CINCINNATI (WXIX) – How many Bengals hats do you have? Bill Wilder has more.
Stashed in a self-described “man cave” in the basement of his Sycamore Township home, Wilder’s impressive array of Bengals memorabilia contains no fewer than 130 Bengals hats.
“It’s my passion, my obsession,” Wilder said Tuesday. “I’ve loved the Bengals ever since I was a little kid.”
It hasn’t been an easy team to follow. The Bengals teams of the ‘90′s and early aughts were so miserably bad, it’s a wonder Wilder’s collection doesn’t contain more brown paper bags with eyeholes.
“They’re always saying you need to go to another team, you need to go to another team, and I say, ‘I’m not. I’m not one of those bandwagon jumpers and I never will be,’” he said.
Wilder’s collection goes back decades. He says he’s bought items in fits and spurts since the ‘70s. They had been gathering dust in boxes for a long time, but he recently brought the collection out for display in honor of the Bengals’ Super Bowl run.
The hats are his favorite part. He says he wears one nearly every day.
“Getting COVID and pulling through and finally getting to see my team go to the Super Bowl, that was the good Lord above pulling me through that,” he said.
“Getting COVID and pulling through and finally getting to see my team go to the Super Bowl, that wa the good Lord above pulling me through that,” he said. “It means the world to me.”
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