Bengals for Ernie

Feb. 11—NORWALK — Amanda Gilbert needed her sister.

For a couple of hours on Jan. 30, it didn't seem necessary. But when the Cincinnati Bengals made their move for a legendary comeback in the AFC championship game at Kansas City, Gilbert phoned her sister.

The Bengals had erased a 21-3 deficit and were in overtime against the Chiefs. And suddenly, kicker Evan McPherson was lining up for a routine 31-yard field goal to send the tough-luck franchise to the Super Bowl.

In the moment, processing the entire sequence was difficult.

"I called and got Ashley on the phone before the kick," Gilbert said. "I told her I had to have her on the phone because if they won, we needed to celebrate because Dad is not here."

Like he'd done week before in a stunning upset over the Tennessee Titans, McPherson drilled the kick as time expired to send the Bengals to Super Bowl LVI against the Los Angeles Rams.

Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. Sunday at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

"The first person we thought of was Dad," Ashley (Dennewitz) Ungerer said of the late Ernie Dennewitz. "It was emotional, thinking about growing up with him and having his Bengals on television."

Ernie Dennewitz was born in Norwood, Ohio — a suburb of Cincinnati located just seven miles north of Paul Brown Stadium, the home of the Bengals. He moved to Norwalk in the 1970s and met his wife, Cindy, a 1973 South Central graduate.

The couple's children, Amanda and Ashley, graduated from Norwalk High School in 1999 and 2002.

A deep-seated fan of the Bengals and the Cincinnati Reds, Ernie died from ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, on Aug. 15, 2008. He was 58.

Among his legacy to his daughters was his love for the Bengals.

"He was very into sports, which is probably why I turned into a tomboy at such an early age," Ashley said. "The TV was always on sports of some kind, and that kind of got me into it.

"We were raised to watch both the Browns and Bengals, but everyone knew where his alliance and heart was when they played twice a year," she added. "You certainly never had to ask him who he was rooting for."

Amanda noted that Ernie had a foam brick he'd squeeze and throw when he got mad at his team — or the officials making calls that didn't go their way.

"When I think of him and the Bengals as a kid, I think of Boomer Esiason, Ickey Woods, Anthony Munoz and that team that last made the Super Bowl. So many good memories," she added.

Carrying on the fandom

Amanda, 41, and her husband, Keith, attended the "Battle of Ohio" in 2009, when the Bengals claimed an overtime win over the Browns in Cleveland. Keith wore neutral clothing.

With grief still very fresh from her father's death, Amanda went all-out in her usual Bengals gear, but with a bonus.

"I was wearing some of his Bengals clothing," she said. "It can obviously be tough living in Browns territory, and there are a lot of Steelers fans around here, too. But when Dad died, I told myself I was going to cheer for the Bengals for him.

"We actually put him in a Bengals shirt when he died," Amanda added. "He went out with Cincinnati attire. He was born and raised there, so that love for the Bengals is deep for us."

Ernie was highly interested in all sports and supported Cleveland teams when they weren't facing his Bengals or Reds.

"He loved watching LeBron (James) and those Cleveland teams, and of course the Buckeyes and Indians," Amanda said. "He was all sports, all the time."

Amanda held season tickets to Indians games at Progressive Field, and often took her father along, especially when the Reds came to town to play for the "Ohio Cup."

"Ashley and I were at the last playoff game with him in 2007," said Amanda of the American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox. "I'm glad we got to experience it. We have a picture of Dad and us girls with him at his last Indians game."

They both Amanda and Ashley when, as children, they watched the Bengals play at old Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

"We were young, but dad was in his element," Ashley said. "That was back in the Boomer Esiason days ... I remember we went to Norwood and he drove us around his old home while telling us about downtown and where different places were. The four of us also went to a Reds game down there because my favorite athlete growing up was Deion Sanders, who was playing for Cincinnati at the time. That was a cool memory."

A new tradition

When the Bengals made the Super Bowl, Ashley nearly had to turn off her phone. She and her son, Jonah, 14, a freshman at Bellevue High School, are serious collectors in trading cards.

Now, an Ohio native quarterback for their beloved Bengals is the hottest name in the market.

"Joe Burrow is obviously the man, and I liked him because for the short stint he was a Buckeye, we had a majority of his 2020 Score cards where he is in an Ohio State uniform,"

Ashley, 38, said. She and Jonah play safe in the trading market by focusing more on lower-end hobby products.

In the hours after the AFC title win, Ashley's phone was inundated with trading-card sales. By 10:15 p.m. that day, Ashley had made $4,434 on Amazon. Shipping the more than 150 orders took six-plus days.

"We wanted to do something to honor my dad and his memory," Ashley said of their venture into trading cards. "I know he'd be all over this if he were here. Jonah and I sell cards on Amazon, eBay and Wish."

The immediate big bump in sales certainly seemed fitting, with the majority centered on a Bengals quarterback — a trend that took years to arrive.

After losing in the final minute of Super Bowl XXII to the San Francisco 49ers after the 1988 season, the Bengals returned to the playoffs in 1990, winning a wild-card game before falling to the Raiders in Los Angeles.

Cincinnati then failed to reach the playoffs for 25 years and didn't have a winning season in that quarter-century. The Bengals got to .500 just three times and botched several major draft picks. When the franchise finally started returning regularly to the playoffs under head coach Marvin Lewis from 2005-2015, the team lost eight straight games — until this season.

Sparked by Burrow and receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, the Bengals beat the Raiders in the wild-card round before grabbing stunning road wins over the Titans and Chiefs.

"Joe was a bit older and came in a little more experienced in college, so I had a feeling he'd have a faster path to success compared to some others," Ashley said. "The teams with Boomer and Carson Palmer always came up a little short, so this is fun to watch."

Financial success aside, carrying on Ernie's passion for sports and seeing Jonah and his friends happy is just as rewarding.

"He helps me, and when his friends all come over, they know around Christmas and birthdays to come see me," Ashley said. "They tell me who their favorite players are and I'll give them whatever. For Christmas, I tried to give them graded cards, because those are special. I'm just trying to get them to love the hobby."

Full circle

Both Amanda and Ashley described their father as passionate, but someone who would give the shirt off his back to someone.

"He used to always say not to mess with his girls and his money," Ashley joked. "He was 6-foot-4 and imposing, but a gentle giant. And he was always easy to shop for at Christmas. He was happy with anything Bengals."

As for Sunday, the Bengals are underdogs for a third straight time in the playoffs. The franchise is 0-2 in the championship game, falling twice to the 49ers.

For the sisters, the Super Bowl brings back memories of watching games with their late father. They know, too, how much Ernie would have enjoyed this particular roster.

Neither Tom Brady nor Aaron Rodgers will be playing on Sunday. The Steelers and Patriots aren't in California, either. Instead, it's the upstarts from Ohio mostly associated with losing who will be taking on Hollywood's glitz and glamor as the Rams play in their home stadium.

Amanda and Ashley know that Ernie will be on their minds the entire day.

"We started screaming together when they won two weeks ago," Amanda said of her phone celebration with Ashley. "I thought of Dad instantly and started tearing up. We wish he was here to experience this with us. Even as an adult, when he was alive and could still talk, he and I talked about the football games. He would love this team."