Cincinnati Bengals players traded the playbook for a toolkit this week, joining volunteers to assemble a wheelchair ramp at the Liberty Township home of Navy veteran Kenneth Wackenthaler. The ramp is meant to make it easier for him to get in and out of his house. It also marked a milestone for the nonprofit behind it: its 380th ramp.
According to FOX19, the Bengals are helping pay for the ramp and have now partnered with Operation Ramp It Up for six straight years. The station's report says the project helps veterans and others with mobility issues who have run out of other sources of assistance. Operation Ramp It Up CEO Greg Schneider said having the players there “added something special to an already meaningful day.”
Ramp No. 380, and 200 of Them Close to Home
Of the 380 ramps the group has installed, 200 are in the tri-state area, the report notes. The organization was launched in Cincinnati in 2014 by Schneider, according to the Operation Ramp It Up website, which credits The UPS Foundation and the VFW Foundation as partners in the effort.
The scale has grown quickly. A Movers & Makers profile in 2021 said Schneider had placed ramps in 31 states with a goal of reaching all 50. By summer 2025, the group's own site says, more than 300 ramps had been installed across all 50 states.
How the Ramps Get Built and Who Qualifies
The nonprofit says a recipient has to have “exhausted every means of government support and been rejected by other agencies” before getting a ramp. Funding has primarily come from The UPS Foundation, along with other companies and private donors. Volunteers typically need four to six hours to prepare the site, assemble the sections and install the ramp.
The ramps are aluminum and work like a kit, so they can be taken apart and reused at another site, the organization says. FOX19 reports the same reuse model applies here, with ramps dismantled and installed at another home when they are no longer needed. Movers & Makers adds that the group recycles aluminum and reuses parts to keep costs down for future recipients.
A Bengals Tradition That Keeps Growing
This is far from the team's first ramp build. In October 2024, Local 12 reported that four Bengals players, including long snapper Cal Adomitis, helped assemble a ramp at Navy veteran Jon Kraft's Deer Park home as part of the NFL's Salute to Service initiative.
A year later, the same outlet reported a wheelchair- and scooter-accessible ramp for former Army Sgt. Chris Macklin, and said the nonprofit had built 337 ramps nationwide by then. The Bengals have also posted video of players Irv Smith Jr., Allan George, Cordell Volson and Cal Adomitis building a ramp for military veteran James Angell.
It's not just the Bengals pitching in. WLWT reported that FC Cincinnati players have helped with installations and were set to assist with at least five or six ramps in a single year.
