The Bobcats won it, 60-48, but Cook was spectacular. He scored five total TDs, a program record. He completed 35 passes (still a program record) on 56 pass attempts, a record that stood until 1999. His 554 passing yards wouldn’t be topped until Hayden Moore did so in 2015. The Bearcats had come out on the short end of a classic. “It was the wildest game I’ve ever officiated,” a referee was quoted as saying after the game. “Both in scoring and in roughness.”

It was about to get wilder.

Staring down 7-2 Miami and head coach Bo Schembechler, and under the watchful eye of Paul Brown––a Miami grad and owner of the fledgling Cincinnati Bengals––the Bearcats would play the greatest game in program history yet on November 24, 1968.

The Redskins rolled to a 14-0 lead through three quarters, well on their way to a fourth-consecutive Victory Bell win in front of 13,000 fans at Nippert. Then the Bearcats started to punch back. A 90-yard touchdown drive finished with an eight-yard pass from Cook to Rossley to make it a 14-7 game. Miami answered back, stretching their lead to 21-7 with 6:03 left in the game.

Brown, expecting a victory for his team, left the game.

On the ensuing drive, a Cook pass bounced off the hands of a Redskin defensive back and O’Brien hauled it in for a 53-yard scamper to bring UC back within a touchdown.

A Cincinnati onside kick put the ball back in Cook’s hands at Miami’s 43-yard line and he wasted no time, immediately finding Denny Jackson on a screen pass, who streaked down the sideline for a touchdown with 4:18 remaining.

Rice gambled and chose to go for the two-point conversion, but the ball sailed over Rossley’s head and the game remained 21-20 in favor of Miami.

UC forced a punt and got the ball back with 1:09 remaining and 80 yards of grass separating them from victory. Cook went to work, getting the ball to the Miami 30-yard line, triggering Schembechler timeout with three seconds remaining, and setting up an O’Brien field goal attempt from 47 yards, which, if successful, would tie his September kick for the longest in program history.

Against a slight breeze, the ball left O’Brien’s foot and “cut the clear skies perfectly,” per the Enquirer. Cincinnati 23, Miami 21. The Bearcats had done it.

Miami players wept while Cincinnati faithful stormed onto the field and hoisted O’Brien onto their shoulders. The field goal lifted his scoring total to 142 on the season––enough to edge out USC star OJ Simpson’s 138 for the NCAA lead.

Cook, meanwhile, had finished 31-of-52 for 407 yards. “That quarterback,” said Brown after watching film of the UC comeback. “That’s our draft choice.”

Cook’s senior season saw him lead the country in passing yards, passing touchdowns, and yards per play. His 3,210 total yards were second-most in NCAA history.

In 1967, Cincinnati re-joined the professional football world. Founder Paul Brown chose “Bengals” as an homage to professional football teams of the city’s past. (The Cincinnati Bengals first existed in the late ’30s and early ’40s in earlier leagues.)

The Bengals briefly toyed with playing games at Crosley Field. However, the cons proved to outweigh the pros. Crosley had a comparable capacity, but it wasn’t built for football, parking was a challenge, and the stadium’s press box wasn’t designed for cold weather events. Nippert Stadium––already more than a half-century old––had ample parking and a press box heated for football season.

The franchise announced a two-year partnership with UC in February 1968. Paul Brown, a former player at Miami in the 1920s, recalled his history with the stadium at the day’s press conference: “You know, I can remember way back when I played at Miami, and during my career, we played three games here. Since that time, I may have scouted four or five or six games here. And yet, the only thing I remembered about the campus today was the stadium. When I drove up here today, I couldn’t get over how much the buildings impressed me or how big the campus is.”

To accommodate the larger crowds expected at Nippert Stadium for the inaugural season, the Bengals contracted a local company to erect temporary bleachers behind the north end zone and above the southeast corner of the bowl. While this successfully increased capacity to 31,000 seats, fans in the bleachers reported a “swaying sensation” by mid-season.

Brown meant what he said about Cook, too. The team drafted the Bearcat with the 5th overall pick in the 1969 AFL/NFL Draft. As a rookie, Cook—now playing as a professional at Nippert Stadium—hit the ground running. Through three weeks, the Bengals had matched their first season’s win total. Cook appeared to be the Bengals’ first franchise quarterback.

Disaster struck late in a game against the Chiefs. Cook felt a pop in his throwing shoulder after being tackled. He missed the next three games but returned to the field, playing through pain as the Bengals slipped from 3-0 to a 4-9-1 finish. Despite the dismal end to the season, Cook finished with more than 1,800 passing yards and 15 touchdowns, winning the league’s Rookie of the Year Award.

His shoulder began to deteriorate in the offseason. An operation revealed a torn rotator cuff and a partially detached biceps muscle. Three surgeries couldn’t save his shoulder, and Cook retired at 23 years old. (He staged a short-lived comeback in 1973 but saw action in just one game before hanging his cleats up for good.)

Bengals owner Mike Brown would later call Cook “the single greatest talent we ever had here.”

There’s dramatic irony in the fact that the UC product’s Bengals career didn’t outlast the Bengals’ short tenure at Nippert Stadium. The franchise finished their stay in Nippert in 1969 with a 7-20-1 record.