Voices Ringing
Carroll High School Blog
Dan Willen '94 helps Bengals stay healthy during Super Bowl run
Earning a spot in the Super Bowl takes more than having talented players and smart coaches, and Dan Willen ‘94 has played a crucial role in keeping the Cincinnati Bengals healthy and on the field after a 20 game season.
As the Bengals’ Assistant Head Athletic Trainer, Willen helps guide a staff that makes sure every medical need of the team is met. Managing smaller injuries to players on the active roster, supplying proper hydration throughout practice, stretching, and developing stretching routines are just part of Willen’s 12-hour days when the team prepares and competes in games.
“It’s a team approach. It’s not just the athletic trainers; our strength coaches are very good with how we approach practice,” Willen said. “Coach [Zac] Taylor has done an awesome job with how we structure practices. All those things help gauge the health and wellness of our team, how we approach different weeks, and how we go easier or harder [in practice]. I’m very happy that we’ve been able to be as healthy as we’ve been.”
Being on the sidelines each step of the way during the Bengals’ unexpected run to Super Bowl LVI has been a career highlight for Willen, a lifelong fan and former season ticket holder of the team. The memories of the Bengals’ last Super Bowl appearance and playoff win came back after the team’s win over the Las Vegas Raiders in the wildcard round. Willen said his phone was full of text messages and social media notifications after the thrilling victory. After the anxiety in the build up to that game was relieved with a win, Willen says the team has embraced the growing spotlight.
after the 2022 AFC Championship
“I’m on the sidelines every game, and I’m sure I looked like an idiot running onto the field at the end [of the Raiders game]. We’re playing with house money, we’ve got a good team, and I think we can beat anybody right now. The game is going to come down to a couple of plays, and hopefully, we’re on the right side of them.”
Health has been one of the biggest differences from the 2020 season for the Bengals in Willen’s eyes. Injuries to key players, especially quarterback Joe Burrow, derailed the teams’ season a year ago. Helping the Bengals’ star through his rehab journey had a different feeling than most of the other athletes Willen has worked with throughout his career.
“You help guide the player and make decisions to progress him. The way [Joe] approaches practices and games with his work ethic, that’s where you’re going to get a lot of successful outcomes. Having that internal motivation to get healthy and do the right things. He surrounded himself with a lot of good people that gave him good advice and pointed him in the right direction. That’s rewarding to see. Every athlete wants to get back to play, but he has a unique drive that’s superior to a lot of other players.”
Willen knows just how important athletic trainers are to an athlete dealing with injuries. He sustained an ankle injury during the Cross Country Regional Championship of his junior year at Carroll. Thanks to the dedication of and care of Carroll’s athletic trainers, Willen was able to join his teammates in the State Championship race the very next week.
“That’s what I really enjoy about the athletic training experience. You take someone from where they really cannot perform, and you get them back on the field. Seeing that progression is the most rewarding aspect of this profession. Being exposed to that at Carroll is a fond memory.
His time as a student and member of the cross country team at Carroll helped Willen prepare for success after high school.
“The faith-based aspect of Carroll is important, and I pride myself on that. The closeness and experiences I had as a member of the cross country team helped me surround myself with people who would go on to be leaders and strive for excellence. The education prepared me very well for college, helped get me where I am today, and I have a lot of fond memories from school events and volunteer outreach projects. All those things were important.”
Cheryl McHenry '74 brings the Super Bowl experience to local fans
Cheryl McHenry ‘74 (2008 Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame Inductee) has covered just about every type of event in her award-winning, 40 year career at WHIO-TV. The 1988 Democratic National Convention, papal visits from Saint John Paul II in 1987 and 1999, the return of the crew of the USS Cole of a terrorist bombing in 2000, and a trip to Bagram Air Base on a C-17 in 2015 are the assignments she remembers most, but McHenry has added her current assignment of covering the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI to that list.
Along with WHIO sports reporter James Rider and videographer Chuck Hamlin, McHenry will provide the Miami Valley with seven days of coverage of the Bengals’ third trip to the Super Bowl. McHenry’s stories are centered around the fan experience of Super Bowl week.
“The reason we’re out here is to show our viewers what it’s like to be here, because most of them can’t be here,” McHenry said. “Our job is to take them through the experience, show them the excitement here in LA, and make them feel like they are here.”
The workload is heavy and the pace is fast, and the three hour time difference of being thousands of miles away from home complicates logistics even more. McHenry says her days start with 7 a.m. rides in a taxi or rideshare to a different part of Los Angeles, and filled with shooting video and interviews, catching rides back to their workspace in the hotel, preparing stories to send back to Dayton, and rushing to SoFi Stadium for liveshots in nearly all of Newscenter 7’s broadcasts. At the end of the 13 hour work days, she hopes the rewarding yet challenging story ultimately concludes with the Bengals winning the franchise’s first Lombardi Trophy.
“I’m more avid in years when they’re doing well because it hurts me to see teams that I like lose. I had the opportunity to meet Anthony Munoz about a year ago. I really love this team, and they’ve revived the Bengals fan in me.”
Covering an unpredictable story that has brought so many people together in a positive way is a much welcomed change of pace for McHenry compared to the major events of the past three years. After sitting on the WHIO set to anchor coverage of massively destructive tornadoes on Memorial Day in 2019, the tragic Oregon District shooting in 2020, and nearly two years of a global pandemic, telling stories that put a smile on viewers’ faces is long overdue for McHenry.
“I think it’s great for our region and all of southwest Ohio because it gives people something to cheer about, something that unites them. It’s just fun, and we haven’t had a lot of fun in the last two and a half years,” McHenry said. “Now, to have something to cheer for and be proud of is wonderful.”
Bengals Super Bowl brings boost to bottom line, spirits for Carroll small business owner
For Andrea Seifring-Robbins ‘97 and the rest of her team at Urban Stead Cheese in Cincinnati, this Sunday is the most important day of the year on their calendar. The hometown Bengals playing in the Super Bowl is only part of it.
Having people back in here, shopping in person, sitting at tables, and enjoying interacting with people is why we have the tasting room. To get back to that and engage with people again is really special.
-Andrea Siefring-Robbins '97
“We have the perfect storm coming together for the Super Bowl and National Cheddar Day on Sunday, plus Valentine’s Day [on Monday],” Seifring-Robbins said. “People have a lot of things going on this weekend.”
Seifring-Robbins, a lifelong Bengals fan and small business owner since 2017, has welcomed customers back to the tasting room and bar built at the front of the house of her cheese production facility as COVID restrictions have begun easing up. The timing of a surprise run to the biggest sporting event in America for the Bengals has only added to the excitement. A stroke of good fortune with Saturday game scheduling for the Bengals’ first two playoff victories meant that Seifring-Robbins and her husband and Urban Stead Cheese co-founder, Scott Robbins, could see another part of their dreams come to life in front of their eyes.
“My favorite thing about Urban Stead Cheese is the sense of community that we experience here in the tasting room. Having people back in here, shopping in person, sitting at tables, and enjoying interacting with people is why we have the tasting room. To get back to that and engage with people again is really special. Adding the Bengals’ success and all the brightness that it brings has just been phenomenal as well as good for business.”
Much like the Bengals, the Urban Stead team is preparing for a memorable Sunday. Requests for centerpiece charcuterie catering boards have increased, and special football-shaped cheese balls with Urban Stead’s quark, a traditional German item similar to cream cheese, and locally sourced summer sausage are available for purchase this week only in-store at their 3036 Woodburn Avenue location. Party hosts can also purchase Urban Stead’s two-year aged cheddar, a blue ribbon winner and Reserve Grand Champion at the 2021 Ohio State Fair. Siefring-Robbins says their quark is a perfect substitute for mass-produced cream cheese in crowd favorite game day snacks like Cincinnati Chili Dip or Artichoke dip. Retail orders are available online (pick up only) and in person for all of Urban Stead’s cheeses, boards, drinks, and accompaniments. Dayton-area residents can find Urban Stead products in any Dorothy Lane Market location.
The tasting room will be closed on Sunday as usual so that Siefring-Robbins and the staff can cheer on the Bengals in their quest for the team’s first Super Bowl win.
“It’s so exciting. It’s been 31 years, and there are groups of people who remember the last time and people who don’t remember the last time the Bengals made the Super Bowl. It’s so fun to hear people’s different perspectives about how they grew up as Bengals fans. The city is just so incredibly ready to embrace this.”